- A recent study comparing different land tenure regimes in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest found that Indigenous lands and agrarian-reform settlements have greater restoration gains than private properties — by 189 hectares on average.
- Concurrently, the study also found Indigenous lands and agrarian-reform settlements had 21 hectares and roughly 4.5 hectares more restoration reversals than private properties, respectively.
- Farming and agroecological land use practices may be among the reasons for higher restoration reversals, the authors suggested, while strong restoration gains are influenced by different governance structures and Indigenous cosmologies centered around relational connection to forest species.
- Indigenous advocates say communities need strong policies, sustained funding and land demarcation to establish environmental preservation areas and continue forest restoration.
“The land is the greatest asset we have,” said Luzineth Pataxó, a Pataxó leader from the Caramuru-Paraguaçu Indigenous Territory, in the Atlantic forests of Brazil’s Bahia state. “Our people have always taken care of our territory and forests because it is from them that we derive our livelihoods … and connect with the sacred beings that inhabit them.”
These efforts have paid off, some research suggests. A recent study comparing different land tenure regimes in the Brazil’s Atlantic Forest found that Indigenous lands and agrarian-reform settlements have greater restoration gains than private properties.
“As part of the study, we isolated and compared many different land tenure regimes to private properties through our analysis design, and the staggering result was for Indigenous lands,” said Rayna Benzeev, one of the study authors. The research comparison included Indigenous lands, territories of descendants of Afro-Brazilian runaway enslaved people (Quilombola), agrarian-reform settlements, protected areas and private properties. “There are [on average] 189 hectares [467 acres] more long-term restoration gains on Indigenous lands compared to private properties.”
While the study found positive outcomes on Indigenous lands, Benzeev noted that the study did not directly measure the factors driving these results. After analyzing restoration gains and reversals across 1.9 million territories in the Atlantic Forest from 1985 to 2022, the authors also found that Indigenous lands and agrarian-reform settlements had higher rates of restoration reversals (restored forests later deforested). Each had 21 hectares (52 acres) and roughly 4.5 hectares (11 acres) more restoration reversals than private properties, respectively.
According to Benzeev, also a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, differences in governance arrangements among land tenure regimes, land zoning practices, farming methods, Indigenous cosmologies and land use policies could all influence the outcomes.
For instance, under Brazil’s Atlantic Forest law, recovered areas that are more than 10 years old become protected and may not be deforested again. “In a lot of private properties, people are cutting down trees at around 8-10 years of age, which is one impact of the law that affects restoration,” she said.
Benzeev also pointed to land abandonment as an issue on private properties. “Once these properties have a new owner, or if the land is passed on to the next generation, they might develop the land and deforest previously restored areas,” she said.
Gains and losses
While restoration reversals were more prominent on Indigenous lands and agrarian-reform settlements, the authors noted the total area of restoration gains were around 10 times more than reversals. Farming and agroecological land use practices in Indigenous lands and agrarian-reform settlements were among the many reasons for frequent restoration reversals, according to the study.
Adding to that, Ariadne Dall’acqua Ayres, a PhD candidate at the University of São Paulo, said Indigenous peoples in Brazil are increasingly influenced by economic sectors such as agribusiness, forestry and mining.
“Some communities take part in unsustainable activities for their economic gains while undermining ecosystem restoration that aligns with traditional values and livelihoods,” she said. However, the authors suggested, the findings on reversals need not detract from longer-term trends of restoration gains despite the fact.
Ayres said conservation on Indigenous lands, and the concept of restoration itself, is rooted in relational values. These values see nature not merely as a resource, but as a space for sustaining knowledge, faith, culture and lifestyles.
The Atlantic Forest is facing persistent threats from illegal deforestation, agribusiness and mining, leading many Indigenous communities to tighten their grip over their lands and territories in a bid to protect and restore their forest cover.
“The lack of land demarcation even exacerbates these pressures, leading to invasions, deforestation and conflicts between Indigenous and non-Indigenous actors,” Ayres told Mongabay.
The situation is further aggravated when Indigenous leaders face aggression while defending their territories, Pataxó said. “All the violence is due to the lack of legalization of several Indigenous territories. In the case of the Pataxó Hãhãhãe people, it has already been demarcated, although many still lack legalization,” she told Mongabay in a phone message.
Although Brazil’s president formalized the demarcation of 10 Indigenous territories at the 2025 U.N. climate conference, and more in previous years, sources say many others remain pending. Demarcation is the official act that recognizes the right of Indigenous peoples to own the lands they traditionally occupied.
To counter these pressures, Benzeev said upholding Indigenous land rights could be a distinct restoration strategy. “When [Indigenous] lands have no land rights or weak tenure rights, then they could be invaded and encroached by others, undermining people’s rights, well-being, forest outcomes and restoration,” she added.
She advocates for a biocultural approach to restoration, one that includes communities in decision-making processes and recognizes the diversity dimensions of their demands, aspirations and goals for their futures.
“Decision-makers need to ensure that these long-term restoration gains continue to happen, or ask Indigenous leaders what their demands are,” Benzeev said.
Restoring a ‘good life’
Beyond state protection for environmental defenders who guard their territories, the Pataxó leader, who is also the first Indigenous city councilor elected in municipality of Pau Brasil, said the communities need strong policies and sustained funding to establish new environmental preservation areas.
Ayres emphasized that effective protection requires community-tailored initiatives that link forest restoration with community well-being. These include strengthening community-based economies within Indigenous lands, implementing payment for ecosystem services programs, improving enforcement of environmental laws and imposing stronger penalties for illegal invasions and environmentally destructive activities.
Studies show that ensuring territorial sovereignty, promoting Bem Viver (living well), caring for ancestors and other living things, while addressing spiritual and cultural responsibilities, are among the five primary themes that the author said are key to aiding long-term conservation and restoration goals.
More than viewing forests and biomes as mere sources that sustain Indigenous livelihoods, Ayres said it is crucial to recognize Indigenous peoples’ cultural and sacred relationships with their forests, which are also a source of food, medicine, traditions and rituals.
Among the Kaingáng people in southern Brazil, for example, there is a long-standing relationship with Paraná pine (Araucaria angustifolia), an endangered species native to the Atlantic Forest.
“Despite its threatened status, Araucaria remains abundant in Kaingáng territories, as it is deeply intertwined with their cultural practices and also represents an important source of income through the sale of its seeds (pinhão),” Ayres said.
The Pataxó leader told Mongabay that traditional planting practices have helped her community continue to keep the forest standing. “We replant trees that are important to our cultural rituals. Just as knowledge is passed on, the continuity of trees and their plantation is necessary for the transmission of our culture.”
Additional reporting by Karla Mendes.
Banner image: Aerial view of the Caramuru-Paraguassu Indigenous Territory in Brazil’s northeastern Bahia state. Although the territory was officially recognized in 1926, it was illegally occupied by cattle ranchers for decades, which changed its climate, soil and forest characteristics. Image by Karla Mendes/Mongabay.
Citations:
Benzeev, R., Zhang, S., Piffer, P. R., & Mills-Novoa, M. (2025). Land tenure regimes influenced long-term restoration gains and reversals across Brazil’s Atlantic forest. Nature Communications, 16(1), 9656. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64732-0
Benzeev, R., Mills-Novoa, M., Pataxó, F., Machado, M., Santos, O. B. D., & Menezes, P. D. (2025). Broadening forest restoration’s benefits by including community-identified priorities in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Environmental Research Letters, 20(10), 104036. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adfce8
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