Public park concessions are an area of growing opportunity in Brazil

The Brazilian government will hold an auction this week to renew the concession contract for managing Iguaçu National Park in the southern state of Paraná, home to the iconic Iguazu Falls on Brazil’s border with Argentina.

The awarding of concessions for public-facing services in parks is a relatively recent phenomenon in Brazil.  There are currently 24 visitor-receiving parks managed by concessionaires, and nearly 90 percent of these were awarded since 2018.  Only three such contracts existed previously. 

Iguaçu was a pioneer. It was the country’s first national park to be handed over to a private company for the management of visitor services and infrastructure, in 1999, and is seen as an example of how successful the private management of parks can be.

The push for parks concessions

Brazil’s National Development Bank (BNDES) says Iguaçu will be the first of 10 auctions for park concessions to be held by the third quarter of 2022. A program developed by the bank for the concession of protected areas, known as conservation units (UCs), currently includes 34 state parks.

At federal level, 18 national parks are included in the government’s Investment Partnership Program (PPI), a divestment program launched in 2016. The PPI...