How to stop deforestation: what actually works

Deforestation can be stopped, and it has been slowed before. Between 2004 and 2012, a mix of policies cut the rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon by 84%.¹ The tools that work are well known: protect the forest that still stands, secure the rights of the people who live in it, enforce the law, close markets to products from cleared land, and let damaged forest grow back.

Can deforestation be stopped?

Yes. Brazil's official monitoring system, PRODES, shows how fast the numbers can move. Deforestation in the Brazilian Legal Amazon peaked at 27,772 km² in 2004, then fell to 4,571 km² in 2012.² Researchers credit several policies acting together, not one silver bullet.¹

The gains were not permanent. Clearing climbed back to 13,038 km² in 2021.² It has since fallen again: 5,731 km² in the year from August 2024 to July 2025, a 12% drop on the year before.³ The lesson is plain. Deforestation responds to policy, in both directions, and protection only lasts while someone keeps enforcing it. For the drivers behind these numbers, see what causes deforestation.

Protect standing forest: protected areas and land rights

The cheapest forest to save is the one still standing. A study of the whole tropics compared deforestation from 2010 to 2018 in 3.4 million km² of Indigenous lands and 2 million km² of protected areas with similar land that had no protection. Both cut deforestation and degradation. Indigenous lands performed about as well as protected areas, and better in Africa.⁴

Formal rights matter. In the Brazilian Amazon, Indigenous territories with full, legally completed property rights had significantly less deforestation than land just outside their borders. Territories still waiting for that legal step showed no such effect.⁵ Recognizing land rights is a human rights question first. It is also one of the most reliable forest policies on record.

Enforce the law, with satellites watching

Laws against illegal clearing only work if someone sees the clearing in time. Brazil's DETER system scans satellite images and sends near-real-time deforestation alerts to environmental enforcement teams. Economists used cloud cover, which blinds the satellites, to test its effect: where monitoring could guide enforcement, deforestation fell.⁶

Free global alerts now cover the tropics. Their value depends on who uses them. In a study of 22 tropical countries, subscribing to alerts cut the probability of deforestation in Africa by 18% compared with 2011–2016 levels. Merely having alerts available changed nothing, and there was no measurable effect on other continents.⁷ Data helps when people with the authority to act are watching it.

Rules for markets and money: supply chains, the EUDR and REDD+

Deforestation-free supply chains

Much of the forest is cleared to grow products for distant buyers. That gives buyers leverage. Under the Amazon Soy Moratorium, grain traders agreed not to buy soy grown on recently deforested Amazon land. It prevented an estimated 18,000 km² of deforestation in its first decade, from 2006 to 2016. It worked best alongside public property registries and deforestation monitoring.¹

Voluntary deals can also unravel. Around the turn of 2026, ABIOVE, the Brazilian vegetable oil industry association that represents major grain traders, began withdrawing from the moratorium. It was responding to a Mato Grosso state law that removes tax breaks for companies that signed it.⁸ By July 2026, no company was still listed as a signatory.⁹ The moratorium shows what supply-chain pressure can achieve, and why it cannot replace law.

Trade law: the EUDR

The EU has turned that pressure into law. Under the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy, wood and certain products made from them must be deforestation-free and legally produced. The rules apply from 30 December 2026 for large and medium operators, and from 30 June 2027 for most micro and small operators.¹⁰ Our EUDR guide explains what companies must do.

International cooperation: how REDD+ works

REDD+ is a framework under the UN climate convention. It offers developing countries positive incentives for five activities: reducing emissions from deforestation, reducing emissions from forest degradation, conserving forest carbon stocks, managing forests sustainably and enhancing forest carbon stocks.¹⁴ To receive results-based payments, a country needs four elements: a national strategy or action plan, a forest reference level to measure against, a national forest monitoring system and a system for reporting on safeguards. The rulebook was largely finalized at the 2013 climate conference in Warsaw, and the Paris Agreement recognizes REDD+ in its Article 5.¹⁴ In principle, payments follow measured results against the reference level, so credible baselines and monitoring are central.

Restoring forests: natural regrowth, planting and agroforestry

Restoration cannot replace protection, but it can bring back forest where it was lost. There are three broad approaches.

• Natural regeneration. Where seeds, soil and nearby forest remain, forest can return on its own once the pressure stops. A 2024 study found 215 million hectares of deforested tropical land with potential for natural regrowth, 52% of it in Brazil, Indonesia, China, Mexico and Colombia. The same study notes that tree planting is costly and often yields less diverse forest than natural regeneration under similar conditions.¹¹
• Tree planting. Planting helps where land cannot recover alone. Done badly, it can do harm. Scientists warn that poorly planned planting could even increase carbon emissions and damage biodiversity and livelihoods. Their rules start with protecting existing forest first, choosing suitable areas, using natural regeneration wherever possible, selecting species for biodiversity and working with local communities.¹² In short: the right tree, in the right place, for the right reason.
• Agroforestry. Trees are grown on the same land as crops or livestock. This can diversify what a farm produces and improve soil fertility, erosion control, water regulation and biodiversity.¹³

What can I do to help stop deforestation?

Individual choices are small next to laws and markets, but they add up and they shape both.

• Eat less beef. Pasture expansion accounts for around half of tropical deforestation that ends in farm production. Oil palm and soy together account for at least a fifth.¹⁵
• Choose paper and wood with care. Buy less, reuse more, and look for FSC labels. FSC 100% comes from FSC-certified forests, FSC Recycled is made from 100% recycled material, and FSC Mix combines certified, recycled and controlled sources.¹⁶
• Read the label on palm oil. Certification helps, but less than many people assume.¹⁷ Our palm oil page explains what the labels mean.
• Back the rules. Support land rights, enforcement and trade laws with your vote and your voice. Once the EUDR applies, anyone can submit substantiated concerns to national authorities when they believe a company is not complying.¹⁸
• Share the story. Most people never see a forest fall. Watch the film and pass it on.

Questions people ask