Enabling large-scale and climate-resilient forest restoration in the Eastern Amazon

Country: Brazil

Lead Partner: Lancaster University, UK

Summary: The Brazilian Amazonian state of Pará has an ambitious target to restore 7.4 million hectares of tropical forest by 2036, accounting for >50% of the restoration targets of Brazil. Restoring diverse forests at scale requires unlocking the potential of natural regeneration. This project will achieve this by guiding where restoration needs to happen to maximise benefits for climate, people and biota. It will also investigate how to ensure the long-term permanence of natural regeneration, also called secondary forests, in the landscape; currently, most natural regeneration is converted back to agriculture within five years.

This work, co-created with a diverse range of Amazonian stakeholders, addresses three overlooked challenges when it comes to restoration of tropical rainforests. First, by bringing biodiversity to the centre of restoration planning, it defines where restoration will maximise species diversity, landscape connectivity, and support species of conservation concern. Second, it goes beyond the carbon sequestration and makes a novel assessment of the local and regional climate benefits of restoration. Third, it helps to ensure the permanence of restoration by understanding key threats, such as fires. Finally, the project will co-develop a user-friendly prioritisation tool to help guide implementation and make natural regeneration a scalable solution for the climate and biodiversity crises in Amazonia.

Photograph (detail): Vinícius Mendonça