Territorial Management in the Amazon from the Perspective of Ecological Economics: Proposition of a Conceptual Model
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21664/2238-8869.2026v15i1.8406Palavras-chave:
socioecological systems, environmental justice, territorial governance, sustainability assessment, multicriteria methodsResumo
The Amazon region faces intense ecological and sociopolitical pressures resulting from a development model based on the intensive exploitation of natural resources and unidimensional economic metrics. In this context, it is necessary to develop analytical instruments compatible with the complexity of the region’s socioecological systems. This article proposes a conceptual model of ecological territorial management for the Amazon, grounded in the principles of Ecological Economics and operationalized through the Multicriteria Sustainability Index (MSI). The methodology consisted of a systematic literature review covering studies published between 2020 and 2025 on territorial management, multicriteria methods, and sustainability in Amazonian contexts. The analysis of 51 articles allowed the identification of three core analytical categories: normative values, sustainability dimensions, and substantive criteria. As the main result, the paper presents a model structured into five dimensions—environmental, social, economic, governance, and sustainable productive practices—articulated with substantive criteria and normative values such as environmental justice, equity, and ecological metabolism. The MSI was selected as the operational axis due to its methodological flexibility, territorial adaptability, and participatory validation processes. The results indicate that the model constitutes an analytical alternative applicable to territorial planning in complex regions such as the Amazon. Its implementation, however, requires institutional capacity, availability of local data, and qualified participatory processes. Future research should explore its empirical application and compare it with other multicriteria approaches to assess its effectiveness in formulating territorially sensitive public policies.
Referências
Angarita-Lozano, D., Hidalgo-Guerrero, D., Díaz-Márquez, S., Morales-Puentes, M., & Mendoza-Moreno, M. A. (2025). Multidimensional evaluation model for sustainable and smart urban mobility in Global South cities: A citizen-centred comprehensive framework. Sustainability, 17(10), 4684. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17104684
Borges, M. de M. R., de Sousa, L. M., & Ribas, G. G. (2025). Sustainable production systems in the Brazilian Amazon: A systematic review. Sustainability, 17(11), 4745. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17114745
Bottino, M. J., Nobre, P., Giarolla, E., da Silva Junior, M. B., Capistrano, V. B., Malagutti, M., … Nobre, C. A. (2024). Amazon savannization and climate change are projected to increase dry season length and temperature extremes over Brazil. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 5131. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55176-5
Brand, U., Muraca, B., Pineault, É., Sahakian, M., Schaffartzik, A., Novy, A., Streissler, C., Haberl, H., Asara, V., Dietz, K., Lang, M., Kothari, A., Smith, T., Spash, C., Brad, A., Pichler, M., Plank, C., Velegrakis, G., Jahn, T., … Görg, C. (2021). From planetary to societal boundaries: an argument for collectively defined self-limitation. Sustainability: Science Practice and Policy, 17(1), 264–291. https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2021.1940754
Calvo-Palomares, R., Aguado-Hernández, J. A., Sigalat-Signes, E., & Roig-Merino, B. (2021). A new methodology to assess territorial competence for sustainable local development: The READI (resources-actors-dynamics) matrix. Sustainability, 13(11), 6022. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116022
Chakrabarti, M., & Sharma, P. (2024). Beyond SDGs: quest for a new development paradigm through G20 Lens. Revista Tempo do Mundo (RTM), 34, 69–94. https://doi.org/10.38116/rtm34art2
Costa, S. M. F., Peregrina Puga, B., Lima, V. M., & Antunes de Paula, C. K. (2025). Desenvolvimento Regional E A Economia Da Sociobiodiversidade Nas Pequenas Cidades Da Região Amazônica: Uma Análise A Partir Da Região Intermediária De Breves, Pará. Revista Brasileira de Gestão e Desenvolvimento Regional, 21(2). https://doi.org/10.54399/rbgdr.v21i2.7878
De Francesco, A. (2025). From Ancestral Pathways to Climate Emergency: The centrality of rivers in an Amazonian perspective. Shima The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.21463/shima.254
Dean, M. (2022). Including multiple perspectives in participatory multi-criteria analysis: A framework for investigation. Evaluation, 28(4), 505–539. https://doi.org/10.1177/13563890221123822
Domingues, G., & Sauer, S. (2021). A grande fronteira: Amazônia e a formação do sistema agroextrativista global. Revista Katálysis, 24(3), 447–458. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-0259.2021.e79713
Etxano, I., & Villalba-Eguiluz, U. (2021). Twenty-five years of social multi-criteria evaluation (SMCE) in the search for sustainability: Analysis of case studies. Ecological Economics, 188, 107131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107131
Fassoni-Andrade, A. C., Fleischmann, A. S., Papa, F., Paiva, R. C. D. de, Wongchuig, S., Melack, J. M., … Pellet, V. (2021). Amazon hydrology from space: Scientific advances and future challenges. Reviews of Geophysics, 59(4). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020rg000728
Flores, B. M., Montoya, E., Sakschewski, B., Nascimento, N., Staal, A., Betts, R. A., … Hirota, M. (2024). Critical transitions in the Amazon forest system. Nature, 626(7999), 555–564. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06970-0
Framesche, L., Souza, J. B. de, & Veiga, T. B. (2025). Modelo multicritério como ferramenta para definição de ações de educação ambiental na gestão sustentável de resíduos sólidos: uma aplicação em municípios do Brasil. urbe Revista Brasileira de Gestão Urbana, 17. https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-3369.017.e20230367
Freitas, C. G. de, Castro, H. C., Soliani, R. D., Sibajev, A., & Pereira, R. dos S. (2025). Ciência, Biotecnologia E Desenvolvimento Sustentável Na Amazônia Ocidental: Um Estudo De Caso No Estado Do Acre. UÁQUIRI - Revista do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geografia da Universidade Federal do Acre, 6(2), 158–176. https://doi.org/10.29327/2151710.6.2-10
Freitas, J. da S., Mathis, A., Farias Filho, M. C., Homma, A. K. O., Gois, G. de, Ferreira, J. F. C., … Bastos, A. B. (2024). The key to the sustainability and conservation of extractive reserves in the Amazon. Sustainability, 16(11), 4685. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16114685
Garrett, R., Ferreira, J., Abramovay, R., Brandão, J., Brondizio, E., Euler, A., … Varese, M. (2024). Transformative changes are needed to support socio-bioeconomies for people and ecosystems in the Amazon. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 8(10), 1815–1825. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02467-9
Godin, A., David, A., Lecuyer, O., & Leyronas, S. (2022). A strong sustainability approach to development trajectories. European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies Intervention, 19, 3, 381–396. https://doi.org/10.4337/ejeep.2022.0094
Haddad, B. M., & Solomon, B. D. (2024). Ecological economics as the science of sustainability and transformation: Integrating entropy, sustainable scale, and justice. PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, 3(2), e0000098. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pstr.0000098
Hänggli, A., Levy, S. A., Armenteras, D., Bovolo, C. I., Brandão, J., Rueda, X., & Garrett, R. D. (2023). A systematic comparison of deforestation drivers and policy effectiveness across the Amazon biome. Environmental Research Letters, v. 18, n. 7. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acd408
Jiménez-Ortega, A. D., Aguilar Ibarra, A., Galeana-Pizaña, J. M., & Núñez, J. M. (2022). Changes over time matter: A cycle of participatory sustainability assessment of organic coffee in Chiapas, Mexico. Sustainability, 14(4), 2012. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042012
Kpadé, C. P., Tamini, L. D., Pepin, S., Khasa, D. P., Abbas, Y., & Lamhamedi, M. S. (2024). Evaluating multi-criteria decision-making methods for sustainable management of forest ecosystems: A systematic review. Forests, 15(10), 1728. https://doi.org/10.3390/f15101728
Kümmel, R. (2024). Entropy and the Limits to growth. Entropy, 26(6), 489. https://doi.org/10.3390/e26060489
Langemeyer, J., Benra, F., Nahuelhual, L., & Zoderer, B. M. (2024). Ecosystem services justice: The emergence of a critical research field. Ecosystem Services, 69(101655), 101655. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2024.101655
Leal Filho, W., Dinis, M. A. P., Canova, M. A., Cataldi, M., da Costa, G. A. S., Enrich-Prast, A., … Brearley, F. Q. (2025). Managing ecosystem services in the Brazilian Amazon: the influence of deforestation and forest degradation in the world’s largest rain forest. Geoscience Letters, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40562-025-00391-9
Lenzi, D., Balvanera, P., Arias-Arévalo, P., Eser, U., Guibrunet, L., Martin, A., Muraca, B., & Pascual, U. (2023). Justice, sustainability, and the diverse values of nature: why they matter for biodiversity conservation. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 64(101353), 101353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2023.101353
Lima, F. F.,Maciel, R. C. G., Mangabeira, J. A. C., Romeiro, A. R., Tôsto, S. G., Maciel, M. D. A., Sarcinelli, O., Oliveira, O. F., & Pereira, L. C. Índice Multicritério de Sustentabilidade (IMS) na Reserva Extrativista Chico Mendes, Acre – Brasil (2023). Texto para Discussão. Unicamp. IE, Campinas, n. 457.
Malavazi, F. W., Soliani, R. D., Ferreira-Junior, G. C., & Lobão, M. S. P. (2025). Access to genetic resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge with federal Science and Technology Institutions in Brazil: A systematic review of regulatory challenges. Fronteiras Journal of Social Technological and Environmental Science, 14(1), 253–266. https://doi.org/10.21664/2238-8869.2025v14i1.p253-266
Maluf, R. S., Burlandy, L., Cintrão, R. P., Tribaldos, T., & Jomalinis, E. (2024). Food systems and access to healthy food in an Amazonian context. Sustainability, 16(7), 2652. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16072652
Mangabeira, J. A. C., Pinto, D. M., & Scarazatti, B. (2021). Guia Metodológico: geração de indicadores de desempenho e índice multicritério de sustentabilidade para agricultura familiar no bioma Amazônia. Campinas: Embrapa Territorial.
Marengo, J. A., Jimenez, J. C., Espinoza, J.-C., Cunha, A. P., & Aragão, L. E. O. (2022). Increased climate pressure on the agricultural frontier in the Eastern Amazonia-Cerrado transition zone. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 457. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04241-4
Martinez-Alier, J. (2022). Circularity, entropy, ecological conflicts and LFFU. Local Environment, 27(10–11), 1182–1207. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2021.1983795
Merino, R. (2025). Governing international commons: Re-examining environmental and sovereignty imaginaries in the Amazon. Transnational Environmental Law, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1017/s2047102524000414
Morales-Giner, P., Speranza, M. L., Arteaga, M., Baudoin Farah, A., Ferreira da Fonseca Junior, S., García Villacorta, A., … Perz, S. (2021). Multi-criteria frameworks to improve evaluation of the effectiveness of environmental governance in the Amazon. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2021.635835
Naeem, M., Ozuem, W., Howell, K., & Ranfagni, S. (2023). A step-by-step process of thematic analysis to develop a conceptual model in qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231205789
Norris, D., Sabadini Carvalho, T., Guerrero, A. M., Sobral Escada, M. I., Alencar, A., Kimbrough, L., & Butler, R. A. (2022). Cutting down trees does not build prosperity: On the continued decoupling of Amazon deforestation and economic development in 21st century Brazil. Tropical Conservation Science, 15, 194008292211321. https://doi.org/10.1177/19400829221132193
OECD. (2020), A Territorial Approach to the Sustainable Development Goals: Synthesis report. OECD Urban Policy Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/e86fa715-en
Pereira, J. C., & Terrenas, J. (2022). Towards a transformative governance of the Amazon. Global Policy, 13(S3), 60–75. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13163
Piquer-Rodríguez, M., Aragón, R., Pacheco, S., Malizia, S., & Zunino, H. (2024). Co-production of sustainability indicators in a vulnerable South American agricultural frontier. Regional Environmental Change, 24(4). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-024-02340-2
Reid, J., & Rout, M. (2020). Developing sustainability indicators – The need for radical transparency. Ecological Indicators, 110(105941), 105941. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105941
Reijnders, L. (2021). Substitution, natural capital and sustainability. Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences, 18(1), 115–142. https://doi.org/10.1080/1943815x.2021.2007133
Rezende, R., Schwartzman, G., Straatmann, J., & Postigo, A. (2024). Valuing conservation and socio-environmental services on an Amazon frontier: the Extractive Reserves of the Terra do Meio. Journal of Political Ecology, 31(1). https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.3027
Rivera-González, G., Cadena-López, A., Escamilla-García, P. E., & Rivera, A. E. (2024). An overview of the current state of Social Ecological Economics field: A literature review. Journal of Ecohumanism, 3(8). https://doi.org/10.62754/joe.v3i8.4811
Rudolf, M., & Schmidt, M. (2025). Efficiency, sufficiency and consistency in sustainable development: Reassessing strategies for reaching overarching goals. Ecological Economics: The Journal of the International Society for Ecological Economics, 227(108426), 108426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108426
Sá Júnior, E. M. de, Plese, L. P. M., Barros, J. H. T., Soliani, R. D., & Ferreira Junior, G. C. (2025). Bioeconomia de Frutas Amazônicas: Um estudo de prospecção. Revista Semiárido De Visu, 281–299. https://doi.org/10.31416/rsdv.v13i3.1087
Sauer, P. C., & Seuring, S. (2023). How to conduct systematic literature reviews in management research: a guide in 6 steps and 14 decisions. Review of Managerial Science, 17(5), 1899–1933. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-023-00668-3
Schwartzman, G., & Rezende, R. (2025). Protected areas on an Amazon frontier: Payments for environmental services and the future of extractive reserves in the Terra da Meio. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2025.2471493
Silva, J. C. K., Soliani, R. D., Ferreira-Júnior, G. C., Lovrić, N., & Lobão, M. S. P. (2025). Can a digital platform framework advance the bioeconomy and the sustainabilty in the Amazon?: literature review. Gestão & Produção, 32. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9649-2025v32e14724
Singh, S. J., Talwar, S., & Shenoy, M. (2021). Why Socio-metabolic studies are central to ecological economics. Ecology, Economy and Society-the INSEE Journal, 4(2), 21–43. https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v4i2.461
Skene, K. R. (2022). How can economics contribute to environmental and social sustainability? The significance of systems theory and the embedded economy. Frontiers in Sustainability, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2022.980583
Spash, C. L. (2020). A tale of three paradigms: Realising the revolutionary potential of ecological economics. Ecological Economics: The Journal of the International Society for Ecological Economics, 169(106518), 106518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106518
Xavier, A., Fragoso, R., & Freitas, M. de B. C. (2025). Building sustainability composite indicators using a multi-criteria approach. European Journal of Operational Research, 326(2), 326–342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.04.024
Zheng, X., & Chen, Y. (2024). A better strategy: using green GDP to measure economic health. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2024.1459764
Ziemba, P. (2022). Application framework of multi-criteria methods in sustainability assessment. Energies, 15(23), 9201. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15239201
Downloads
Publicado
Como Citar
Edição
Seção
Licença
Copyright (c) 2026 Francisco Bezerra Lima Júnior, Carlos Alberto Franco da Costa, Raimundo Cláudio Gomes Maciel, Rodrigo Duarte Soliani

Este trabalho está licenciado sob uma licença Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Esta revista oferece acesso livre imediato ao seu conteúdo, seguindo o princípio de que disponibilizar gratuitamente o conhecimento científico ao público proporciona maior democratização mundial do conhecimento.
A partir da publicação realizada na revista os autores possuem copyright e direitos de publicação de seus artigos sem restrições.
A Revista Fronteiras: Journal of Social, Technological and Environmental Science segue os preceitos legais da licença Creative Commons - Atribuição-NãoComercial 4.0 Internacional.
