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Mitch Korolev/Woodwell
Celebrating Three Decades of Work for the Amazon and the Cerrado
What Changes in 30 Years?
In 1995, when IPAM (the Amazon Environmental Research Institute) began its journey in Belém, Pará, climate change was already showing signs of what it would mean to live on an extreme planet.
Three decades later, science confirmed 2024 as the first year to exceed 1.5°C above the global average temperature¹—the threshold set by the Paris Agreement to curb Earth’s overheating. While this milestone doesn’t yet represent the scientifically stipulated barrier (which is measured over decades), it serves as a warning.
Human-driven climate change has led to increasingly extreme events like droughts, floods, and heatwaves. In the 1990s, Brazil recorded about 725 climate-related disasters per year; by 2020, that number had risen to 4,077².
1 – World Meteorological Organization
2 – Technical Report I – 2024: The Hottest Year in History. Brazilian Alliance for Ocean Culture. 2025..
Mitch Korolev/Woodwell
Pedro Alcântara/M’bóia
Populations and communities in the Amazon and the Cerrado are among those hardest hit by the climate emergency. Meanwhile, food and commodity production systems face crop losses, income declines, and labor disruptions with each year of unstable weather.
With a focus on large-scale, equitable solutions, IPAM works in dialogue with multiple sectors of society. Over these 30 years, we’ve achieved significant milestones in conservation and sustainable production alongside partners from public agencies, private entities, and civil society.
With a unique approach, IPAM develops solutions from micro to macro levels: producing science grounded in local realities and sharing knowledge to support public policies and international mechanisms.
Explore the pieces that make IPAM one of the world’s most respected independent environmental research institutions today.
Our Story
Lack of Climate Adaptation Is a Barrier to Protecting the Amazon and Traditional Peoples
For Patricia Pinho, Research Director at IPAM, lack of public policies and investment hinders the response to climate impacts in the region.
Lack of Land Allocation Leaves 56 Million Hectares Vulnerable in the Amazon
Land grabbing and delays in the earmarking process threaten Non-Earmarked Public Forests, which already account for more than 30% of deforestation in the region.
How IPAM relied on dialog to promote a low-carbon economy
Since its creation, the Institute has interacted with the private sector to identify bottlenecks and propose solutions that guarantee sustainable socio-economic development.
Three decades of IPAM in Brazil, which hosts COP30
Recall the Institute’s contributions as an observer in international climate negotiations and highlights such as the creation of the concept that gave rise to REDD+.
IPAM researchers have been involved in REDD+ since its conception
Carbon credits represent an opportunity for conservation and the Institute has been working to ensure the effectiveness of the mechanism in the Brazilian context.
IPAM and fire: 30 years of pioneering, research and monitoring
Since the Institute’s founding, researchers have been dedicated to expanding knowledge about fire in different regions of Brazil.
Timeline
1990s
1995 – IPAM is created in Belém, Pará.
1998 – Launch of Risque, a tool that helped establish legislation for correct fire management.
2000s
2000 – Publication of the report on the negative effects of “Avança Brasil”, a large federal investment plan in infrastructure, in the Amazon.
2001 – Start of the “Seca Floresta” project, which analyzed the impact of a less rainy scenario in the Amazon.
2002 – IPAM creates, with partners, the Climate Observatory, one of the most active third sector networks on the climate issue.
2003 – IPAM launches, with partners, the concept of “compensated reduction of deforestation”, which was the basis of the REDD+ mechanism.
2004 – The savannization project begins, which simulates the effects of fire on forest degradation in the Amazon.
2005 – IPAM helps create and coordinate the Socio-Environmental Plan for the Development of the BR-163 and Xingu, based on the federal government’s Sustainable BR-163 Plan, a milestone of participatory governance in the history of undertakings in the country.
2008 – Launch of the book “REDD in Brazil: an Amazonian perspective”.
2009 – IPAM helps create CIDS, the first consortium of municipalities that focuses on reducing deforestation and fire.
2010s
2011 – IPAM and partners demonstrate the importance of protected areas, in scientific articles, for climate balance, which contributed to the National Policy for Environmental and Territorial Management in Indigenous Lands.
2012 – IPAM launches the Sustainable Settlements in the Amazon project.
2014 – IPAM conducts a study on deforestation in settlements, which is used as the basis for Incra’s Green Settlements program.
2015 – IPAM and partners help formulate the Produce, Conserve and Include strategy, launched by the government of Mato Grosso.
2016 – IPAM helps create and coordinate the Socio-Environmental Plan for the Development of the BR-163 and Xingu, based on the federal government’s Sustainable BR-163 Plan, a milestone of participatory governance in the history of undertakings in the country.
2019 – Supports technical debate on the Mercosur/European Union agreement.
2020s
2020 – Publishes articles and reports on the dynamics of land grabbing in undesignated public forests in the Amazon.
2021 – Provides technical contributions to the development of the concept of “climate damage” considered in actions by the Judiciary and the Public Ministry.
2021 – Scientific article reveals, for the first time, the effects of deforestation, climate change, and agriculture.
2022 – IPAM and partners reveal studies on the actions of land grabbers to deforest.
2023 – Project maps undesignated public forest areas in the Amazon that could have their designation defined.
“Just as rivers converge, IPAM and people’s stories connect for a greater good: keeping the Amazon and the Cerrado alive and thriving.”
Alcilene Cardoso, IPAM researcher
Sara Leal/IPAM
You in IPAM’s Next 30 Years
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