Political will has been critical for protecting forests in the Brazilian Amazon and Indonesia
Tropical deforestation remains a major driver of climate change and biodiversity loss, yet two‑thirds of tropical forests persist. To understand what protects them, a Delphi study with 36 experts examined the Brazilian Amazon and Indonesia—two global deforestation hotspots. Experts highlighted political will, strong civil society advocacy and intergovernmental diplomacy as the most influential factors shaping forest protection. They also emphasized how the importance of these drivers shifts over time and interacts with national and international policy structures. The findings underscore that safeguarding tropical forests depends not only on formal policies but also on dynamic political and economic conditions that enable effective conservation.
Subject Tags
- Forest
- Policy
Abstract
Deforestation remains a prominent contributor to climate change and biodiversity loss. Yet while 76 million hectares of primary tropical forest have been lost since 2000, two thirds of tropical forests remain. What factors have been most important for protecting these forests? Unlike policies, which often have clearly defined spatial and temporal boundaries, the roles played by dynamic underlying political and economic structures, and their interactions with policies and emergent factors, can be challenging to identify. Expert knowledge can bridge this gap by revealing the full range of factors needed to achieve forest protection. Here, we conducted a Delphi study with 36 experts, focusing on the Brazilian Amazon and Indonesia. Our results highlight the importance of political will, civil society advocacy, and intergovernmental diplomacy, and shifts in the importance of different factors over time. These findings illuminate the interactions between international and national structures and policies in generating the conditions for forest protection.
Citation
Lyons‐White, J., Spencer, M., Arif, J., Balmford, A., Barlow, J., Brandão, J., ... & Garrett, R. D. (2025). Political will has been critical for protecting forests in the Brazilian Amazon and Indonesia. Conservation Letters, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.13120
TNC Authors
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David Cleary
The Nature Conservancy