Natural Resource Conservation
Ecosystems are a key element for the mitigation of climate change and worth trillions in the services they provide. However, regardless of their importance, their conservation and restoration have been funded almost exclusively by limited public or philanthropic funding.
CPI research assesses the conservation impact of public policy globally. We also work with private and public partners to test and design conservation models that are capable of meeting socio-economic needs while protecting and restoring natural or modified ecosystems.
Featured work
Publication
Protected Territories, Though Critical, are Not Enough to Slow Amazon Deforestation: Brazil Requires Coordinated and Targeted Conservation Policies
New work from CPI/PUC-Rio shows that protected territories shielded forests under their domain, but they also appear to have deflected deforestation to unprotected regions. The findings highlight the local effectiveness of these territories, and thereby support their use in protecting high-value areas. Yet, results also reinforce the importance of pursuing protection strategies in combination with integrated conservation policy efforts to reduce deforestation throughout the Amazon.
Publication
Targeting Deforestation, Boosting Regeneration: Efforts to Combat Forest Clearings in the Amazon Promote Tropical Regrowth
New work from CPI/PUC-Rio shows that environmental monitoring and law enforcement exclusively aimed at reducing Amazon deforestation helped boost tropical regeneration. Results suggest that environmental and socio-economic gains from conservation policies may be larger than initially presumed. Today, it would be both timely and strategic for Brazil to incorporate the promotion and protection of tropical regeneration into its conservation policy agenda.
Publication
Public Policies for the Protection of the Amazon Forest: What Works and How to Improve
This report consolidates the main findings of the academic literature that rigorously evaluates policies aimed at combating deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Additionally, it draws on empirical evidence to propose ways of strengthening Brazil’s policy agenda for protecting the Amazon Forest whilst promoting the region’s sustainable development. The report thereby aims to contribute to the design and implementation of an effective policy framework for Amazon conservation.
Latest work
Publication
Sustainable Infrastructure Portfolio
CPI’s Sustainable Infrastructure projects generate evidence on social, economic and environmental impacts of infrastructure projects to help governments successfully address local sustainable development, and also to inform civil society about infrastructure decisions.
Publication
Increasing Cattle Productivity in the Amazon Requires New Technologies
This brief summarizes the findings from CPI/PUC-Rio that calculates the potential for increasing pasture productivity in the Legal Amazon by disseminating technologies that are widely used in just some parts of the region to all parts of the region.
Publication
Response to COVID-19: Energy Conservation and Efficiency Survey
This study, produced in collaboration with the Indonesia Energy Efficiency Society (MASKEEI), aims to measure and understand how COVID-19 has impacted the business of facility owners and energy efficiency service stakeholders through a targeted survey.
Publication
Forest Degradation in the Brazilian Amazon: Public Policy Must Target Phenomenon Related to Deforestation
To enhance understanding of this phenomenon, researchers from CPI/PUC-Rio empirically characterized the dynamics of degradation and its relationship with clear-cut deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
Publication
Improving Public Contracting Processes of Socio-Enviromental Studies for Brazil's Land Transportation Projects
In this report, researchers from CPI/PUC-Rio analyze in detail the public contracting process for EVTEA and EIAs for land transport infrastructure projects in the Amazon and reveal: a lack of transparency in the contracting process and a lack of criteria for selection, evaluation and approval of the studies.
Blog
Climate Finance in Indonesia: Our top stories from 2020
A new normal after the COVID-19 pandemic requires a green and just economic recovery. Here is our most-read work from 2020 that responds to the challenges, and a preview of what is in stock for 2021.
