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Traditional conservation strategies still the best option

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The conservation movement has lost its critical edge by befriending agribusiness. With deforestation on the rise and a continuous roll-back of environmental protection, it is time to rethink this strategy.

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Fig. 1: Annual deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon from PRODES project24 with the main events that influenced deforestation reduction (green) and the recent reversal (red).
Fig. 2

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support from the Climate and Land Use Alliance, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa de Minas Gerais. B. S.-F. is also supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Remote Sensing, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Britaldo Soares-Filho

  2. Environmental Services Management Laboratory, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Raoni Rajão

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  1. Britaldo Soares-Filho
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  2. Raoni Rajão
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Correspondence to Britaldo Soares-Filho or Raoni Rajão.

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Soares-Filho, B., Rajão, R. Traditional conservation strategies still the best option. Nat Sustain 1, 608–610 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0179-9

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