DURING the last three decades, the 5-million square kilometer planning region "Amazônia legal", the world's largest area of tropical forests, endured six phases of regional development programs with far-reaching state and private activities: 1 National integration, 2 Polamazônia, 3 Integrated rural development, 4 Grande Carajás, 5 Sustainable development strategies in the Pilot Program, 6 Avança Brasil. With the exception of the Pilot Program, which contributed to the sustainable development and management of natural resources, the consequences of all regional development programs have been the increased destruction of tropical forests, comprising 14 % of the total forest area in Amazonia. The new Avança Brasil mega-program, financed mostly by the government, with an enormous expansion of infrastructure and complex economic activities, is causing huge environmental impacts, constituting a major challenge for the future development of Amazonia. Changes in the strategies for regional policy and decentralized regional development will have to satisfy the basic needs of the regional population on the basis of sustainable management of forest resources and the preservation of biodiversity in Amazonia.