The value of the untenured forest

Tropical forests are newly valuable because of the carbon they sequester. Yet it is not clear who will benefit as a result. This article examines forest carbon's new value in Acre, Brazil. It argues that a state program (the System of Incentives for Environmental Services - SISA) shifts forest carbon's value from land to certain forms of labor. This approach allows the government to allocate it to poorer people without access to formal land tenure, a form of environmentally-premised redistribution. It also increases governmental power, favors intensive land use, and threatens to unmoor forest carbon from struggles for rights

Agroforestry · Amazon rainforest · Business · Deforestation · Deforestation (computer science · Economics · Geography · Natural resource economics · Value (mathematics · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management · Environmental Science · Land Rights and Reforms · Ecology · Forestry

• Get out of her kitchen

  Open Access•M Khandelwal•Energy Research & Social Science•2026

  Añadir item

• The Organic Monocrop

  Open Access•D Kumpf•Environmental Humanities•2023

  Añadir item

• The fullness of air

  J Auerbach•Canadian Journal of African…•2022

  Añadir item

• Forest Policy Innovation at the Subnational Scale

  Open Access•Maron Greenleaf, J Hoelle et al.•Conservation and Society•2023

  Añadir item

• From house of spirits to carbon sink

  Open Access•Laura Gutiérrez Escobar, Nathalia Hernández Vidal et al.•Human Geography•2025

  Añadir item

• Understanding green jobs in the forest sector

  Open Access•Emilin Joma da Silva, Jörg Schweinle•Forest Policy and Economics•2025

  Añadir item

• From grassland to forest

  Open Access•Wilson Picado Umaña, Elisa Botella‐rodríguez•Rural History•2022

  Añadir item

• Becoming a ‘good producer’ in the agri-environmental project economy

  Open Access•Adriana Suárez Delucchi, Erwan Sachet et al.•Journal of Rural Studies•2022

  Añadir item

• Contextualizing certification and auditing

  Open Access•Almut Schilling-Vacaflor, Andrea Lenschow et al.•World Development•2020

  Añadir item

• More data, more problems? Incompatible uncertainty in Indonesia’s climate change mitigation projects

  Open Access•J E Goldstein•Geoforum•2021

  Añadir item

• Community mobilization at the convergence of conservation and extraction

  Open Access•Adeniyi P Asiyanbi, Adeniyi Asiyanbi et al.•Geoforum•2023

  Añadir item

• Green distributive politics

  Open Access•M Mendoza, Maron Greenleaf et al.•Geoforum•2021

  Añadir item

• Turning land into capital? The expansion and extraction of value in Laos

  Open Access•Miles Kenney-Lazar•Environment and Planning A…•2023

  Añadir item

• Making Territory and Negotiating Citizenship in a Climate Mitigation Initiative in Indonesia

  Open Access•Abidah B Setyowati•Development and Change•2020

  Añadir item

• Rubber and Carbon

  Open Access•Maron Greenleaf•Development and Change•2020

  Añadir item

• Climate Change

  Jessica O’reilly, Jessica O''Reilly et al.•Annual Review of Anthropology•2020

  Añadir item

• Beneficiaries of Forest Carbon

  Open Access•Maron Greenleaf•American Anthropologist•2021

  Añadir item

• Valuing forests, but not the labor that protects them

  Open Access•Claudia Horn•The Journal of Peasant Studies•2025

  Añadir item

• Proyectos de muerte and proyectos de vida

  Erik Post•The Journal of Peasant Studies•2023

  Añadir item

• Amazon Peasant Societies in a Changing Environment

  Open Access•Cristina Adams, Rui Murrieta et al.•Amazon Peasant Societies in a…•2009

  Añadir item

• Greening Brazil

  Open Access•Kathryn Hochstetler, Margaret E Keck•Greening Brazil•2007

  Añadir item

• Neoliberal Environments

  Open Access•Prudham, Nik Heynen et al.•Neoliberal Environments•2007

  Añadir item

• Conservation Is Our Government Now

  Open Access•Paige West, Arturo Escobar et al.•Conservation Is Our Government Now•2006

  Añadir item

• Theories of swidden agriculture, and the political economy of ignorance

  Open Access•M R Dove•Agroforestry Systems•1983

  Añadir item

• Actor-specific contributions to the deforestation slowdown in the Brazilian Amazon

  Open Access•Javier Godar, Toby A Gardner et al.•Proceedings of the National…•2014

  Añadir item

• From proletarian to peasant

  Keith Bakx•The Journal of Development Studies•1988

  Añadir item

• Unravelling property relations around forest carbon

  Open Access•Sango Mahanty, Wolfram H Dressler et al.•Singapore Journal of Tropical…•2013

  Añadir item

• This Land Is Ours Now

  Open Access•W Wolford•This Land Is Ours Now•2010

  Añadir item

• Environmentality

  Open Access•Arun Agrawal•Environmentality•2005

  Añadir item

• Post-Soviet Social

  Open Access•Stephen J Collier•Post-Soviet social•2011

  Añadir item

• Some Other Amazonians

  Open Access•Stephen Nugent, Mark Harris et al.•Journal of Latin American…•2005

  Añadir item

• Conjuring Property

  Brenda Baletti•The AAG Review of Books•2016

  Añadir item

• Neoliberal environmentality

  Open Access•Ronald Fletcher, R S G Fletcher•Conservation and Society•2010

  Añadir item

• Selling two environmental services

  Open Access•Nicole Asquith, Nigel M Asquith et al.•Ecological Economics•2008

  Añadir item

• Direct conservation payments in the Brazilian Amazon

  Open Access•Jan Börner, Sven Wunder et al.•Ecological Economics•2010

  Añadir item

• Property rights and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

  Open Access•Claudio Araujo, Catherine Araujo Bonjean et al.•Ecological Economics•2009

  Añadir item

• Indigenous peoples and Redd+ safeguards

  Open Access•Julia Dehm•Journal of Human Rights and the…•2016

  Añadir item

• Carbon sequestration in Africa

  Open Access•Jon D Unruh•Global Environmental Change•2008

  Añadir item

• Payments for ecosystem services as commodity fetishism

  Open Access•Nicolas Kosoy, Esteve Corbera•Ecological Economics•2009

  Añadir item

• Getting more ‘carbon bang’ for your ‘buck’ in Acre State, Brazil

  Open Access•Charles Palmer, Luca Taschini et al.•Ecological Economics•2017

  Añadir item

• Experiments in Forest-Based Development in Western Amazonia

  Karen A Kainer, M Schmink et al.•Society & Natural Resources•2003

  Añadir item

• Rubber tapper citizens

  Jacqueline M Vadjunec, M Schmink et al.•Journal of Cultural Geography•2011

  Añadir item

• Can Payments for Environmental Services Help Reduce Poverty? An Exploration of the Issues and the Evidence to Date from Latin America

  Open Access•Stefano Pagiola, Agustin Arcenas et al.•World Development•2005

  Añadir item

• Linking Forest Tenure Reform, Environmental Compliance, and Incentives

  Open Access•A E Duchelle, Marina Cromberg et al.•World Development•2013

  Añadir item

• The Green Economy in the global South

  Dan Brockington, Stefano Pontes et al.•Third World Quarterly•2015

  Añadir item

• Contested Frontiers in Amazonia

  Paul S Ciccantell, M Schmink et al.•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1994

  Añadir item

• Not-quite-neoliberal natures in Latin America

  Open Access•Corin de Freitas, Andrea Marston et al.•Geoforum•2015

  Añadir item

• Tradeoffs in carbon commodification

  Open Access•Tracey Osborne•Geoforum•2015

  Añadir item

• Contesting the market-based nature of Mexico’s national payments for ecosystem services programs

  Open Access•Elizabeth Shapiro‐garza, Elizabeth Shapiro-Garza•Geoforum•2013

  Añadir item

• Payments for Ecosystem Services in Mexico

  Kathleen Mcafee, Elizabeth N Shapiro•Annals of the Association of…•2010

  Añadir item

• The Value of Nature to the State

  Morgan M Robertson, Morgan Robertson et al.•Annals of the Association of…•2013

  Añadir item

• Value in capitalist natures

  Open Access•Kelly Kay, Miles Kenney-Lazar•Dialogues in Human Geography•2017

  Añadir item

• Market Masquerades

  Open Access•Sarah Milne, Bill Adams•Development and Change•2012

  Añadir item

• Representing the peasantry? Struggles for/about land in Brazil

  José De Souza Martins•The Journal of Peasant Studies•2002

  Añadir item

• Two treatises of government

  John Locke, Ian Shapiro et al.•Two Treatises of Government•1988

  Añadir item

• Social Equity and Environmental Politics in Brazil

  Margaret E Keck•Comparative Politics•1995

  Añadir item

• Commodifying what nature

  Open Access•N Castree•Progress in Human Geography•2003

  Añadir item

• Measurement and alienation

  Open Access•Morgan Robertson•Transactions of the Institute of…•2011

  Añadir item

• Land tenure and Redd

  Open Access•Allan Larson, Anne M Larson et al.•Global Environmental Change•2013

  Añadir item

• Rethinking Territory

  Open Access•Joe Bryan, Joseph Bryan•Geography Compass•2012

  Añadir item

• Unequal Access to Payments for Ecosystem Services

  Open Access•David M Lansing, David Lansing•Development and Change•2014

  Añadir item

• The Land Sparing Complex

  Gregory M Thaler•Annals of the American…•2017

  Añadir item

• Towards a Synthesized Critique of Neoliberal Biodiversity Conservation

  Bram Büscher, Sullivan et al.•Capitalism Nature Socialism•2012

  Añadir item

• Da economia política à política econômica

  Open Access•Lecio Morais, Alfredo Saad-Filho et al.•Brazilian Journal of Political…•2011

  Añadir item

• Deconstructing the Post-Neoliberal State

  Open Access•W Wolford, John D French•Latin American Perspectives•2016

  Añadir item

• Neoliberalism

  Open Access•W Larner•Environment and Planning D…•2003

  Añadir item

• Selling Nature to save It? Biodiversity and Green Developmentalism

  Open Access•Kathleen Mcafee•Environment and Planning D…•1999

  Añadir item

• Offsetting Benefits? Analyzing Access to Forest Carbon

  Open Access•Esteve Corbera, Katrina Brown•Environment and Planning A…•2010

  Añadir item

• The Contradictory Logic of Global Ecosystem Services Markets

  Open Access•Kathleen Mcafee•Development and Change•2012

  Añadir item

• Land Regularization in Brazil and the Global Land Grab

  Open Access•Gustavo De L T Oliveira•Development and Change•2013

  Añadir item

• Identity, Territory and Land Conflict in Brazil

  Open Access•Lashandra Sullivan•Development and Change•2013

  Añadir item

• Value Grabbing

  Diego Andreucci, Melissa Garcia-Lamarca et al.•Capitalism Nature Socialism•2017

  Añadir item

• Embedding Carbon Markets

  Tracey Osborne, Elizabeth Shapiro‐garza et al.•Annals of the American…•2018

  Añadir item

• Underdeveloping the Amazon

  E F Moran, Stephen G Bunker•Hispanic American Historical Review•1986

  Añadir item

• A Theory of Access

  Open Access•Jesse Ribot, Jesse C Ribot et al.•Rural Sociology•2003

  Añadir item

• How to Do Things with Land

  Open Access•James Ferguson•Journal of Agrarian Change•2013

  Añadir item

• Amazonian peasant livelihood differentiation as mutuality-market dialectics

  Open Access•James Angus Fraser, Thiago Cardoso et al.•The Journal of Peasant Studies•2018

  Añadir item

• Understanding rural resistance

  A Pahnke, Rebecca Tarlau et al.•The Journal of Peasant Studies•2015

  Añadir item

• Rural unions and the struggle for land in Brazil

  Clifford Andrew Welch, Sérgio Sauer•The Journal of Peasant Studies•2015

  Añadir item

• Managing transience

  Gregory Duff Morton•The Journal of Peasant Studies•2015

  Añadir item

• Ordenamento Territorial

  Brenda Baletti•The Journal of Peasant Studies•2012

  Añadir item

• Carbon forestry and agrarian change

  Tracey Muttoo Osborne, Tracey Osborne•The Journal of Peasant Studies•2011

  Añadir item

• Towards a better understanding of global land grabbing

  Saturnino M Borra, R Hall et al.•The Journal of Peasant Studies•2011

  Añadir item

• Grounding Forest Carbon

  Open Access•Sarah Milne•Human Ecology•2012

  Añadir item