Rainforest Trust: Securing land designations in the Brazilian Amazon

The Brazilian Amazon’s ancient rainforest ecosystems are under significant threat from land-grabbing for illegal mining, logging, agriculture and cattle farming. In response, Rainforest Trust and their partner Instituto Internacional de Educação do Brasil, are protecting 2.3 million acres of rainforest in the states of Amazonas and Pará through designations that legally recognise land tenure of traditional communities and their long-standing role in managing their lands.

The proposed protected areas safeguard watersheds and rivers and play an important role in mitigating climate change both locally and globally. Their wetlands and forests store over 648 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents, an amount comparable to the emissions from nearly 73 billion gallons of petrol consumed.

The proposed protected areas also contain many endangered species, including the Wattled Curassow, the Ariel Toucan, the Giant Otter and the Black-faced Black Spider Monkey. So far, Global Returns Portfolio contributors have protected over 28,000 acres in the region, protecting 4.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents.