Effectiveness of protected areas in the deforestation fronts of Acre, Brazil

Abstract

Deforestation in Amazonia is a high priority issue as it is intimately connected to global environmental problems, such as biodiversity loss and climate change. Contemporary threat from deforestation is concentrated on deforestation fronts, and protected areas (PAs) are the main tool used to combat the threat. PAs are an important investment of time and resources, making it important to know how effective they are in achieving their purpose. I selected PAs near the deforestation fronts in the state of Acre, Brazil, and applied a state-of-the-art matching method to study their effectiveness during 2011-2016, after Acre had begun the world’s first jurisdictional REDD+ program. I calculated estimates of deforestation pressure and effectiveness for each PA separately and used these to calculate how much deforestation and CO2 emissions each PA had avoided. I found substantial variation in the effectiveness estimates between individual PAs, corroborating previous matching studies, but the main protection types did not differ from each other in effectiveness in Acre. I found that three PAs currently exist in areas of very high pressure. During the study period, the PAs of Acre avoided a substantial amount of deforestation and carbon emissions and were therefore able to conserve much of the cherished services and functions the rainforests of Acre provide.