New Economic Strategies Could Save the Amazon and Boost Local Well-Being, Research Indicates
New research conducted by a group of conservationists from Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, the United States and the United Kingdom indicates that “current conservation and development efforts will never sustain or scale without systemic changes in how economies are designed.”
The Amazon basin, hosting the largest tropical rainforest on the planet and accounting for more than half of the world's remaining rainforests, holds enormous quantities of carbon. Yet, years of extensive deforestation, coupled with heightened fire and flood risks from climate change, have placed much of it at risk. Beyond its impact on global carbon emissions, the rainforest is also vital for countless indigenous communities and thousands of plant and animal species.
Although the Amazon has continued to be destroyed for economic development, local communities have seen minimal improvements in income, life expectancy, and education. The researchers propose a new model and policy changes that could foster fair and sustainable futures for both the Amazon and its inhabitants by enhancing infrastructure, supply chains, and social organizations.
Their findings, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, center on the Amazon, but the researchers believe similar economic models could be applied globally if there is the political will to do so.
"We need a different vision for the Amazon if we're going to protect it," said lead author Professor Rachael Garrett from the University of Cambridge's Department of Geography and the Conservation Research Institute. "Half a century of deforestation and exploitation of the Amazon has not resulted in widespread development, and now the economic value of deforested areas is threatened, not to mention the threats to the global climate and water security."
Garrett recommends that building on the successes of indigenous and traditional communities most adversely impacted by continued deforestation can help develop new economies that not only protect the integrity of the Amazon but also improve the livelihoods, health, and food security of those who live there.
"Conventional economic models can result in short-term gains, but over the longer term, the people and resources of the Amazon basin have been exploited by powerful interests, while there has been an underinvestment in education, innovation, and sustainable infrastructure," said Garrett. "The conventional economic model is simply not sustainable."
The economic models proposed by the research team are known as socio-bioeconomies, or SBEs. The SBE model is dedicated to using and restoring the Amazonian ecosystem in a sustainable manner that also supports the area’s indigenous and rural inhabitants. Eco-friendly tourism could be one facet of an SBE economy.
Garrett and her team are advocating for significant boosts in social engagement, technology, and infrastructure to back SBEs.
It’s also worth looking at their proposed SBE model, which would mean that government subsidies would be shifted away from large agribusinesses and redirected towards smaller, sustainable development projects. The team also suggests ways to connect rural and urban policies within SBEs, such as creating public procurement programs that source healthy, sustainably-produced foods from indigenous and small farming communities for school lunches and hospital meals. In doing so, governments can support a more sustainable vision that eschews large-scale agribusinesses with harmful practices.
