Private Natural Heritage Reserves: A pillar of Latin America’s private land conservation movement
Hernán Mladinic
Over the past three decades, a transformative force for nature conservation has emerged in Brazil: private landowners. The country’s leadership in private land conservation through private natural heritage reserves (RPPNs) has resulted in one of the world’s most robust and enduring voluntary conservation models. This approach integrates property rights with a perpetual ecological responsibility and now serves as an example within and beyond Latin America.
This feature offers a panoramic view of the history, legal framework, achievements, challenges, and opportunities of RPPNs in Brazil.
From Landowner Initiative to National Policy
RPPNs did not originate in government offices, but in Brazil’s privately owned forests. During the 1970s and 1980s, conservation-minded landowners, concerned about poaching and illegal logging, began seeking legal mechanisms to protect their land. Their efforts ultimately led to the first formal designation for private natural heritage reserves (RPPNs) created by Federal Decree 98,914 in 1990.
This designation was further refined in 1996 and in 2000 with the enactment of Law 9,985, which established Brazil’s national system of protected areas. The law recognizes RPPNs as a category of protected areas – referred to in Brazil as conservation units; defines RPPNs as privately owned areas protected in perpetuity to conserve biological diversity; and integrates RPPNs into the national protected areas system.
A subsequent federal regulation, Decree 5,746, outlines the procedures for their establishment, as well as the rights and responsibilities of landowners, under the oversight of Brazil’s federal environmental agency, the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation.
Perpetuity and Restricted Use
A defining feature of RPPNs is their establishment in perpetuity. Once recognized, an RPPN is entered into a national registry and granted permanent legal protection that is tied to the property deed, regardless of changes in ownership through sale or inheritance. Designated RPPNs are exempt from Brazil’s Rural Land Tax, providing an important fiscal incentive for landowners. As Full Protection Units within Brazil’s categories of protected areas, activities in RPPNs are strictly restricted to those that are compatible with conservation such as scientific research, environmental education, eco-tourism and recreation.
During the 2000s, several Brazilian states adopted regulations to recognize RPPNs within their jurisdictions, and many municipalities introduced incentives and procedures for local recognition. In 2006, the federal framework for RPPNs was further strengthened with the creation of the National Strategic Plan for Protected Areas (PNAP) (Decree No. 5,758), which reinforces the role of RPPNs as essential components of landscape connectivity, ecological corridors, and a more effective and socially equitable national protected area system. These efforts facilitated stronger alignment and coordination for RPPNs among regional landowner networks, civil society organizations, and environmental authorities at multiple scales.
A key source of support and growth for the private land conservation movement in Brazil is the National Confederation of Private Natural Heritage Reserves (CNRPPN), which brings together landowner associations, regional networks, and institutional allies across the country. CNRPPN plays an essential role in advocacy, technical assistance, and capacity building, and supports regulatory reforms, incentive programs, and strategic planning processes for RPPNs.
CNRPPN hosts information on the extent and coverage of RPPNs across the country through the National RPPNs Dashboard. The result of a collaborative effort by dozens of dedicated practitioners and organizations, this dashboard is currently the most comprehensive database on RPPNs available in Brazil. It enables online monitoring of data such as the number and area of RPPNs by state, biome, and category, as well as increases in RPPNs over time. This data infrastructure strengthens the Confederation’s capacity for advocacy, facilitates communication with public authorities, and provides concrete evidence for engagement with funders and international partners on the measurable contribution of RPPNs to goals such as Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Extent and Coverage
According to the dashboard, there are an estimated 1,902 RPPNs protecting approximately 837,635 hectares (about 2 million acres) across all major biomes in Brazil- the Amazon, Cerrado, Atlantic Forest, Caatinga, Pampa, and Pantanal- with a strategic focus on fragmented landscapes. In the Atlantic Forest, where over 80% of land is privately owned, RPPNs serve as important refuges for endemic species and help connect their habitats to public forest fragments. By serving as buffer zones and biological corridors, RPPNs demonstrate the complementarity of public and private efforts in maintaining the connectivity and resilience of Brazil’s most threatened ecosystems.
CNRPPN works in close coordination with Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, particularly the National Secretariat of Biodiversity, Forests, and Animal Rights and the Department of Protected Areas, which lead the implementation of national biodiversity policy and protected area management. This cross-sector collaboration among government, landowners, and non-profit organizations has enabled RPPNs to become a critical part of landscape-scale conservation efforts.
Growing and Sustaining RPPNs in Brazil
RPPNs have proven to be a highly effective conservation mechanism in Brazil, but their continued growth and long-term sustainability are far from guaranteed. Landowners bear the full cost of stewardship and monitoring, even as pressures intensify from agricultural expansion, shifting interpretations of environmental law, and the escalating impacts of climate change such as increasingly severe floods and wildfires.
In response, solutions are emerging. Brazil is advancing policies that enable RPPN landowners to be compensated for the ecosystem services they deliver, including water provision, carbon sequestration, and habitat conservation. At the same time, various financing approaches are gaining traction, from nature-based tourism to carbon markets, building on Brazil’s leadership in developing methodologies for carbon credits in private reserves. Innovation across policy, finance, and stewardship are advancing improved conditions, incentives and results for voluntary conservation.
A Regional Leader in Private Land Conservation
Brazil’s experience with RPPNs offers valuable lessons for private land conservation across Latin America and beyond, demonstrating that such initiatives succeed when motivated landowners are supported by a permanent legal framework and strong national and subnational networks that collaborate closely with the public sector.
As the Latin American private land conservation community prepares for its 14th congress in Mexico in 2027, Brazil’s RPPNs stand as a model for how private lands can deliver enduring biodiversity protection and contribute strategically to national and international policy goals and conservation targets.