Green Basic Income: Evaluating the Bolsa Verde Project in the Brazilian Amazon

We analyze the Bolsa Verde Program, arguing that it likely was the world's first largescale institution of a Green Basic Income Program. As such, the initiative presents a unique opportunity to evaluate the potential environmental uses and implications of Basic Income initiatives. Our study relies on a socially-embedded analysis of the program as it functioned in the context of the Brazilian Amazon. This involves analysis of qualitative data from former program beneficiaries, community leaders, program evaluators, and managers. This research suggests that the program operated socially as a <i>de facto</i> Green Basic Income program, despite being designed as a hybrid Payment for Environmental Services initiative. Our analysis suggests that Bolsa Verde was successful in reducing both deforestation and poverty, and these successes were achieved without undermining collective community institutions that could have positive anti-poverty and environmental protection benefits of their own.