The Amazon Beyond Borders Regional Collaboration to Manage Shared Resources and Address Common Challenges

The Amazon Basin spans eight countries and one overseas territory, encompassing over 100 subnational political units, each with unique historical trajectories, cultural heritage, and ecological characteristics. This chapter examines the ecological, hydrological, and socio-cultural dimensions of connectivity, providing a framework for evaluating the environmental health and resilience of the region and its inhabitants, while evidencing key measures for improvement. Conservation approaches that recognize all three dimensions are essential. For example, Protected Areas (PAs) remain a key conservation approach,
yet their effectiveness depends on integration with surrounding landscapes. Here, we focus on transboundary conservation, which requires cooperation across national and international boundaries, including the sharing of information, communication, consultation, coordinated action, and joint decision implementation. Transboundary governance is essential for managing shared resources such as water bodies and protected area corridors in this complex context of competing goals and multi-scale interactions. Despite complex challenges, transboundary conservation offers a path to address unsustainable practices, strengthen ecological resilience, and support vulnerable communities. Its success, however, depends on inclusive approaches that consider Indigenous and local monitoring, as well as equitable data sharing. However, governance capacity in the Amazon region, as well as efforts towards concerted territorial planning and coordinated data systems, remain insufficient. As stated in the Belém Declaration, transboundary governance in the Amazon must consider both Indigenous and Afrodescendant Peoples and Local Communities
(hereafter IPs and LCs) and institutional environmental governance. Transboundary conservation presents numerous opportunities for cross-border governance and regional cooperation, empowering IPs and LCs, improving socioenvironmental conditions, and promoting science-based conservation and monitoring. Transboundary conservation is more necessary than ever, requiring joint governance grounded in respect for national sovereignty and guided by an integrated vision that connects PAs, Indigenous Territories, and productive landscapes, ensuring the functional continuity of this vital ecosystem for the planet.