Key takeaways for Enhancing Security Governance in the Amazon

The Amazon faces a variety of security challenges, ranging from historical issues such as high homicide rates, theft, drug trafficking, and violence against women to new threats to the region’s rich biodiversity, including deforestation, illegal logging, illegal mining, and land grabbing. Considering the complexity of these problems and the diversity of actors involved in seeking solutions, an effective governance agenda has become urgent. This publication seeks to address a gap in the discussion regarding initiatives that can enhance coordination among entities responsible for identifying, preventing, and combating environmental crimes in the Amazon region. It analyzes practical governance experiences and identifies key attributes that can improve the performance of national and subnational institutions in addressing crime and illegal activities. Additionally, it examines four governance cases that stand out in one or more of these key attributes, bringing relevant practices and lessons learned to strengthen security governance in the Amazon. In this context, where the Amazon region is subject to the alliances and conflicts that are inherent to organized crime dynamics and their intersections and exchanges with environmental crimes, we analyze alternatives for enhancing state (or institutional) capacities and provide recommendations for implementing security governance in the Amazon at three levels: local (municipalities), subnational (states), and regional. These measures aim to address the cross-border challenges of illicit activities and insecurity.