Haroldo Palo Jr.
Combating Climate
Change along the
Amazon’s
Arc of Deforestation
Brazil possesses an astounding wealth of natural and cultural resources, producing more
coffee, sugar, poultry and beef than any other nation. It is the world’s most biodiverse
country, supporting a quarter of the world’s species and the largest rainforest on Earth.
Brazil is also home to numerous and diverse indigenous groups, many of whom continue
to practice their traditional customs and ways of life. But like most types of wealth,
Brazil’s resources generate both opportunities and conflicts.
Brazil’s agricultural, ecological, and cultural values
intersect along the massive Amazonian frontier known as
the “Arc of Deforestation,” where close to half of the
world’s tropical deforestation occurs, largely due to
unplanned clearing for pastureland. This conversion is
immensely harmful to natural systems and the benefits
they provide, undermining the very soil and water
quality that are the foundations of Brazil’s agricultural
dominance. This conversion also makes the country the
world’s fourth-largest contributor to climate change. As
the frontier advances, protected areas and indigenous
lands are facing illegal incursions and other pressures
that degrade the forest.
The Brazilian government has recently enacted
several policies and regulations to try to address these
problems, including the creation of a “black list” of
municipalities with the highest deforestation rates in the
Amazon. The consequences of being included on this list
include a ban on new licenses to expand pasturelands,
an embargo on the sale of goods produced on illegally
deforested areas, and reduced access to credit lines.
Enforcement of these rules provides a “stick” to motivate
change, but a successful effort to make a lasting
difference along the Arc of Deforestation must also offer
“carrots.” Brazil’s federal government has created some
positive incentives, including the well-known Amazon
Fund, which is financed based on proven emissions
reductions and aims to reduce deforestation. However,
these initiatives have been slow to disburse funds and/or
difficult to access. As a result, many farmers and ranchers
complain that the government has left them with only two
options: to deforest illegally to support their families or to
go hungry.
A Green Economy
The Nature Conservancy has a different vision, one
in which people don’t have to choose between livelihoods
and the environment. That is why we are working with local
partners in the Arc of Deforestation to create a largescale model of what a green economy could look
like, through an initiative designed to reduce emissions
from deforestation and degradation, protect biodiversity,
promote the sustainable use of natural resources, restore
degraded lands, and create better living conditions and
economic opportunities for local communities.
The fact is, most of Brazil’s current land conversion is
unnecessary – agricultural expansion could occur entirely
on existing, underutilized agricultural and ranching lands.
To accomplish this, Brazil needs to complement its suite
of regulatory measures with economic incentives to help
people on the ground implement best practices and take
on more sustainable livelihoods.
A national program to reward Reducing Emissions
from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+)
On-the-ground examples of REDD+ implementation at state and
municipal levels are urgently needed to test out methodologies, build
support from the bottom up, and provide the proof-of-concept needed
to significantly increase investment.
could provide some of these positive incentives. Brazil
has been a leader in international discussions on
REDD+ and is working to build a national framework.
Yet successfully achieving REDD+ is complex anywhere,
and Brazil is no exception. On-the-ground examples at
state and municipal levels are urgently needed to test
out methodologies, build support from the bottom up,
and provide the proof-of-concept needed to significantly
increase investment. These initiatives will serve as models
for designing and implementing successful policies and
measures at the national level.
A Good Place to Start
The State of Pará is a great place to start. The epicenter
of Brazil’s expanding agricultural frontier, Pará is struggling
to balance the demand for agricultural commodities with
environmental and cultural conservation. Historically,
economic development has taken place at the expense of
conservation, leading to the highest deforestation rate of
any state in Brazil, largely due to illegal logging practices
and subsequent conversion of land for cattle, soy, and
subsistence agriculture.
However, the Pará state government is working to
turn this story around. The state has created a statelevel plan for controlling and reversing deforestation
and has recently launched its Green Municipalities
Program. Based on a successful model that The Nature
Conservancy helped implement in the municipality of
Paragominas in Eastern Pará, this Program aims to
help municipalities get off the black list and stay off
by reducing deforestation, promoting best practices
Peter Ellis/TNC
The Pilot area is home to enormous biodiversity. A
recent rapid assessment carried out in the National
Park found more than 900 species of flora and fauna,
including four endangered species.
in agriculture and ranching, supporting alternative
livelihoods, and fostering a green economy. The state
is also in the process of creating legislation related
to payments for environmental services and sees
REDD+ as an integral component of all of these
efforts. The Nature Conservancy is actively supporting
the Pará state government in the development and
implementation of these initiatives.
In order to kick-start the Green Municipalities
Program and provide lessons for future state climate
legislation, The Nature Conservancy is working with
local partners in the municipality of São Felix do Xingu
(SFX) in Southern Pará to create a living example of a
green economy.
The SFX REDD+ Pilot Program seeks to be a
model for sustainable, low-carbon development for
the state of Pará, through an integrated, large-scale
initiative that involves diverse actors working across
distinct land-use types. The pilot area, which covers
more than 11 million hectares (roughly the size of
Guatemala), has the highest annual deforestation
rates and the largest cattle herd in the Amazon. It also
encompasses the major land use types found in the
Amazon, making it an ideal microcosm for the state
and national context.
If something isn’t done to change the dynamic,
the municipality’s forests quickly will be converted
to agricultural and pastoral lands: last year, one out
of every eight hectares deforested in the Brazilian
Amazon was in São Félix.
Haroldo Palo Jr.
São Félix do Xingu represents “the end of line,”
where the expanding agricultural frontier finds
itself with nowhere else to go.
A Working Model
The Nature Conservancy is uniquely situated to
support an integrated approach to land management in
Pará that includes private lands, indigenous lands, and
protected areas. Through years of experience working to
improve land management in the state, we have established
formal partnerships with the state government, several
municipal governments, protected area managers in the
region and with the national indigenous affairs agency, as
well as many local actors.
If the current economic model of expansive ranching
continues, either the protected areas will bow to the
increasing pressures and become overrun with invaders,
or ranchers will need move on to seek new frontiers.
The SFX REDD+ Pilot Program seeks to provide another
option: a green economy that allows for sustainable
production without further deforestation.
Cattle ranching is a way of life
in São Félix. Helping improve
ranching practices and providing
alternative livelihood options is
an integral part of the Pilot.
In São Felix, for example, we are working with local
producer associations and the state government to map
and register lands in the municipality. Through this effort,
we have registered roughly 80 percent of the lands in the
municipality and will begin to help individual ranchers
identify what parts of their land is most productive and
what parts are best suited to conservation.
The REDD+ Pilot area in São Félix do
Xingu is strategically situated at the
very crossroads of Brazil’s agricultural,
economic, and cultural values.
Oliverio Cortez
The SFX REDD+ Pilot area is strategically situated
at the very crossroads of Brazil’s agricultural, economic,
and cultural values. Extensive cattle ranching is beginning
to bump up against newly created protected areas and
indigenous territories. In many ways, the region represents
the end of the line. Agriculture currently expands into
the municipality through a corridor created by the PA279 highway and finds itself surrounded by a 25 million
hectare ecological corridor to the west and vast stretches
of indigenous lands to the north and south.
The SFX REDD+ Pilot Program seeks to create this sustainable future through several complementary strategies:
•
Helping to map and register private lands within the state’s environmental licensing system and working with land
managers to restore degraded lands and intensify cattle and agriculture production in non-forested areas;
•
Working with the national indigenous affairs agency to provide sustainable economic opportunities for indigenous
communities, improve territorial management and border control, and strengthen institutional capacity to defend
indigenous interests. Additionally, the pilot program will work with communities adjacent to indigenous lands to create
management plans that reduce the pressure for illegal incursions into indigenous territories;
•
Working with protected areas managers to strengthen existing efforts to develop effective management plans and increase
enforcement capabilities.
All of these strategies will be included in a comprehensive carbon accounting program that credibly accounts for the
carbon benefits the pilot achieves. The pilot aims to reduce deforestation by 80 percent, or 800,000 hectares, over 10 years,
avoiding emission of approximately 440 million tons of CO2e during the same period*.
The SFX REDD+ Pilot Program is an attempt to help the state of Pará learn by doing in its efforts to create a green
economy for the state while also protecting vast amounts of biodiversity, providing new livelihood alternatives to local people,
and measurably helping to stabilize the world’s climate. It is also an exciting opportunity to demonstrate to the world how
REDD+ can work, generating significant resources to boost a green economy and effectively and equitably distributing the
benefits among diverse stakeholders across a large area.
* Preliminary numbers based on Griscom, B., Kerkering, J. 2010. Forest Carbon Emissions in São Félix do Xingu Region, Para, Brazil. Report for The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA. 14 pages.
Estimates will be refined when more data available.
More information:
FSC
M. Angelica Toniolo
Rane Cortez
SFX REDD+ Pilot
Program Coordinator
REDD+ Advisor
[email protected]
[email protected]
nature.org