Reducing Catastrophic Climate Risk by Revolutionizing the Amazon: Novel Pathways for Brazilian Diplomacy

Transitioning to Sustainable Life on Land

“…These global commitments demonstrate growing recognition of the urgent need to arrest tropical deforestation to avoid 'tipping points' (Walker et al 2019;Amigo 2020). A tipping point refers to the stage at which forest degradation is such that rainforests can no longer be sustained and shift states to savannah, releasing vast amounts of forest stored carbon with devastating and irreversible repercussions for planetary health (Lovejoy and Nobre 2019;Pereira 2019). A recent study has suggested that such tipping points may be considerably closer than previously imagined, with as much as 40% of the Amazon now at a point at which it could exist as savannah as opposed to rainforest (Staal et al 2020).…”

Close to a Tipping Point? The Amazon and the Challenge of Sustainable Development under Growing Climate Pressures

“…132 Opening the region to technological innovation on a socially inclusive and sustainable basis would entail integrating the vast knowledge of indigenous peoples and rural populations regarding the forest and its resources, and developing the economic potential of the Amazon by prioritising low-carbon projects in infrastructure, international ecological tourism (rigorously controlled to prevent forest degradation), agri-silviculture and information-and knowledge-intensive productive systems related to forests, biodiversity, water and climate. 133 Investing in lowcarbon infrastructure in the region could encourage the development of a green economy at the national level in each Amazonian country. 134 This new development paradigm would naturally imply zeroing deforestation in the short term (empirical evidence has already demonstrated the low cost of deforestation control) and eradicating illegal activities such as biopiracy.…”