Amazon

Almost all (98%) of the world’s primary forests is found within 25 countries, of which nine are in the Amazon region. The Amazon biome contains the world’s largest rainforest and river system, comprising 650 million hectares of forest and 100 million hectares of freshwater ecosystems. It covers 47% of South America and is spread across eight countries (Brazil 61.8%, Peru 11.4%, Bolivia 8%, Colombia 6%, Venezuela 5.6%, Guyana 2.5%, Suriname 1.7% and Ecuador 1.6%), as well as the overseas territory of French Guiana (1%). The population of the Amazon region is around 47 million people, including nearly 2.2 million from more than 410 Indigenous groups (of which 80 are in voluntary isolation), Afro-descendent communities, and mestizo populations.

The Amazon houses the world’s greatest biodiversity with 10 percent of all plant and animals, including 40,000 plant species, over 2,400 species of freshwater fish, 1,300 species of birds, 425 species of mammals, 427 species of amphibians, and 371 species of reptiles; many of which are endemic and endangered plant and animal species. The Amazon River is the longest free flowing river in the world, flowing nearly 7,000 km and discharging almost 20 percent of global surface river flow. It is estimated that the Amazon’s soil and trees store about 150-200 billion tons of carbon. The Amazon’s forests also contribute to local and regional hydrological and climate patterns, recycling up to 50 percent of precipitation that falls in the basin through evapotranspiration.

The Amazon forests and freshwater ecosystems, and the global, regional, and local ecosystem services they provide, are, however, under threat due to deforestation, degradation, habitat fragmentation, over-exploitation, pollution, climate change, and loss of sociological and biological diversity. According to the Science Panel for the Amazon, around 18% of the Amazon has been converted to other land uses, and an additional 17% has been degraded since data collection began.

The continued deforestation has propelled the Amazon system close to a “tipping point”—the level of deforestation after which the rainforest will be incapable of producing enough rainfall to sustain itself, resulting in its degradation, and eventual change into a grassy savannah ecosystem. A drier Amazon would release billions of tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) into the atmosphere, exacerbating global warming, and disrupting weather patterns in South America. Other impacts would include losses of biodiversity, carbon storage capacity, and nutrient and soil retention, all leading to steady decreases in natural capital, ecosystem services, and human well-being.

There is therefore an urgency to act to address the main direct drivers of deforestation and degradation, which are: (a) unregulated land use expansion and unsustainable land/water use practices; (b) illegal activities; (c) infrastructure; and (d) climate change.

After over a decade of investments in the Amazon to strengthen biodiversity conservation, reduce deforestation, and improve community livelihoods, the GEF established in 2015 the Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program (ASL), with the initial participation of Brazil, Colombia, and Peru that together span nearly 80% of the Amazon basin. A second phase (ASL2) was approved in 2019, comprising four new countries, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, and Suriname with one national project each, one new project in Peru, and the scale-up of two of the ongoing national projects in Brazil and Colombia. A third phase of the Program (ASL3) including Venezuela was decided in June 2023 and is currently under preparation. The program also includes a regional coordination project to strengthen institutional and community capacity-building and regional multistakeholder cooperation. With this last phase, the GEF will continue to support the Amazon until 2030 and has invested in total $306 million grants in the program which now includes all eight sovereign Amazon countries. The expected co-financing from a wide range of partners is around $1.7 billion.

Aligned with the GEF’s overarching goal on forests, the objective of the ASL Program is to preserve and restore where needed the integrity and functioning of the Amazon biome through an integrated and inclusive approach. The work focuses on improving the management and financial sustainability of protected areas; strengthening sustainable forest management; reducing carbon emissions from deforestation; and incorporating biodiversity management principles (both conservation and sustainable use) into selected sectors that are drivers of deforestation (i.e., agriculture, extractive industries, and infrastructure) through policies, sectoral agreements, and/or instruments that engage private sector actors. These interventions together aim to improve the overall connectivity of the Amazon ecosystem, thereby furthering the integrity of the local, regional, and global ecosystem services.

Collectively, all national projects from ASL1 and ASL2 aim to achieve the following targets: strengthen the management effectiveness of 87 million hectares of protected areas; restore 48,500 hectares of degraded lands; promote sustainable practices on 3.7 million hectares, facilitate the creation or expansion of 4.4 million hectares of protected areas; mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by over 185 metric tons of CO2 equivalent; and directly benefit more than 60,000 people.

To these results, ASL3 under preparation is expected to add 36 million hectares of terrestrial protected areas created or under improved management; 104,700 hectares of land under restoration; 13 million hectares of landscapes under improved practices; the mitigation of 77 metric tons of CO2 equivalent; and benefit about 400,000 people.