The estimated 400 billion trees of the Amazon rainforest are not just beautiful; they are vital to the health of our planet and our survival. These trees help regulate the global climate, provide habitat for 10% of the world's known wildlife species, absorb and store carbon dioxide, maintain water cycles and support the rainforest’s biodiversity. Additionally, they provide survival essentials like food and medicine that local communities depend on.
Despite the Amazon’s global importance, 20% of the rainforest has disappeared over the past 50 years. This once-thriving forest now faces deforestation caused by agricultural expansion, cattle ranching, illegal logging, mining, land grabbing, and forest fires.
Despite these challenges, the destruction of the Amazon is not inevitable. Indigenous communities, organizations, advocates, and others are committed to safeguarding this vital ecosystem. Here are six innovative responses to the question: What can we do to protect the trees that sustain our planet?
1. Replant and restore degraded areas of forest
Indigenous and traditional communities play a vital role in combating deforestation and restoring degraded areas.
The Guajajara people in the Rio Pindaré reserve are actively working to restore drying springs by mapping headwaters and planting native Amazon species such as buriti, pupunha, and açaí palms. In 2023, they gathered seedlings from the rainforest and replanted them at key headwaters, using Indigenous science to revitalize the ecosystem. Global scientists believe this reforestation effort could help stabilize regional water cycles and reduce the effects of drought and climate change.
Similar reforestation and conservation efforts are being carried out by other Indigenous communities across the Amazon basin.
2. Strengthen legal protections
In 2002, Brazil launched the Amazon Region Protected Areas (ARPA) program with the World Wildlife Fund and other partners. The goal was to protect the Amazon rainforest by safeguarding over 150 million acres. Two decades later, ARPA has surpassed that goal, now protecting 154 million acres — almost 1.5 times the size of California.
The program, which is the world’s largest tropical forest conservation initiative, has preserved biodiversity, reduced deforestation, prevented significant carbon emissions, and aided local livelihoods.
Strong public policies and enforceable laws can significantly reduce deforestation and help preserve the rainforest.
3. Take advantage of international pressure
Global climate financing, alongside public pressure and consumer choices, plays a critical role in the fight against Amazon deforestation.
One of the most prominent mechanisms is the Amazon Fund, launched by the Brazilian government in 2008. It channels international donations into projects that prevent deforestation, promote sustainable forest use, and support environmental monitoring and land management. To date, it has raised over $1.4 billion, with contributions from countries such as Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, the USA, the UK, and Japan. This is just a fraction of what’s needed. Recent estimates point to a funding gap of billions to fully protect the Amazon and meet global climate targets. This is why Global Citizen is calling for at least $1 billion in new commitments by COP30 — to scale up protection efforts, uphold the rights of Indigenous and Traditional Peoples, and deliver climate justice.
But beyond financing, everyday choices matter. When consumers demand deforestation-free products and call on leaders and companies to act, they help shift markets and policies. Together, funding and public pressure can drive real progress in restoring and protecting the Amazon.
4. Promote Indigenous agroforestry systems
Agroforestry is a sustainable system of farming within a forest that mimics nature and preserves biodiversity, while regenerating land and providing income for smallholder farmers. These systems are alternatives to the soy monocultures and cattle ranching that contribute to deforestation in the Amazon.
The Amazónicas Chakras is one example of a traditional agroforestry system, used by the Indigenous Kichwa people of the Ecuadorian Amazon. It promotes sustainable use of the rainforest’s vegetation by growing cassava, plantain, chonta palm, timber trees, fruit trees, and medicinal plants, all within the same plot of land. This creates diverse and sustainable farms that reduce pressure on the forest, keep soils healthy, and support biodiversity and food security.
By working in harmony with their environment, agroforestry systems help preserve the Amazon rainforest, while also meeting the needs of the local communities.
5. Support sustainable and local-led ecotourism
Ecotourism is a form of tourism that aims to respect the environment, wildlife, and local communities and their cultures and traditions.
In the Amazon rainforest, ecotourism can play a significant role in combating deforestation. Ecotourism provides economic benefits to local communities, and encourages protection of the forest instead of destructive activities like logging or mining. It also fosters cultural exchange and low-impact and sustainable development of forested areas.
A notable example is the Sani Warmi collective, an Indigenous women's organization in the Kichwa community of Sani Isla in Ecuador, which runs eco-friendly tourism activities and practices agroecology to generate income and conserve the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest.
The organization hosts visitors at the Sani Lodge, an eco-lodge fully owned and operated by the Kichwa. Guests have the opportunity to visit the community, view traditional Kichwa houses, participate in demonstrations of traditional Kichwa cooking and crafts, and tour their traditional vegetable gardens — all of which contribute to sharing and preserving Kichwa culture and ancestral knowledge, and the rainforest that they call home.
Through these initiatives, the collective has protected around 31,000 hectares (76,600 acres) of the Amazon rainforest while promoting sustainable practices and job creation within the community.
6. Fight deforestation with cutting edge technology
MORFO is a French-Brazilian company specializing in large-scale forest restoration, utilizing cutting-edge technologies like drones, satellites, artificial intelligence alongside on-site assessments to evaluate areas in need of reforestation.
Technologies like drones, satellite imaging, and artificial intelligence are making it easier to detect deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. These tools assist in detecting illegal deforestation, monitoring changes in forest cover, and supporting reforestation initiatives.
For example, an AI-powered satellite monitoring tool was launched to address deforestation threats in the Colombian Amazon by the country’s Attorney General’s Office and the Frankfurt Zoological Society Colombia. This technology, focused on regions like Chiribiquete and La Macarena, swiftly detects illegal deforestation activities, enhancing conservation and informing policy decisions to protect vital ecosystems.
Official data reports on the issue can take up to seven months, but this technology allows authorities to access near-real-time data, make faster decisions, and respond more quickly to environmental crimes.
Drone technology is also helping track and detect deforestation, because it allows communities to survey large areas of the forest that might be inaccessible and look for signs of illegal activities. Drones also make it easy to map, film, and photograph areas under threat, and pass on vital information to authorities to combat illegal rainforest destruction.
Drones have also been used to help with reforestation efforts. MORFO is a French-Brazilian company specializing in large-scale forest restoration, primarily in tropical and subtropical regions. The company utilizes cutting-edge technologies like drones, satellites, artificial intelligence alongside on-site assessments to evaluate areas in need of reforestation. They then can use drones to seed large areas with native plants, and evaluate ecosystem restoration through satellite imagery and drone monitoring.
In 2022, MORFO launched a restoration project to restore an area affected by alluvial gold mining in Crique Korossibo, French Guiana, located deep in the Amazon rainforest. They successfully restored 20 hectares of forest, increasing vegetation cover from 0.3% to 78%. This area now houses around 1,000 trees per hectare, with 12% of the vegetation forming a dense, multi-layered canopy, vital for establishing a self-sustaining ecosystem.
What Can You Do?
Protecting the Amazon takes more than awareness — it needs action. You can advocate for Indigenous and Traditional Peoples’ rights, support policies that protect forests, and use your voice to pressure leaders to fund conservation. Donate to trusted NGOs working on the ground in reforestation, agroforestry, and land rights. Choose products that are deforestation-free, and support ecotourism initiatives that give back to local communities. From supporting tech tools like satellite monitoring to amplifying frontline voices, every choice you make can help restore the Amazon — and secure a healthier planet for all.