Behind the forest restoration scene: a socio-economic, technical-scientific and political snapshot in Amazonas, Brazil

Abstract

Conservation of the Amazon rainforest is a global concern and is supported by the Brazilian government’s ratification of the Bonn Challenge and Paris Agreement and the introduction of national regulations on vegetation protection and restoration. Amazonas is the largest and least deforested of the states occupied by the Brazilian Amazon (< 3%). We carried out a survey on the current state and growth potential of seed and seedling production in Amazonas state, pointing out constraints where future investment can promote the achievement of large-scale restoration commitments. We visited the 35 officially registered seed producers or nurseries working with native seeds and interviewed their owners or managers using open and closed questions. Enterprises were mainly privately-owned family businesses with small production (10,001 - 100,000 seedlings per year) and concentrated in the metropolitan area of the state capital Manaus. We uncovered a further 54 non-officially registered nurseries. Annual production (2018) was almost four tons of seeds and nearly ten million seedlings. According to the owners, production could be increased five to seven times with existing infrastructure. Production is focused foremost on species for food production (48% seeds, 74% seedlings), while ecological restoration only makes up 35% of seed and 8% of seedling use. Major bottlenecks cited by the producers were low demand for native tree species, high transportation costs and excessive bureaucracy. To achieve large-scale restoration, we recommend enforcement of national policies for vegetation protection and restoration, and a restructuring of the seed and seedling sector with a bottom-up approach.

Forest Seedlings Supply for Restoration of the Atlantic Forest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…The main bottlenecks pointed out in seedling production were low profitability, high production costs, and the difficulty of selling seedlings. Marques et al (2022) also observed annual production of all nurseries below maximum capacity in Amazonas state. The authors estimated the native seedlings production of 1,258,600 seedlings in 2018, which could be increased by up to seven times (9.7 million seedlings year -1 ).…”

“…The authors suggest that this is related to low demand for native species, which is caused by socioeconomic, technical-scientific and political bottlenecks. The predominance of nurseries (60%) with small-scale production (<50,000 seedlings per year) in RJ (Figure 2) and in Amazonas states (Marques et al, 2022) contrast what was observed in São Paulo, where large (> 500,000 seedlings) and medium-large nurseries are the majority (100,000 to 499,000 seedlings.year-1) across all categories from public to private nurseries .…”

“…Most of them are public (n=17), but some are private (n=6) or run by NGOs (n=1) -Table 2. Small nurseries also predominate (<10,000 seedlings/year) in Amazonas state and make up 36% of the total number of sampled nurseries (Marques et al, 2022). The authors suggest that this is related to low demand for native species, which is caused by socioeconomic, technical-scientific and political bottlenecks.…”