Researchers from Lancaster University and institutions in Brazil, Sweden, and Australia conducted a comprehensive analysis of conservation approaches in two regions of the Brazilian Amazon between 2010 and 2020. The study examined over three million hectares in Santarém and Paragominas, combining satellite imagery with field observations across hundreds of survey locations and rural properties to assess outcomes for bird and tree species as well as forest carbon stocks.
The team evaluated three primary conservation strategies: preventing deforestation, reducing disturbances such as selective logging and wildfires within existing forests, and restoring forests on cleared agricultural land. Using counterfactual modeling, researchers estimated the environmental outcomes and costs associated with each approach to determine cost-effectiveness.
The analysis revealed that preventing disturbances to standing forests produced the largest benefits for biodiversity and was nearly as critical as stopping deforestation for protecting carbon stocks. Forest restoration also generated meaningful gains, particularly in heavily cleared landscapes, but proved less effective as a standalone intervention and carried the highest costs of the three strategies examined.
Significantly, none of the three approaches alone reversed overall biodiversity and carbon losses across the study area. Maximum environmental gains occurred only when both protection strategies—preventing deforestation and reducing forest disturbances—were implemented together, with additional benefits achieved by combining all three interventions. The researchers emphasized that restoration efforts prove counterproductive if implemented while existing forests continue to experience degradation and loss.
The study suggests that conservation funding should be adapted to specific landscape conditions rather than applying uniform approaches universally. The findings may extend to tropical deforestation frontiers globally and highlight the need for integrated policies that combine forest protection with restoration efforts. The researchers also noted that commodity industries linked to soy and beef production bear responsibility for addressing both forest loss and degradation in production regions.
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