1.
The permanence of deforestation
reduction may depend upon the adoption
of alternative livelihood activities:
Evidence from an Amazon REDD+ site
Cauê Carrilho, Carla Morsello
Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
cauecarrilho@gmail.com

2.
REDD+: Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation and conservation, sustainable management and
enhancement of carbon stocks

3.
Research problem
REDD+ is reaching some level of deforestation reduction, but do
outcomes persist after REDD+ interventions have ended?
Which implementation factors may help self-sustain outcomes?
?
X

4.
Research problem
We investigated the long-term outcomes for forest conservation of a
REDD+ initiative in the Brazilian Amazon.
We then evaluated whether the adoption of alternative livelihood
activities was a causal mechanism for self-sustaining forest
conservation outcomes by searching for heterogeneous effects among
households that adopted and did not adopt those activities.

5.
2010 2019
Before After
52 46
Treatment Control
Quasi-experimental design
Groups
The REDD+ initiative
Project Sustainable Settlements in the
Amazon:
Pará, Amazon, Brazil.
Mix of interventions.
350 smallholders.
Launched: 2012; ended: 2017.
Pictures from:
https://assentamentosustentavel.org.br/

6.
2019
2010 2014
2012 2017
Forest outcomes were non-permanent at first sight
Simonet, G. et al, 2019. Effectiveness of a REDD+ project in
reducing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. American
Journal of Agricultural Economics, v. 101, n. 1, p. 211-229.

7.
Treated households that adopted
alternative livelihood (25)
An average of 14.67% to 16.90%
more forest cover (~10.40 to
~11.98 ha) than controls
Treated households that did not
them (27)
No significant forest outcomes
compared to controls
REDD+ heterogenous effects

8.
Conclusions
• Our results suggest the adoption of alternative livelihood activities
helped to boost forest cover in the long run.
• For reaching self-sustaining REDD+ outcomes for forest conservation,
we need to promote the adoption of alternative livelihood activities.
Thank you!
cauecarrilho@gmail.com
Twitter: cauecarrilho