The debate on ecological restoration in Brazil revolves around billions of dollars, ambitious goals, and promises of carbon credit markets. However, at the grassroots level—where the seed meets the soil—there is an older reality. Restoration is born from the hands and ancestral knowledge of indigenous peoples, quilombola communities, traditional communities, and family farmers. They are the protagonists of a relationship with the land that, for centuries, has kept the landscape alive and resilient.
Over the past 30 years, while the environmental agenda has gained global dimensions, it has been these community organizations that have driven the agenda locally. In addition to restoring degraded areas, these experiences strengthen the autonomy of territories and demonstrate that conservation and development go hand in hand. The question that remains is: why, then, do we still treat these actors as supporting players or as "beneficiaries" of projects, and not as the protagonists?
In 2019, the UN declared the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, and Brazil, aligned with the Paris Agreement, committed to restoring 12 million hectares by 2030. Policies such as the National Plan for the Recovery of Native Vegetation (Planaveg) were created to address this goal. The problem is that, often, the idealized restoration risks being focused only on numerical targets or on planting trees for carbon sequestration, ignoring that standing vegetation is much more than just wood and leaves.
The restoration that Brazil needs is social. For an indigenous people, restoring an area means reconnecting with the spirituality and history of their ancestors. For a family farmer, it means guaranteeing the production of healthy food. For a quilombola community, it means reaffirming its autonomy and territorial resistance. Restoration accumulates both intangible and practical meanings, and its success depends on an arrangement that strengthens community governance.
From this perspective, four pillars should guide investments and public policies in the sector. The first is the leading role of organizations and collectives. Initiatives need to foster autonomy, respect territorial rights, and guarantee the fair and equitable distribution of benefits.
The second pillar is income generation and market expansion. Restoration needs to generate income through agroforestry systems that combine tree planting with food production, and through producers' access to institutional purchases. It needs to be understood as a sustainable economic activity, capable of reconciling biodiversity restoration, food security, and productive inclusion.
The third pillar is learning. Knowledge production can be participatory, valuing both the scientific field and the practices developed by communities across generations. To achieve this, exchanges between communities, partnerships with universities, and the promotion of rural education are essential.
Finally, the fourth pillar is the landscape scale. This means considering integrated fire management, water security, and participation in watershed committees, Conservation Unit councils, and institutional strengthening. Restoration must be a territorial project.
This is where the great challenge lies: ecological restoration attracts increasing investment, but the sustainability of the results depends on how this money will be used, whether it will simply generate credits or build a truly inclusive green economy.
Along these lines, the Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN) has accumulated valuable lessons learned over three decades. Through the Ecos Fund, it has enabled more than 130 community projects that have resulted in the management and restoration of more than 27 hectares.
In addition to direct funding for community initiatives, ISPN develops strategies that integrate productive restoration, agroecology, agroforestry systems, research and monitoring, institutional strengthening, demonstration units, and networking. These actions value the leadership of young people, women, local leaders, indigenous peoples, traditional peoples and communities, and family farmers.
All these experiences demonstrate that the great challenge for the Decade of Restoration is to connect people, territories, and opportunities, supporting community projects in a continuous way. Therefore, recognizing and valuing the work of these communities becomes essential for the success of restoration policies in Brazil. Next week, the VI Brazilian Conference on Ecological Restoration (SOBRE 2026) will host debates on the topic at the University of Brasília (UnB), offering opportunities for exchange and progress on this agenda nationwide.
*Natanna Horstmann, Robert Miller and Luan Hamon — socio-environmental analysts at the Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN)
*Article originally published in the newspaper Mail Braziliense