Analyzing the economic impact of sustainable development programs in the Brazilian Amazon

ABSTRACT Over the last forty years, the Brazilian Amazon has been the object of many development and industrialization programs. The vast majority of those programs have been “mega-projects” implemented by the Brazilian federal government. Recently, several states have implemented their own style of economic development programs in the Amazon. These smaller scale “local” sustainable development programs offer policy makers an alternative to the “mega-projects”. This paper seeks to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each economic development model. Additionally, this paper provides an economic impact analysis of one “local” sustainable development project, Projeto Castanha-do-Brasil.