When local communities manage protected Amazon rainforest areas, good things happen

Conservation of life in the Amazon rainforests is a constant battle to protect one of the most vital ecosystems on Earth.

The rainforest is massive, wild, and home to thousands of species found nowhere else. Yet it’s under serious pressure. Illegal logging, overfishing, and land grabbing are eating away at its edges.

But something unexpected is happening in the heart of the Amazon. Local communities are quietly pulling off a conservation success story, and they’re doing it with almost no outside help.

Locals protect Amazon fish and forests

Along a 750-mile stretch of the Juruá River in Brazil, 14 small communities have taken control of their natural resources.

The locals are protecting 96 oxbow lakes – curved lakes that used to be part of the river but got cut off over time. These lakes are packed with arapaima, one of the largest freshwater fish on Earth.

Each community watches over the lakes all year long. They make their own fishing rules, guard the area against poachers, and share the fish harvest once a year.

The result is thriving fish populations and healthier ecosystems. But it turns out, these efforts are doing far more than just protecting fish.

Amazon patrols protect vast forests

Once researchers started looking closer, they saw something surprising. Protecting these lakes meant protecting a lot more land – including flooded forests, upland forests, and all the life that depends on them.

For every acre of lake directly patrolled by a community, about 86 acres of surrounding land also benefit.

In the state of Amazonas alone, 37 million acres of floodplain forest are now shielded thanks to community management. That’s about the size of the entire state of Indiana.

Three years ago, world leaders at the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting renewed a global promise to protect 30% of nature by 2030.

But with traditional protected areas slowing down in expansion, researchers say there’s a smarter, faster option on the table – boosting what’s known as “Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures,” or OECMs.

These are places like the Juruá, where nature is being protected even though the land isn’t officially marked as a national park or reserve.

Cutting major conservation costs

Protected areas usually cost a lot. You need park rangers, offices, equipment, and staff to patrol huge regions. But what if local people, already living in those areas, could do the job better?

“This study clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of empowering local management action by stakeholders who have the greatest interest and a 24/7, year-round presence where conservation battles are being won or lost,” said Professor Carlos Peres.

“The conservation dividends from community-based protection are unprecedented and deployed at a tiny fraction of the financial costs of traditional protection mechanisms. In practice, this makes local land managers true ‘unsung heroes.’”

In short, the people who live there are doing more for less. And they’re not just helping fish.

Because the lakes are closely watched, animals like giant otters, manatees, and Amazon River turtles – which were once heavily hunted – are making a comeback. These aren’t the fishers’ main targets, but they benefit anyway because of the extra protection.

Amazon patrols need lasting support

So far, all of this is powered by local effort. Volunteers handle Amazon patrols. They pay for fuel and food out of pocket.

There are no salaries, no outside funding. That’s risky. People can only volunteer for so long without burning out.

The study’s lead author, Dr. Ana Carla Rodrigues from the Universidade Federal de Alagoas, made it clear. “We have shown how Amazonian community-based management can protect vast areas across one of the planet’s most complex and vital biomes,” she said.

“The community-led systems safeguard biodiversity at an impressive scale. Recognizing the vital role local people play in protecting the Amazon rainforest and supporting local communities are essential for long-term conservation and a crucial matter of social justice.”

Local prosperity fuels ecosystem health

The researchers tracked 109,000 adult arapaima living in the protected lakes, which average about 117 acres each.

They also calculated how much land around the lakes is functionally protected because of the communities’ patrol efforts, and how much that would cost if the government had to do it alone.

The numbers show that paying locals to keep doing what they’re already doing would still cost much less than setting up a traditional protected area.

“Currently, six million people in the Brazilian Amazon depend directly on wild nature,” said Dr. João Vitor Campos-Silva, co-director of Instituto Juruá.

“By explicitly including local dwellers into conservation practices, we can both increase the effectiveness of conservation outcomes and enhance local welfare.”

If governments are serious about protecting the Amazon, this is a big opportunity. These community-managed areas are already doing the work.

What they need now is support – fair pay for their time, and maybe a little help with supplies.

Without that, the model may not hold. But with the right backing, it could become a key part of saving the Amazon, one lake at a time.

The full study was published in the journal Nature Sustainability.

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