Sustainability Transitions and Bending the Curve of Biodiversity Collapse in the Amazon Forest

TL;DR

This paper analyzes deforestation in the Amazon using sustainability transitions theory, identifying pathways like optimisation, natural capital, and regenerative change, emphasizing the importance of local, community-led approaches to curb biodiversity loss.

Contribution

It introduces a pathways-based framework for understanding Amazon deforestation, highlighting regenerative strategies and critiquing existing natural capital and optimisation approaches.

Findings

Optimisation strategies often reinforce extractivist logics.

Natural capital frameworks rely on centralized governance and market instruments.

Regenerative approaches rooted in local agency show promise for biodiversity conservation.

Abstract

This paper undertakes an analysis of deforestation in the Amazon area using a pathways-based approach to sustainability. We ground the analysis primarily in the sustainability transitions literature but also draw a bridge with socio-ecological concepts which helps us to understand the nature of transitions in this context. The concept of a deforestation system is developed by examining the interplay of infrastructure, technologies, narratives, and institutions. Drawing on a literature review and an in-depth case study of Puerto Maldonado in Madre de Dios, Peru, the paper identifies three pathways for addressing deforestation: optimisation, natural capital, and regenerative change. We suggest that while the optimisation pathway provides partial solutions through mitigation and compensation strategies, it often reinforces extractivist logics. The study also underscores the limitations of natural capital frameworks, which tend to rely on centralised governance and market-based instruments while lacking broader social engagement. In contrast, our findings emphasise the potential of regenerative strategies rooted in local agency, community-led experimentation, and context-sensitive institutional arrangements. The paper contributes to ongoing debates on biodiversity governance by illustrating how the spatial and long-term dynamics of deforestation interact, and why inclusive, territorially grounded pathways are crucial for bending the curve of biodiversity loss.