A groundbreaking study evaluating Brazil’s Atlantic Forest Connection Project, which gives landowners incentives to conserve and restore, reveals that the program has significantly improved native forest regeneration and pasture quality on private rural properties across the ecosystem.
Launched in 2017 through a partnership between the Brazilian government, multiple states, and the Global Environmental Facility, the project was designed to incentivize landowners to conserve and restore native vegetation and adopt more sustainable land-use practices. Now, new findings show that the program's dual schemes—focused on forest protection and improved land productivity—are producing real, measurable outcomes.
The study was published in this week’s Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation.
Researchers found that properties participating in the program’s “protection” scheme showed an additional average increase of 1 hectare of native vegetation cover compared to non-participating lands. Meanwhile, properties under the “multiple-use” scheme experienced 7 to10% lower rates of pasture degradation, a crucial metric for agricultural sustainability.
Source : msu.edu