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The document analyzes the landscape of non-state and subnational climate action in Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighting the role of cities, companies, and international cooperative initiatives in mitigating deforestation in the Amazon.

The author contends that digital conglomerates have hijacked public spaces, replacing organic community meaning-making with a profit-driven consumerist ethic. This corporate dominance leads to the marginalization and potential physical endangerment of excluded groups, such as indigenous peoples in the Amazon and the Uyghur community in Xinjiang. The text calls for civil society and the ecumenical movement to defend the integrity of public communication spaces to uphold social justice and the common good.

The document identifies infrastructure and extractive industries as 'drivers of drivers' that open forest access and facilitate further deforestation. While these sectors directly cause less loss than agriculture (10% and 7% respectively), they enable vast indirect degradation. The brief highlights systemic failures, including power imbalances excluding Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs), lack of transparency, and finance flowing to destructive activities. Despite some progress through G7 commitments, World Bank initiatives, and increased legal actions by IPLCs, the document argues that a fundamental realignment of economic pathways and incentives is required to protect intact forests.

The author warns that ignoring the scientific link between tropical forest preservation and rainfall patterns will lead to unsustainable economic costs for Brazil due to increasing droughts and agribusiness losses.

The document warns that Brazil may stop producing official deforestation data for the Cerrado biome in April 2022 because the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) lacks guaranteed funding. It asserts that such a 'data blackout' would hinder scientific production, limit civil society access to information, and prevent the productive sector from using transparency as a commercial advantage in global markets. The text highlights that nearly half of the Cerrado's native vegetation has already been deforested, primarily driven by agricultural expansion, and that maintaining monitoring is a low-cost investment with high potential benefits for meeting climate goals.

The Living Planet Report 2022 documents a severe decline in global wildlife populations and emphasizes the interlinked nature of the biodiversity and climate crises. It advocates for a global 'nature-positive' goal by 2030, requiring transformative shifts in economic systems, production, and consumption to move beyond current conservation efforts and address the root drivers of environmental degradation.

The report finds that the introduction of a mandatory environmental conciliation stage has paralyzed 98% of deforestation-related infringement notices issued between October 2019 and May 2021, exacerbating impunity. This occurs against a broader trend of weakening environmental control since 2015, with deforestation rates returning to 2006 levels by 2021. The analysis also highlights severe transparency gaps in Ibama's open data, including the loss of geographic area data for sanctions after August 2019 and restricted public access to procedural documents.

The document examines a legislative report by Senator Carlos Fávaro that favors Bill (PL) no 510/2021 over Bill (PL) no 2633/2020. The authors argue that the proposed changes primarily benefit medium and large land occupants while failing to assist small farmers, potentially incentivizing illegal deforestation and increasing land conflicts in Brazil, particularly in the Amazon.

The study finds that while forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon are not systematically used as a direct first step to clear vegetation—with only 11% of fire-affected areas being deforested within three years—they often serve as a leading indicator of imminent deforestation in the surrounding vicinity. This association is significantly stronger in rural settlements and occupied public lands, suggesting fires may facilitate land grabbing. Regionally, the link between fire and nearby deforestation has strengthened in states such as Acre, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, and Roraima, peaking in 2017.

Between 2013 and 2020, approximately 42% of fire hotspots in the Brazilian Amazon occurred in previously undisturbed forests, affecting an estimated 18,000 square kilometers annually. While only 11% of fire-affected forest areas transitioned to clear-cut deforestation within three years, fire serves as a strong regional indicator of risk, with high rates of subsequent deforestation occurring in the surrounding areas. This association is particularly strong in rural settlements and public land holdings, where fire may facilitate land grabbing. Regional analysis shows an intensification of this fire-deforestation link in states such as Acre, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, and Roraima, especially around 2017.

The report analyzes the spatial and temporal links between forest degradation and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon from 2017 to 2020. Using INPE's DETER and PRODES systems, it finds that while direct local conversion of degraded areas into deforested land is low (10%), a significant portion of deforestation (30%) occurs within 1 km of previously degraded areas. The study highlights that degradation is more prevalent in medium and large private properties than deforestation is, suggesting that degradation can serve as a regional risk indicator for future deforestation and that policy efforts should be targeted based on land tenure categories.

The document examines Senator Carlos Fávaro's legislative report which favors PL 510/2021 over PL 2633/2020. The authors argue that the proposed changes primarily benefit medium and large land occupants by extending the time frame for land occupation, simplifying titling procedures through self-declaration for larger areas, and weakening environmental safeguards. These changes are seen as incentives for illegal deforestation and land grabbing, particularly in the Amazon, while offering no benefits to small-scale farmers.

The report examines the Brazil's Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) as a key entity for risk management and preventive audits in federal land transport infrastructure. It finds that the TCU often becomes the primary body for approving Technical, Economical and Environmental Feasibility Studies (EVTEA), but typically does so too late in the project life cycle, leading to inefficiencies and wasted public resources. Through case studies of the BR-163/230/MT/PA highway, the North-South Railway (FNSTC), the South Integration Highway (RIS), and Ferrogrão, the document illustrates the TCU's role in defining environmental responsibilities and identifying flaws in feasibility studies, while maintaining a boundary that avoids infringing on the Executive Branch's discretionary power.

The report outlines findings from several IAI Small Grants Programme projects. Key highlights include the loss of carbon retention in the Amazon due to deforestation, the identification of a complex 'water crisis' in border regions of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, and the development of predictive models for the Paraná River basin to balance hydroelectric energy needs with ecosystem services. It also emphasizes the role of co-production of knowledge and participatory governance in enhancing community adaptation to global environmental change across countries including Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay.

Friends of the Earth International criticizes the COP26 deforestation pledge as a rebranding of failed initiatives like REDD+, asserting that it facilitates corporate greenwashing through carbon credits and offsets. The statement highlights the hypocrisy of signatory nations, citing the EU-Mercosur agreement's impact on the Amazon and the lack of binding regulations to protect Indigenous Peoples' rights and stop industrial agriculture and extractive industries.

Friends of the Earth International criticizes the COP26 deforestation pledge as a 'greenwashing' effort similar to failed REDD+ initiatives. The organization contends that the reliance on carbon offsets and private financing—exemplified by the UK's funding of the LEAF coalition—enables corporations like Amazon and Unilever to continue emitting while risking land grabs in the Global South. The statement highlights contradictions, such as the EU-MERCOSUR trade agreement's impact on the Amazon and Brazil's treatment of indigenous peoples, and calls for binding human rights instruments and immediate emission cuts over market-based sinks.

Friends of the Earth International criticizes the COP26 deforestation promise as a 'relooking' of failed initiatives like REDD+, claiming it facilitates corporate carbon offsetting rather than actual emission reductions. The statement highlights the hypocrisy of signatory nations, citing the EU-Mercosur trade agreement and Brazil's treatment of indigenous peoples, and calls for binding regulations and direct climate finance instead of market-based mechanisms.

ClientEarth evaluates the Environment Act 2021, noting that as a framework law, its success depends on future targets and rules. The organization criticizes the Act for failing to align air quality targets with WHO guidelines and for creating a loophole in deforestation laws by only restricting commodities produced illegally under local laws, which may fail to protect the Amazon rainforest.

The report examines how the TCU has evolved into a primary instance for the preventive control of socio-environmental risks in federal transport infrastructure concessions. While the TCU provides critical oversight to mitigate risks and ensure legal security, its intervention often occurs too late in the project lifecycle. This tardiness is attributed to a lack of motivated and transparent approval of Technical, Economic, and Environmental Viability Studies (EVTEA) by the Executive branch at the start of the viability phase. The document analyzes four case studies—BR-163/230/MT/PA, the North-South Railway (FNSTC), the Southern Integration Highway (RIS), and Ferrogrão—to illustrate the tensions between the TCU's oversight and the Executive's discretionary power, as well as the systemic failures in viability study quality, often exacerbated by the use of Manifestation of Interest (PMI) procedures.

The document outlines the role of major soy traders in driving deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado, critiquing current sustainability policies and certification schemes as insufficient. It recommends that financial institutions make financing contingent on traders adopting a January 2020 cut-off date, full traceability, and robust monitoring, with a timeline for suspending or ceasing services for non-compliance by 2023 and 2024.