Manaus, a Generation Restoration pilot city, developed a comprehensive approach to urban agriculture to combat deforestation impacts. The project included an innovative governance model featuring a female-majority in a gender-inclusive approach, and its capacity building program reached over 200 community members and local leaders.

About the city

Manaus is home to over 2 million people, and is the most populous municipality in the state of Amazonas and the seventh most populous in Brazil. Surrounded by the Amazon rainforest, the city’s equatorial climate is characterized by high humidity and high temperatures throughout the year. Manaus’ development has boomed in recent decades, and has attracted various industries and companies, boosting the local economy, generating jobs, and promoting immigration.

Local challenges

Manaus suffers from high rates of deforestation, which is driven by rapid urban expansion and the conversion of forested land into agricultural land, both to feed its growing population and due to Brazil’s extensive export of soy and beef products. Deforestation in Manaus has resulted in substantial biodiversity loss and negative impacts on native cultures that depend directly on the forest. Furthermore, deforestation results in higher urban temperatures, particularly coupled with intensifying climate impacts and city sprawl, leading to the urban heat island effect. Elevated urban temperatures are particularly challenging for the city’s more vulnerable populations, who may be concentrated in areas with less green space. Manaus is also experiencing increasingly frequent flooding, and the low-lying, flood-prone zones of the city are particularly susceptible. At the same time, Manaus, like many places throughout the Amazon, experiences droughts that have become more severe and widespread; droughts tend to occur in alternate cycles with flooding, and are becoming more intense and frequent with long-term losses in regional forest cover. Furthermore, both air and water pollution are major challenges that impact urban residents’ quality of life, and can compromise access to clean and reliable water supply.

Action through Generation Restoration

The Generation Restoration pilot project in Manaus aimed to strengthen coordination, governance, and engagement around urban ecosystem restoration. Specifically, the project focused on advancing urban agriculture using nature-based solutions (NbS), to restore soils, promote vegetation growth, and reinvigorate depleted land within the city. 

The project kicked-off through a launch event that brought together over 60 stakeholders, including representatives from environmental agencies, NGOs, the federal government, national research institutions such as Embrapa Amazônia Ocidental, community leaders, and the press. Although the project scope initially presented both urban agriculture and stream restoration, through feedback during the event, participants expressed strong interest in promoting urban agriculture as a municipal strategy for urban ecosystem restoration, thus shifting focus away from efforts related to the Mindu River Basin.

Another key initial step was the identification of ongoing ecosystem restoration initiatives. Semi-structured interviews and in-person bilateral meetings were conducted to identify active projects, analyze their objectives and progress, and synthesize findings. Additionally, an overview of available reports, policy documents, and scientific literature related to urban agriculture and restoration efforts in Manaus was systematized to support future activities.

The project then established a working group that would serve as a participatory governance body for the project, which convened five times throughout the project duration. The working group included 29 members, including representatives from six different public administration departments, local research institutions, and civil society organizations. The group was designed to act as a catalyst to contribute to the shared goal of ecosystem restoration in Manaus.

The working group meetings resulted in the creation of a stakeholder mapping and engagement plan with public managers, city agents, community leaders, non-profit organizations, and community-based organizations. This process identified potential urban areas to be occupied by urban agriculture initiatives, and provided a pilot mechanism to improve municipal urban planning for the expansion of urban agriculture initiatives and biodiversity regeneration. Furthermore, the discussions held during the working group meetings provided input for policy recommendations for Manaus.

Drawing on and integrating data from UNEP’s Urban NbS Tool, the project developed a Municipal Urban Agriculture Application, incorporated into Manaus’s georeferenced data platform, to map existing initiatives and identify potential areas for new interventions. This decision-support tool was designed to assist municipal authorities in scaling up urban restoration and community gardening initiatives. 

The project also involved a substantial capacity-building component in Manaus. Working with participants from four municipal government departments as well as representatives from civil society, the project enabled capacity building training that addressed topics such as participatory governance, climate change and urban resilience, urban agriculture, and its benefits in terms of ecological restoration and ecosystem services. Furthermore, the project engaged in a literature review and institutional consultations to identify key references in monitoring and evaluation frameworks for urban restoration projects in Manaus, and highlighted strengths and limitations of existing approaches. A tailored set of indicators was proposed for the city of Manaus.

The project also included extensive capacity building among teachers, community leaders, and public managers in environmental education, with emphasis on urban ecosystem restoration. Three workshops were held, reaching 241 people, and training activities included lectures on biodiversity conservation, presentations on nature-based solutions, and discussions on the importance of urban agriculture in strengthening the city’s resilience and promoting food and nutrition security. Specific demonstrations covered fundamental topics such as composting, native bee management, and the cultivation of urban gardens, with particular emphasis on species native to the Amazon biome.

Finally, the project included a robust communications component, including the development of a communications plan. The project identified and analyzed stakeholders, and dissemination of information occurred across various channels including social media, community meetings, newsletters, workshops, and partnerships with local organizations. With this gathered information, the project designed strategies to actively engage stakeholders, such as participatory workshops, local events and engagement with the local press. This includes events such as a public event to launch the policy recommendations on urban agriculture and ecosystem restoration in Manaus, which took place on the World Environment Day in June 2025 and convened representatives from the municipal government, social movements, civil society organizations, indigenous leaders, and public officials.

Main outcomes

The pilot project in Manaus advanced participatory governance and capacity building around urban ecosystem restoration, emphasizing urban agriculture as a key nature-based solution. Through stakeholder mapping, the establishment of a multi-sectoral working group, the creation of a municipal urban agriculture GIS tool, and extensive training and communication efforts, the project laid the groundwork for integrating urban restoration and food security into the city’s policy agenda.

There were numerous important outcomes of the project’s working group. This participatory governance body facilitated coordination among actors, supported the co-creation of policy recommendations, and laid the groundwork for continued collaboration beyond the project’s duration. Furthermore, its strong participation and engagement among women ensured a gender-inclusive approach to project activities; of the 29 members, 18 women from city representatives, universities, research institutions, and civil society were involved.

The project also delivered a decision-support tool—the Municipal Urban Agriculture Application—integrated into Manaus’s official georeferenced data platform. This GIS-based tool enables authorities to map existing initiatives, identify priority areas for new interventions, and plan the expansion of urban agriculture using spatial data layers that reflect environmental and social priorities.

Highlight impact metrics

  • 60+ participants in launch event, 29 members of working group (including 18 women), 241 participants reached through environmental education
  • 1 Municipal Urban Agriculture GIS Application developed

Pilot City

City Map

Partners

Ecosystem Types

Farmlands, Forests and Urban areas

Project Budget

$100,000 USD

Project Duration

August 2024 – August 2025

Climate, Biodiversity, and Pollution Risks Addressed

  • Extreme temperatures
  • Droughts
  • Extreme precipitation / flooding
  • Habitat destruction
  • Species loss / extinction
  • Ecosystem degradation
  • Soil contamination

Restoration Techniques Applied

  • Composting
  • Native species
  • Pollinator support
  • Soil restoration
  • Urban agriculture
Capacity building on urban agriculture and agroecological farming systems. Credit: Deyvson Braga, Prefeitura de Manaus.
Meeting with the city IT team to discuss the implementation of the NbS tool. Credit: Deyvson Braga, Prefeitura de Manaus.
Meeting with the task group to present the policy recommendations. Credit: Deyvson Braga, Prefeitura de Manaus.
Field visit to an indigenous neighborhood in Manaus. Credit: Deyvson Braga, Prefeitura de Manaus.
Example of urban agriculture as a tool for the restoration of ecosystems: an area affected by a landslide now restored by tree planting and small-scale farming. Credit: Deyvson Braga, Prefeitura de Manaus.
Capacity building on urban agriculture and agroecological farming systems. Credit: Deyvson Braga, Prefeitura de Manaus.
Launch of the policy recommendations brochure on June 5, 2025 (World Environment Day) at City Hall. Credit: Deyvson Braga, Prefeitura de Manaus.
Launch of the policy recommendations brochure on June 5, 2025 (World Environment Day) at City Hall. Credit: Deyvson Braga, Prefeitura de Manaus.
Capacity building practice on composting. Credit: Deyvson Braga, Prefeitura de Manaus.
Capacity building practice on meliponiculture (native stingless-bee farming). Credit: Deyvson Braga, Prefeitura de Manaus.
Soil preparation for small-scale vegetable farming at a social assistance facility run by the city. Credit: Deyvson Braga, Prefeitura de Manaus.
Final capacity building workshop held at a public elementary school, a pilot implementation site. Credit: Deyvson Braga, Prefeitura de Manaus.

Key learnings & next steps

The pilot project resulted in various key learnings related to strengthening coordination, clearer governance arrangements, and the integration of local and indigenous knowledge:

  • Strengthening institutional integration: One of the main lessons from the pilot project in Manaus was the challenge of limited coordination among different municipal agencies and departments. The project provided a valuable opportunity for agencies to connect, share information, and collaborate toward complementary objectives. This experience underscored the need for strong institutional integration and transparent communication across sectors when implementing projects, particularly those that span various dimensions and sectors.
  • Governance and communications: Another important learning was the need for clearer governance arrangements and more flexibility for local partners in technical decision-making. Future projects would benefit from explicitly defining roles and responsibilities, ensuring greater autonomy in technical work, and streamlining communications channels. These steps would help strengthen trust and shared ownership among partners, increasing the effectiveness of project implementation.
  • Highlighting local and indigenous knowledge: Manaus’s unique ecological and cultural context also offered critical insights. The city’s proximity to the Amazon forest and its diverse population, including traditional and indigenous communities with strong ethnobotanical knowledge, highlight the potential of agroforestry-based urban agriculture. Urban and peri-urban agriculture initiatives that incorporate agroforestry practices in ecological corridors, conservation buffers, and green areas can contribute significantly to ecosystem restoration and climate adaptation while enhancing food security and social equity.

Moving forward, the next step is to consolidate the pilot project into a long-term public policy on urban ecosystem restoration. This will require developing a robust legal and technical framework to institutionalize restoration efforts and expand nature-based solutions across the city. 

Meet the community

As leaders of a community-based organization, we rarely have access to discussions about public policies that are being developed. Participating in the process of drafting the urban and peri-urban agriculture policy in Manaus was a transformative experience for us as an institution, first because of the access to high-quality information on topics that we had been debating in a rather diffuse manner. The network that was created greatly strengthened our work and helped us understand our role as civil society in the production of public policies, significantly changing the perception of political advocacy among the team at the Institute of Peripheral Sciences. We also gained considerably by bringing the dimension of socio-environmental restoration to the discussion on urban agriculture, which was often limited to production in vegetable gardens. Having an open space to talk about the reforestation of urban systems was a huge step toward strengthening our initiatives and allowing us to think about other city plans based on effective social participation.

—Gabriel Verçoza, Project Manager at Instituto de Ciências Periféricas

The most relevant element of the project was the integration and knowledge of the actors involved in urban agriculture in Manaus. The people I met and with whom I am still in contact today due to our shared interests in the subject are the most important link for the development of environmental recovery actions in the territory.

—Fábio Markendorf, representative of the Municipal Health Secretariat of the Municipality of Manaus

The pilot project in Manaus prompted an important reflection among municipal managers on land use in the city. With the aim of supporting the project and after several deliberations, development began, in collaboration with the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) and UNEP, of a Geographic Information System (GIS) that would integrate spatial data from the Geocollaborative environment of the City of Manaus, such as land use and coverage, urban zoning, environmental risk areas, existing infrastructure, and socioeconomic indicators, and that would allow for multi-criteria analysis and the identification and definition of areas with the greatest potential for the implementation of urban agriculture initiatives. Its development cycle involved the standardization of databases, spatial modeling, definition of weights and criteria, and validation of results with local actors. In terms of social impact, we believe that the tool has the potential to contribute to and support municipal urban planning geared towards sustainability, strengthening food security, promoting the productive use of vacant lots and urban wastelands, creating a georeferenced database of similar projects in progress, and expanding income generation opportunities in vulnerable communities.

—Alessandro Rios Monteiro do Carmo, Head of the Division of Maintenance, Support, and Training in GEO Systems of the Subsecretariat of Information Technology of the Municipality of Manaus

Beyond Restoration

Manaus has a complex framework of policies and laws related to nature-based solutions, including the Manaus Master Environmental Plan, which determines different zoning rules for the city and sets aside natural areas for protection, and the Manaus Environmental Code, which lays out rules for permanent preservation areas, citing their relationship to soil stability along slopes, reduction of risk of landslides, protection of water supplies, and provisioning of habitat for biodiversity. Manaus has an Afforestation Plan to reduce heat islands and provide other services, and it is also offering discounts on utility bills for companies installing green roofs.

Other projects and initiatives in Manaus include: the ecological corridor Corredor Ecológico do Mindu links green spaces and protects water sources; the linear park Parque Linear Amazonino Mendes spans the Manaus waterfront; and the project Prosamin+ involves reforestation of degraded areas, urbanization of igarapé basins, and creation of green corridors, among other activities. 

Further resources