Last Updated on October 1, 2025
A landmark study has found that Indigenous-managed territories across the Amazon provide powerful public health benefits. By keeping forests intact, these lands help curb the spread of respiratory and infectious diseases.
Coordinated across Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Suriname, and French Guiana, the study is one of the most comprehensive assessments of its kind. The research analyzed health and environmental data from 2000 to 2019, finding that in municipalities near Indigenous territories with high levels of forest cover, disease incidence was significantly lower.
In fact, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), forests in Indigenous territories reduced the spread of 27 diseases including respiratory illness caused by wildfire smoke, as well as vector-borne and zoonotic diseases such as malaria and Chagas.
By contrast, when forest cover dropped below roughly 45%, the health benefits diminished or disappeared altogether. Areas experiencing deforestation and fragmentation faced sharply increased risks of disease transmission.
“They are actually doing something quite beautiful,” said Paula Prist, senior program coordinator at the IUCN and one of the study’s authors, describing how the research empirically connects legal recognition of Indigenous lands to human health outcomes.
The research also highlights the importance of legal recognition of Indigenous land rights. Territories with formal protection were significantly better at resisting illegal logging, mining, and land grabbing—activities that fragment ecosystems and worsen public health outcomes.
For Indigenous leaders, the findings validate knowledge that has been carried for generations. “From my Indigenous perspective, I think that this type of study would make our ancestral knowledge more visible and precise,” said Francisco Hernández Cayetano of the Federation of Ticuna and Yagua Communities of the Lower Amazon (FECOTYBA).
Dinamam Tuxa, executive coordinator of the Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples (APIB), underscored the broader stakes: “This study reinforces what Indigenous peoples have been saying for ages. It demonstrates the importance of our territories in fighting dangerous pollution and climate change.”
Experts argue the research makes a compelling case for treating Indigenous land rights not just as an environmental strategy, but as a public health imperative. As Prist noted: “Indigenous forests in the Amazon bring health benefits to millions.”
As governments prepare for global climate negotiations at COP30, the study delivers a clear and timely message that Indigenous peoples are not only defending their lands and cultures. They are also protecting human health on a planetary scale.
Across the world right now, Indigenous peoples are facing a renewed assault on their lands, rights, and ways of life.
From extractive industries pushing deeper into ancestral territories, to governments rolling back hard-won protections,
the threat is global—and it is growing.
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