Study Finds £2-a-Day Payments in Peru Help Protect Amazon Rainforest

A pilot program that paid Indigenous residents of the Peruvian Amazon roughly £2 a day in unconditional cash has contributed to measurable protection of the rainforest, according to a study from the University of Bath reported by The Guardian. Researchers found that nearly 90% of participants adopted environmentally beneficial practices during the two-year trial.

What did the pilot project involve?

The program, managed by the UK-based charity Cool Earth, ran for two years in three communities in Peru's Asháninka region. It gave 211 people six cash transfers of 1,032 Peruvian soles each — the equivalent of about £2 a day — with no conditions attached on how the money was spent, according to the Guardian's account of the University of Bath analysis.

What changes did researchers document?

The study found that participants moved toward activities including collective reforestation, restoration of critical water sources, and reduced forest burning. Food insecurity also fell sharply: the share of households unable to afford nutritious food dropped from 73% to 26% over the course of the trial, per the research cited by the Guardian.

Why does reducing migration matter for forest protection?

Researchers also tracked a drop in forced migration, with the proportion of participants who had to leave home to find work falling from 43% to 18%. The study's authors said this effect allowed more residents to stay on their land and continue protecting it, rather than seeking income elsewhere.

What do the researchers say is driving the effect?

Dr. Nick Langridge, a co-author of the report, told the Guardian: "The findings suggest that when communities have greater security and autonomy, they are better able to protect the ecosystems they depend on." The study links the cash payments to reduced economic pressure that can otherwise push forest residents toward logging or other environmentally damaging work tied to food insecurity or displacement.

How does this fit into wider debates about rainforest funding?

The Guardian's report notes growing recognition of Indigenous stewardship as central to protecting biomes that sequester carbon, shelter biodiversity, and provide ecological services globally — even as Indigenous lands face continued pressure from miners, loggers, farmers, and land grabbers. The Bath analysis is expected to feed into broader discussion over whether direct, unconditional payments to communities that maintain these ecosystems should play a larger role in conservation funding, according to the Guardian.

What to watch next

• Whether Cool Earth or other organizations scale the unconditional basic income model beyond the three pilot communities in the Asháninka region.
• Whether researchers publish a full peer-reviewed version of the University of Bath analysis with longer-term outcome data.
• Whether policymakers or conservation funders cite the Peru results in debates over direct payments versus conditional aid for Indigenous forest stewards.
• Whether food-insecurity and migration trends hold once the six scheduled cash transfers end and payments stop.

The full Guardian report includes additional detail on the pilot's design and the researchers' methodology.