Why legality is important in fighting deforestation in the Amazon

Call to action 10 November 2025

Deforestation is continuing in tropical regions, despite a number of public and private commitments to put a stop to it. The latest issue of Perspective includes an unprecedented analysis of the conditions for effective implementation of commitments to "zero deforestation", based on work done in Colombia. The authors consider that one issue is often overlooked: the distinction between legal and illegal deforestation.

Beneficiaries of the TerrAmaz project explain the rotational grazing system practised in Guaviare, Colombia © Cristina Rosero Ramírez, CIRAD
Beneficiaries of the TerrAmaz project explain the rotational grazing system practised in Guaviare, Colombia © Cristina Rosero Ramírez, CIRAD

Tropical deforestation is one of the main drivers of climate change and biodiversity erosion. In the Amazon, it is still a threat for 4.7 million hectares of remaining forests. The current monitoring and warning systems do not distinguish between legally authorised and unauthorised deforestation. This omission makes it difficult to translate international commitments into concrete results.

The TerrAmaz project: an operational analysis framework

The TerrAmaz project (2021-2025), coordinated by CIRAD and funded by the Agence française de développement (AFD), served to test, in several Amazonian territories, territory-based approaches reconciling local development and forest conservation. In Guaviare district, Colombia, researchers built a novel analysis framework for use in identifying legal and illegal deforestation zones, based on national law and land use plans for each municipality.

This pioneering work showed that 75% of deforestation in Guaviare was illegal, primarily because territorial governance remains fragile following decades of armed conflict.

Including local players, for a zero-deforestation future

The authors of this issue of Perspective are calling for a pragmatic, inclusive approach in terms of environmental legality. They recommend building temporary solutions associating the local authorities: conservation agreements, sustainable conversion plans, and "green title" systems, to regularise certain past illegal situations without resorting to blanket amnesties. The aim is to include as many players as possible in the zero deforestation process.

Rethinking forest conservation funding

The study also highlights the need to reform budget allocation rules for local institutions in charge of controlling deforestation. Funds are currently allocated based on population size rather than on the area of forest to be managed. The authors recommend indexing public funding to the area actually being protected or managed sustainably, to give territories the means to act.