1), whereas the non-PAs often have high deforestation pressure. PAs are usually located in remote areas with small deforestation pressure (Extended Data Fig. A comparison of deforestation rates between the PAs and the non-protected areas (non-PAs) showed that the deforestation rates in the PAs were 1.6–2.2 times 6 or ten times 1, 7, 8 lower than those in the non-PAs, respectively. Many studies have investigated the effects of the ITs/PAs in reducing deforestation and strengthening forest conservation in the BLA 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, but their results differ substantially as different approaches and datasets were used. ITs and PAs have important roles in forest and biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation in the BLA 4, 5. Since 2000, the Indigenous territories (ITs) and the protected areas (PAs) in the BLA have increased substantially and by 2013 they accounted for 43% of the total land area and covered about half of the total forest area in the region 1. The Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA) has the largest tropical rainforest area, the highest biodiversity and the largest amount of aboveground biomass in the world 1, 2, 3. Our findings reveal the vital role of, and substantial progress achieved by, ITs and PAs in Amazonian forest conservation as well as the dangers of recent weakening of Brazil’s forest policies. However, from 2018 to 2021 the percentage rate of annual gross forest loss in ITs/PAs was twice that of non-designated areas. In the years (2003–2021) after establishment, gross forest loss fell 48% in PAs subject to ‘strict protection’ and 11% in PAs subject to ‘sustainable use’. Between 20, areas classified as ITs or PAs increased to cover 52% of forested areas in the BLA while accounting for only 5% of net forest loss and 12% of gross forest loss. To address this issue, we analysed time-series satellite images and qualified annual forest area in the BLA under different governance and management regimes.

Conflicts between forest conservation and socio-economic development in the Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA) have persisted for years but the effects of Indigenous territory (ITs) and protected area (PAs) status on deforestation there remain unclear.

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