Community-based management expands ecosystem protection footprint in Amazonian forests – Nature

Executive Summary

This report assesses a Community-Based Conservation (CBC) initiative in the Brazilian Amazon, focusing on its alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study reveals that community-led surveillance for fisheries co-management results in a protected area footprint significantly larger than the directly managed zones. While the primary focus was on 13 lakes averaging 47 hectares, the effective protection extended to an area eight times larger. Furthermore, an incidental ‘functional area’ of 11,188 hectares per community was also protected. These efforts, crucial for achieving SDG 14 (Life Below Water) and SDG 15 (Life on Land), are executed at a remarkably low cost of US$0.95 per hectare annually. However, this financial burden is entirely borne by low-income local communities, undermining progress towards SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). The report underscores the urgent need to establish financial compensation mechanisms, such as Payment for Environmental Services (PES), to reward and sustain these vital conservation efforts, thereby creating a synergistic approach to environmental protection and socioeconomic development.

Introduction: Community-Based Conservation and the Sustainable Development Goals

Community-Based Conservation (CBC), where local communities manage natural resources, is a vital strategy for achieving integrated sustainable development. This approach yields numerous co-benefits that directly correspond to several SDGs:

• Environmental Integrity: By promoting sustainable land use and protecting critical habitats, CBC is instrumental in advancing SDG 14 (Life Below Water) and SDG 15 (Life on Land).
• Economic Empowerment: Through ecotourism and the sustainable harvesting of resources, CBC initiatives create employment and income-generating opportunities, contributing to SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).
• Social Well-being: Enhanced food security and improved access to social services bolster community resilience, aligning with SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 2 (Zero Hunger).
• Inclusive Governance: CBC fosters participatory decision-making, which strengthens local institutions and promotes a sense of ownership, a key tenet of SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).

In the Amazon, the co-management of pirarucu (Arapaima gigas) fisheries exemplifies a successful CBC model. Territorial protection via community-led surveillance is the cornerstone of this model, deterring illegal activities and enabling the recovery of fish populations. Despite its ecological success, the long-term viability of this model is threatened by a significant challenge: the entire economic burden of surveillance falls upon disenfranchised local communities. This disparity between global environmental benefits and local costs represents a critical obstacle to achieving SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). This report argues for the development of new governance and financial tools, such as PES programs, to create equitable partnerships (SDG 17) that reward communities for their stewardship.

Analysis of Conservation Impact and Financial Costs

Operational Structure of Community-Led Protection

Community-led protection is a year-round, 24/7 operation conducted by local guards organized in teams. Surveillance efforts are strategically intensified during the receding water season when fish stocks are most vulnerable to illegal fishing. These activities are primarily self-funded by community members, who provide food and fuel. This unpaid labor represents a significant opportunity cost, limiting their capacity to engage in other income-generating activities and directly impacting their progress towards SDG 1 (No Poverty).

Quantifying the Community-Based Protection Footprint

The study mapped the conservation efforts of 14 rural communities protecting 96 lakes along the Juruá River. The analysis revealed four distinct scales of protection, demonstrating a cascading positive impact on biodiversity and ecosystem health, contributing to both SDG 14 and SDG 15.

• Direct Protection: The immediate lake areas under co-management, averaging 305 hectares per community.
• Effective Protection: The full territory monitored through surveillance routes, averaging 2,346 hectares per community—nearly eight times larger than the direct protection area.
• Functional Protection: The floodplain area supporting the pirarucu’s life cycle, averaging 11,189 hectares per community—approximately 36 times larger than the direct protection area.
• Incidental Protection: An additional average of 12,383 hectares of upland forests protected by restricting access through the floodplain.

In total, each community protects a mean area nearly 86 times larger than the lakes that provide their direct financial returns, showcasing an immense, uncompensated contribution to global conservation goals.

Financial Assessment of Conservation Efforts

The current monetary cost of surveillance is approximately US$0.95 per hectare per year, a figure that excludes any labor costs and is borne entirely by the communities. This expenditure represents 32% of the total management costs and reduces net community income by 21%. To establish a fair compensation system aligned with SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), three alternative scenarios were modeled:

1. Local Daily Wages: Costs would increase to US$5.30 per hectare per year.
2. Brazilian Minimum Wage: Costs would rise to US$5.40 per hectare per year.
3. Government Agency Rates: Costs would reach US$9.60 per hectare per year.

Implementing a PES program across the entire state of Amazonas would require an estimated US$50.3 million to US$90.1 million annually. While substantial, this investment would benefit over 400 rural communities, ensure the socially just protection of 15 million hectares of floodplain forests, and directly support multiple SDGs.

Discussion: Aligning Conservation with Sustainable Development

The Unrecognized Value of Community-Led Protection

The territorial protection provided by Amazonian communities delivers vast, unrecognized benefits. By safeguarding extensive aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, these efforts contribute significantly to the flow of ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration (SDG 13), water quality regulation, and biodiversity preservation (SDG 14, SDG 15). The spatial footprint of this protection is far larger than previously understood, reinforcing the critical role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities as frontline environmental stewards. Their actions fill a governance vacuum left by under-resourced environmental agencies, providing a cost-effective and socially embedded model for conservation.

Addressing Economic Disparities and Ensuring Social Justice

The current CBC model, while ecologically effective, is founded on a significant social injustice. The heavy financial and opportunity costs borne by low-income communities create an unsustainable asymmetry between local burdens and global benefits, directly contravening the principles of SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions). To ensure the long-term success of these conservation outcomes, it is imperative to address this distortion. Financial support is critical to recognize and enhance communal surveillance, transforming it from a burden into a viable livelihood strategy that promotes both environmental and socioeconomic sustainability.

Policy Recommendation: Implementing Payment for Environmental Services (PES)

A co-designed PES program offers a powerful mechanism to resolve the inequities of the current system and accelerate progress across the 2030 Agenda. A successful PES framework for the Amazon must be built on key principles:

• Fair Compensation: Provide direct financial incentives to communities for their stewardship, alleviating poverty (SDG 1) and providing decent work (SDG 8).
• Strengthened Governance: Empower local communities by ensuring their participation in the design, implementation, and monitoring of the program, fostering procedural and representative justice (SDG 16).
• Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships: Secure funding and support from a coalition of inter-governmental funds, NGOs, and international partners, embodying the spirit of SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
• Evidence-Based Approach: Utilize clear baselines and robust monitoring to ensure the program delivers measurable environmental outcomes and equitable benefit distribution.

Conclusion

Community-based management in the Brazilian Amazon is a highly effective and cost-efficient model for ecosystem protection, delivering conservation outcomes at a scale that significantly contributes to global targets for biodiversity, climate, and sustainable development. However, the immense value generated by these local efforts remains hidden and uncompensated, placing an unjust and unsustainable burden on the very communities who act as guardians of these critical ecosystems. It is imperative to move beyond recognition to tangible reward. The establishment of well-designed PES programs and other financial mechanisms is not merely a policy option but a moral and strategic necessity. By investing in these communities, we can consolidate a new, equitable pathway for Amazonia—one where the protection of the world’s largest tropical forest is inextricably linked to the prosperity and well-being of its people, fully aligning with the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in the Article

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

The article on community-based conservation (CBC) in the Brazilian Amazon addresses several interconnected Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The analysis reveals connections to the following goals:

• SDG 1: No Poverty: The article highlights that the conservation efforts are “entirely incurred by low-income local communities” and that the economic burden “falls heavily on disenfranchised local communities.” It discusses the need for compensation mechanisms like Payment for Environmental Services (PES) to alleviate this financial strain and improve local well-being.
• SDG 2: Zero Hunger: The CBC initiative is described as enhancing “food security” for Amazonian rural communities through the sustainable management of fisheries, which provides a source of subsistence.
• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth: The article discusses how CBC can “generate income and create employment opportunities” through the sustainable harvesting of natural resources. The co-management of pirarucu fisheries generates “direct income” for the communities, and the proposed PES schemes aim to provide fair financial rewards for their conservation work.
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities: The text points out the “glaring lack of social justice” and the “asymmetry between large conservation benefits accrued at multiple scales and the local socioeconomic costs incurred locally.” It advocates for PES programs to create a “socially just approach” and ensure a “fairer return on their conservation efforts.”
• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production: The entire CBC model is an example of sustainable resource management. The article details how communities implement “fishing agreements” and management rules to ensure the sustainable harvesting of pirarucu, preventing overexploitation.
• SDG 14: Life Below Water: The core of the study is the “community-based fisheries conservation arrangement” focused on protecting lakes and fish populations, specifically the pirarucu. The article documents the success of these efforts, noting that they positively impact “fish community structure and composition, increasing species richness, body mass, abundance and biomass.”
• SDG 15: Life on Land: The conservation efforts extend beyond aquatic environments. The article explains that community surveillance incidentally protects “vast areas of unflooded upland forests” by preventing illegal activities such as poaching, logging, and mining, thus contributing to the conservation of terrestrial biodiversity.
• SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions: The article emphasizes the role of community-led governance, which “promotes participatory decision-making” and enhances the “sense of ownership and responsibility among local communities.” These communities enforce protection rules, develop “fishing agreements,” and fill a governance vacuum left by “toothless environmental agencies.”
• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals: The success of the CBC initiative is attributed to the collaboration between “local communities, local associations and federal and state agencies,” as well as NGOs and academic institutions. The article also advocates for multilateral support for PES mechanisms from “inter-governmental funds, non-governmental initiatives and international cooperation.”

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

Based on the article’s focus on community-led conservation, sustainable livelihoods, and biodiversity protection, several specific SDG targets can be identified:

1. Under SDG 1 (No Poverty):
   • Target 1.4: Ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to… control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources… The article supports this by advocating for community control over local resources and financial compensation (PES) for their stewardship.
2. Under SDG 2 (Zero Hunger):
   • Target 2.4: By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems… The community-based management of fisheries directly contributes to sustainable food production and ecosystem maintenance, enhancing local food security.
3. Under SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth):
   • Target 8.4: Improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption and production and endeavour to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation… The CBC model demonstrates a method of generating income from natural resources while simultaneously protecting and restoring the environment.
4. Under SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities):
   • Target 10.2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status. The article highlights how CBC empowers disenfranchised local communities and argues for financial mechanisms (PES) to ensure their economic inclusion and correct the social injustice of them bearing the full cost of conservation.
5. Under SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production):
   • Target 12.2: By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources. The pirarucu co-management program, with its fishing agreements and harvest quotas based on stock assessments, is a direct implementation of this target.
6. Under SDG 14 (Life Below Water):
   • Target 14.2: By 2020, sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts… The principles of this target are applied to the Amazon’s freshwater ecosystems, where communities actively manage and protect floodplain lakes.
   • Target 14.4: By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing… The community surveillance system is designed to deter poaching and illegal fishing, and the management plan has led to a 425% increase in pirarucu populations, reversing overexploitation.
   • Target 14.b: Provide access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets. The CBC model ensures local communities have managed access to fisheries for both subsistence and income, empowering small-scale fishers.
7. Under SDG 15 (Life on Land):
   • Target 15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services… The article shows that CBC protects both floodplain lakes (inland freshwater ecosystems) and adjacent upland forests (terrestrial ecosystems).
   • Target 15.5: Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species. The recovery of the pirarucu population and the protection of vast forest areas directly contribute to halting biodiversity loss.
   • Target 15.7: Take urgent action to end poaching and trafficking of protected species of flora and fauna. Community-led surveillance actively prevents illegal activities, including poaching of fish and hunting in the protected forests.
8. Under SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions):
   • Target 16.7: Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. The CBC model is founded on participatory decision-making, with communities creating and enforcing their own management rules through “fishing agreements.”
9. Under SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals):
   • Target 17.17: Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships… The article describes the pirarucu co-management as a successful partnership involving “local communities, NGOs, academic institutions and government agencies.”

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Yes, the article provides several quantitative and qualitative indicators that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets:

• Area of protected ecosystems (Indicator for Targets 14.2, 15.1): The article quantifies the different scales of protection.
  • The “effectively protected floodplain area” is eightfold larger than the directly managed lakes.
  • The “functional area” of protection is on average 11,188 ha per community.
  • An additional average of 12,383 ha of upland forest is incidentally protected per community.
• Recovery of fish stocks (Indicator for Target 14.4): The success of the conservation efforts is measured by the recovery of the target species.
  • “Wild pirarucu populations increased by 425% along the Juruá River.”
  • The article also notes an increase in “species richness, body mass, abundance and biomass” of the broader fish community.
• Cost of conservation and economic impact (Indicator for Targets 1.4, 8.4, 10.2): The financial burden on communities is explicitly measured.
  • The average cost of effective protection is US$0.95 per hectare per year.
  • Surveillance costs represent a “negative impact of 21% of the net community income.”
• Community participation and governance (Indicator for Target 16.7): The level of community involvement is quantified.
  • The study includes “14 rural communities” and a total of “177 families participating in community-led lake surveillance.”
• Financial flows for sustainable development (Indicator for Target 17.17): The article estimates the funding required for a fair compensation system.
  • A PES program for the entire state of Amazonas would require “between ~US$50.3 million and ~US$90.1 million in annual payments.”
• Prevention of illegal activities (Indicator for Targets 14.4, 15.7): The article provides qualitative evidence of enforcement success.
  • Community surveillance deters “poaching by local and external resource users” and prevents illegal logging and mining.
  • A specific example is cited where “the collective action of fishers and local leaders… expelled illegal gold miners.”

4. Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: nature.com