- Poverty and environmental degradation in Amazonia are closely interconnected. Supporting sustainable livelihoods and conserving forests are part of the same challenge.
- Vulnerable populations, including indigenous people, rural communities, women, and informal workers, face compounding risks from both poverty and extreme weather events, often without adequate buffers to absorb shocks.
- Three types of social protection instruments (regular, adaptive, and socio-environmental) are most effective when used together, with indigenous peoples and traditional communities as active participants.
Amazonia holds extraordinary natural capital, forests that help regulate global weather patterns, rivers that support regions across seven countries, and biodiversity found nowhere else on Earth. Yet the communities living closest to these ecosystems remain among the most underserved in Latin America and the Caribbean. Figure 1 illustrates the scale of these disparities: more than one-third of Amazonia's population lives below the poverty line, with poverty rates of 8.3 percentage points above non-Amazonian areas. Nearly half of the population also lacks access at least to one essential service.
Rural areas are also affected, with poverty rates reaching 39.4%, compared to 33.9% in urban areas. In Indigenous territories, 40.5% of people live in poverty, six points above the regional average. Women face overlapping challenges, including lower earnings, lower labor force participation, and shouldering more unpaid care work. Finally, as shown on the map in Figure 1, areas with the highest levels of biodiversity and ecosystem services often coincide with the highest levels of poverty. These challenges are particularly concentrated in remote, rural, and Indigenous territories, where deprivation overlaps with geographic isolation.
Nearly half the region is exposed to disasters and extreme weather events, which have been increasing in frequency and severity in recent decades. These shocks disproportionately affect poorer and more vulnerable populations. An estimated 14.5 million people living in poverty reside in areas at high risk of drought and wildfires, and 25.4 million live in nature degraded areas.
These pressures can create a vicious cycle, pushing more people into poverty and deepening existing vulnerabilities. When disaster strikes, low-income households often lack insurance or protection mechanisms. As a result, many are forced to take on coping strategies, such as selling productive assets, withdrawing children from school, increasing child labor, or overusing natural resources to survive. While these coping strategies may help address immediate needs, they can weaken long-term resilience and deepen the poverty cycle. Protecting Amazonia today means safeguarding both its natural capital and the well-being of the people and communities who depend on it.
Our latest publication, Amazonia: A Journey Toward Prosperity and Resilience, is part of Amazonia Forever, a holistic umbrella program that aims to scale up financing, share strategic knowledge for decision-makers, and enhance regional coordination to accelerate the sustainable, inclusive and resilient development of the Amazon region. The publication identifies three types of social protection instruments that are essential for the region.
Regular social protection, which includes contributory mechanisms such as pensions and unemployment insurance, as well as non-contributory programs like cash transfers, plays a central role in supporting household stability. These instruments help sustain income and consumption, while improving access to education and health services. Brazil’s Cadastro Único, for example, covers around 95 million people nationwide, including roughly 19 million in the Amazonia.
At the same time, important coverage and targeting gaps remain. Around 46% of people living in poverty in Amazonian countries do not receive cash transfers, while an estimated 35% of beneficiaries are not poor. Informality further compounds the challenge: in Amazonian areas of Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru, more than 80% of workers are informal, limiting access to contributory schemes and often to non-contributory transfers as well.
Despite these gaps, cash transfers remain a critical tool for reducing vulnerability. Without them, poverty in Amazonian countries would be an estimated 2.2 percentage points higher.
Adaptive social protection complements these efforts by integrating disaster risk management, social welfare policies to provide timely assistance during crises. In Peru, for example, the government distributed an emergency bonus during the 2017 Coastal El Niño, benefiting recipients of Juntos and Pensión 65 in affected districts. In Brazil, the Unified Social Assistance System coordinates with civil defense agencies to implement adaptive social protection before, during, and after emergencies.
These are promising examples, but they are still not widespread: contingency funds and insurance mechanisms remain limited, and many systems still lack the flexibility to expand coverage quickly when disaster strikes.
Socio-environmental protection programs. Programs like Brazil’s Bolsa Verde, Ecuador’s Socio Bosque, and Peru’s Programa Bosques provide cash or in-kind transfers to low-income individuals and communities that help conserve native ecosystems. In addition to financial support, these programs often include technical assistance, training, and opportunities to strengthen sustainable livelihoods, helping local communities serve as long-term stewards of nature.
The results are measurable: Bolsa Verde contributed to a 22% reduction in deforestation in Amazonian settlements; and Socio Bosque achieved reductions of up to 1.5%, particularly through collective contracts.
Turning a vicious cycle into a virtuous one requires stronger social protection, adaptive systems with clear protocols and contingency financing, and socio-environmental programs with territorial approaches. The participation of vulnerable and local communities is essential to ensuring these efforts are effective and sustainable. Social protection plays a central role in advancing inclusive development, strengthening resilience, and supporting long-term sustainability. By investing in integrated and adaptive systems, Amazonian countries can help expand opportunities, strengthen livelihoods and build greater resilience for the future.
Want to learn more? Download our latest publication Amazonia: A Journey Toward Prosperity & Resilience.
Note: This blog is part of a joint analytical effort developed in collaboration with teams across the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), with contributions from Arturo Jose Galindo and Nadia Rocha.
Keywords:
Social Protection