Once known for slash-and-burn farming, Paragominas, Brazil, has halted deforestation. In 2008, residents decided to become a “green municipality”, a first for Amazonia, pledging to end illegal deforestation by 2010, replant forests and teach conservation in school. Landowners had to declare their holdings with digital coordinates on a geo-referenced property registry; today, compliance has reached 97%. In 2023, it earned the 80th-highest score on the environment index of 5,570 townships nationwide. Income by head has more than doubled since 2010, and primary school test scores are up 60% since 2007.

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