Tropical rainforests are the lungs of the planet, taking in 7.6 billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere every year and replacing it with oxygen. Their complex ecosystems sustain millions of species, and they are vital to the livelihoods and economic needs of people and communities, yet they are under threat. Over the past 50 years, nearly a third of rainforest land around the world has been destroyed.
Brazil’s Atlantic Forest is one of the world’s most endangered rainforests. It occupies more than 500,000 square miles and has been called one of the most biodiverse spots on the planet. The region is home to the vast majority of the nation’s population and more than 70% of its gross domestic product. But agricultural expansion, livestock farming, urban sprawl, and other factors have wiped out much of the forest, endangering the economic health of Brazil and its people, the ecosystem of the region, and our global environment.
Dr. Luís Fernando Guedes Pinto – executive director of Brazilian conservation NGO SOS Mata Atlântica and a 2024 resident at The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center (Bellagio Center) – believes that the Atlantic Forest can and must be restored. Doing so would create a more sustainable and prosperous future for Brazil, and the lessons it produces could aid rainforest restoration in every part of the globe. Dr. Pinto realized that no organization or sector could achieve this on their own. During his residency, he designed a model for the forest’s restoration that united public, private, and NGO partners to protect and heal this vital resource. A year later, he and the SOS Mata Atlântica team have already put the model into action, setting up 10 pilot programs, building partnerships, and enlisting nine companies to join them in their work. On November 5, 2025, they held an official launch in Sao Paolo attended by an array of governmental, corporate, and environmental leaders.
We talked to Dr. Pinto about why the Atlantic Forest is such a critical region for restoration, the power of cross-sector partnerships, how this work can create a template for the restoration of other forests, and how his Bellagio Center residency helped to bring this plan to life.
This is likely to be the first tropical forest in the world where we reverse deforestation at this scale. We have the partnerships, governance, capital, and solutions to change the trajectory of collapse into something successful.
Dr. Luís Fernando Guedes PintoExecutive DirectorSOS Mata Atlântica
Why is it important to protect and restore the Atlantic Forest?
The Atlantic Forest is an icon and a symbol of Brazil. Even the name “Brazil” comes from a tree found in the forest. The Altantic Forest is also where our biggest cities and some of our most important companies are found, where 70% of Brazil’s GDP and half of our food is produced.
But it’s also where most of our environmental tragedies occur. The Atlantic Forest is the planet’s number-two biodiversity hotspot, home to a large number of endemic species which are threatened. Generations of deforestation have destroyed more than 75% of the total forest. This region faces a series of environmental and water crises. Without large-scale conservation and restoration, the systems, economies, cities, and industries that depend on this region could collapse.
If we can halt and reverse the destruction of the Atlantic Forest, it will positively impact Brazil’s economy, ecology, and future. The benefits aren’t limited to one nation, either. It would help us tackle the global climate and biodiversity crises by capturing more CO2 from the atmosphere and saving countless species from extinction. I’m convinced that the solutions we are designing and the partnerships that drive them can be a reference that helps the world reach zero deforestation of tropical forests.
What have been the biggest challenges in fighting deforestation in the Atlantic Forest?
The vast majority of deforestation comes from agriculture – crop land, grazing land for livestock, things like that. Next is the expansion of urban infrastructure, particularly to support tourism. Mining is at a small scale, but still significant.
One huge challenge is helping people understand that protecting nature is important to their day-to-day lives. People don’t realize how much they depend on the environment for their health, water, and energy. Our destruction of nature is a boomerang that is coming back to destroy our economy.
We also have to address the economic tension. The Atlantic Forest region produces the majority of Brazil’s GDP, but people can make more money in the short term by cutting it down for grazing land, fields for crops, and other agricultural needs. To counter that, we need clear economic incentives for protecting and restoring forests. It is possible to have production yields while protecting the forest, but the returns are lower. We need to create more ways for people to make money by helping nature.
We’re launching an ambitious, long-term, high-scale, science-based restoration project to preserve and restore one of the most threatened regions of the Atlantic Forest. Over 10 years, SOS Mata Atlântica is going to plant more than 10,000 hectares of forest. We’re also working to create at least 20 private reserves, where we can add more than a thousand hectares of new conservation, and we’re advocating to create two more new public conservation units.
It’s impossible to work alone. Collaboration is key, and each sector brings different expertise. To succeed, we have to get all of them together and tap into their unique strengths.
On the private sector side, we’ve built an alliance of companies who are investing in our work. The first group is already on board, including Heineken and Salesforce, Brazilian companies such as Motiva, INA, and IPÊ, and others. Heineken just committed to support our environmental education program for the next five years.
The public sector is also crucial. We work extensively with public conservation units that are part of Brazil’s Ministry of Environment. As an institution, we are part of governance bodies from the municipal to the federal. We have a seat on a national council for biodiversity that advises the government on policies around biodiversity conservation, we’re part of regional watershed committees, and we will have a seat on one city’s municipal working group on the environment.
What impact do you hope to achieve?
This work is planting a seed for a solution to the global biodiversity and climate crises. We chose one of the most difficult places in the world to do this work. We have big cities, with infrastructure, and a high cost of the land. Destruction has already happened at a massive scale. But if we are successful in the Atlantic Forest – and we have to be – tropical forest restoration can succeed anywhere. And what we learn will be extremely useful in making that happen.
Our vision is to bring a region nearing collapse to a healthy and prosperous future. One where we have more water, greater biodiversity, and more life. A future where our ecosystem sustains our economy. We aren’t transforming the Atlantic Forest into a forestry-only region. We want to have productive agriculture and forestry systems, an economy of trees. The partnerships we’re building are key to realizing that future.
How did your experience at Bellagio affect your work?
During the selection process, you understand that this is something important, but you don’t really get it until you arrive at the Bellagio Center. You look around and realize that everyone is there because we have innovative ideas that can lead to major change. The energy and inspiration that creates is powerful.
Having the chance to spend a month away isolated from my routine, where I could develop and organize the case for this work, from a 30-second speech to a 30-page document, was invaluable. And being able to test my ideas with my fellow residents was amazingly useful. The beauty and the energy of the people there is magical. And the friends you make are forever.
The Bellagio Center is forever for me. It’s always going to be a part of who I am. The gifts it gave to me, my work, and my organization are never going to end.
A seed can’t take root on its own. To grow and thrive, it needs fertile soil, plentiful nutrients, and a stable climate. Dr. Pinto sees his work as something similar, creating the partnerships and conditions needed to grow a sustainable and prosperous future for the Atlantic Forest region. “This is likely to be the first tropical forest in the world where we reverse deforestation at this scale,” he said. “We have the partnerships, governance, capital, and solutions to change the trajectory of collapse into something successful.”
Learn More:
- Watch a profile about SOS Mata Atlântica’s cross-sector work on Brazil’s TV Cultura.
- Take a 360-degree tour of the Atlantic Forest.
- Read an interview with Dr. Pinto on the role that agriculture plays in the deforestation of the Altantic Forest.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. The Rockefeller Foundation is not responsible for and does not endorse its content.