(New York, October 30, 2025) — The Brazilian government, which will host the COP30 global climate summit in a little over a week in Pará state, should act urgently and decisively to uphold unmet commitments to frontline Amazon communities that live in and protect the rainforest, Climate Rights International said in a report and accompanying video released today.
The 86-page report, “Chainsaws, Smoke, and Silence: How Brazil’s Neglect of Community Conservation Models Fuels Deforestation and Violence in the Amazon,” describes how Brazil’s community conservation areas, which are supposed to link secure land rights with forest protection, are under attack in Pará state. Covering around 10 million hectares, these conservation areas preserve vast stretches of forest but face relentless pressure as armed invaders destabilize collective management, illegal land sales fracture communities and fuel conflict, and environmental defenders are threatened or killed. Fear keeps many residents from entering forest areas central to their livelihoods and identity.
As the Amazon heads towards a tipping point, community conservation areas meant to safeguard large portions of the rainforest are being undercut by government neglect and outside invaders,” said Sarah Sax, Researcher at Climate Rights International. “The government’s failure to protect these communities is compounding its broader failure to adequately protect the rainforest.”
The new report is based on more than 50 interviews with residents of Pará’s community conservation areas, interviews with experts and officials, and analysis of official deforestation and conflict data. It documents emblematic cases to show how community conservation models are being undermined by invasions, land grabbing, and violence.
Pará state is the epicenter of Amazon deforestation and violence. It has led Brazilian states in total deforestation for nine consecutive years and had the highest number of documented cases of violence against environmental defenders in 2023 and 2024.
The report highlights two community conservation models, extractive reserves and environmentally differentiated settlements, both of which emerged from grassroots struggles in the 1980s led by Chico Mendes and the National Council of Rubber Tappers. With sufficient state support, each can safeguard forests while promoting the sustainable livelihoods of local communities—with the recognition that these are complementary goals.
Growing evidence from across the Amazon shows that community-based forest and territorial protection can be effective barriers to deforestation, especially when backed by strong governance and secure land rights
But as cattle ranching and other economic interests push deeper into the Amazon, these areas face mounting vulnerability to invasions and land grabbing—often carried out by criminal networks that violate community rights and drive deforestation. For example, Maria, a young resident of the Riozinho do Anfrísio Extractive Reserve, said:
“Today our areas are taken over by loggers, by land grabbers… tons and tons of wood leave our RESEX every day. We hear the tractors roaring by our house.”
Residents are legally entitled to land use certificates. But delays in issuing them leads to fraudulent land claims, blocks access to credit and state assistance for the sustainable production of forest products like Brazil nuts, cacao, and manioc, and weakens their ability to defend their rights. Underfunding by the government leaves settlements without adequate schools, health care, or transportation, pushing families to abandon their land.
Eliana da Silva, a leader from PAE Lago Grande who lives in a remote community threatened by invasions, said:
“We feel the absence of government support. They don’t bring benefits to the communities, for example our health is especially precarious, the roads are precarious, we don’t have conditions to improve community [agricultural] production … there’s no land regularization, we don’t have it.”
Those who report illegalities face threats and violence. Darlon Neres dos Santos, a youth activist from the settlement PAE Lago Grande who publicly denounced deforestation in 2023, recounted:
“From 2023, threats became much stronger and then we received news that we were being hunted, that I was being sought after for reporting illegal logging. I had to leave the community and the territory. In some communities I still can’t be there because I’m targeted. But we are not [the] criminals in this story.”
Brazil has the legal framework in place to ensure the success of these conservation models, but the institutions tasked with protecting these areas are underfunded and understaffed, Climate Rights International said. With more resources, federal and state agencies could expedite the issuance of land use certificates and enforce Brazil’s strong environmental laws, while at the same time ending impunity for violations and violence.
International donors are expected to announce major funding for Amazon conservation at COP30. Brazil should commit to use some of those funds to urgently speed up securing and formalizing land rights for local communities in the Amazon, end impunity for land invasions, threats, and violence, and provide community conservation areas with sufficient resources. “Brazil has created promising models for simultaneously promoting forest conservation and sustainable livelihoods, but has failed to follow through with the support needed to ensure their success.” Sax said. “At COP30, the Lula administration should commit to salvaging this bold experiment, and the international community should rally to support it.”
(For additional quotes from victims and activists, please see the Appendix below).
Appendix: Selected Quotes
Maria (pseudonym), a resident of Resex Riozinho do Anfrisio
“Tons and tons of wood leave our RESEX every day. We hear the tractors tearing by our house … Locals don’t even know how they’ll collect Brazil nuts anymore, because the nut groves have all been taken over by those operating inside, who claim the land as theirs, along with the loggers who are taking the wood. Nobody goes there now—it’s all been taken over.”
“We still live here with our practices, with our knowledge, which we are used to here. But we were suffering a lot of impact. How can we talk about preservation within our conservation units, with what is happening with this devastation? It is us that live here, we who take care of nature, we are the guardians of nature, are suffering the impacts and nobody is paying attention. Nobody is doing any kind of work to combat what is happening in here.”
Rosa Maria Moraes Viegas, resident of Resex Renascer
“I always fought a lot, fought for the creation of this area, have fought a lot for its implementation, was very threatened, suffered many things, answered several lawsuits, suffered several death attempts. Then they tried to kill my daughter…. It was horrible. Here in the middle of the community and everyone watched.”
Darlon Neres, youth leader in PAE Lago Grande
“We are protecting this territory so that you in the world can have life. We are protecting so you can continue to exist. Without forests, there are no cities. We are protecting you because you need water. We are protecting you because you need oxygen to breathe.”
“When I decided to dedicate my life to fighting for this territory, I made a choice—a choice that affected my personal life, my family life, my professional life. I cannot see myself outside of this territory. And I cannot see this territory destroyed.”
Eliana da Silva, community leader from Nazario, PAE Lago Grande
“We don’t just live here among trees, birds, and animals; there are people who care, who protect, who preserve this great nature. If this settlement and its defenders didn’t exist, none of this would still be standing—not the forest, not the trees. The greed is immense, but we will not give in.
Photo: Felled hardwood logs block the entrance to PDS Esperança, a sustainable development settlement in Pará state. Their size, lack of identification tags, and location within a settlement suggest illegal logging activity, a recurring problem reported by residents. Photo credit: Sarah Sax for CRI.
