capa posicionamento 01

filipefrazao/iStock

10/05/2022
Open letter from Brazilian organizations to US President Joe Biden and Congresspersons in support of the trust fund against deforestation

Companies, collectives, the civil society, and indigenous peoples' organizations signed on Tuesday an open letter in support of the Amazon21 Act, a USD 9 billion fund being discussed by the US Congress to tackle deforestation in developing countries. The resources were announced by US President Joe Biden in November 2021, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26), in Glasgow, and will be discussed this week at a hearing of the House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee. Signatories of the text also recommend that the Amazon21 Act should result in a transparent governance framework, with strong involvement of civil society and amenable to projects submitted by governments, the academia, the third and the private sectors. The priority group for receiving the resources, however, must be the forest peoples, whose livelihoods are directly affected by the escalating deforestation in the Amazon. The letter was sent to: US President Joe Biden; Secretary of State Antony Blinken; Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (Democrat); Majority Leader of the House of Representatives and author of the bill Steny Hoyer (Democrat); House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks (Democrat); House Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Michael McCaul (Republican); Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (Democrat); and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member James Risch (Republican). Read the full letter below: We, the undersigned organizations from Brazilian society, hereby represented by civil entities, the private sector, indigenous organizations, and traditional communities, supports the approval of the America Mitigating and Achieving Zero-Emissions Originating from Nature for the 21st Century Act (AMAZON21 Act), which authorizes the creation of a USD 9 billion trust fund for the US State Department to engage in long-term bilateral agreements to tackle deforestation in developing countries. We consider that such measure would represent an important expression of commitment by President Biden and the U.S. Congress regarding the fight against climate change by targeting one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Brazil accounts for nearly two thirds of the Amazon rainforest, the largest tropical forest in the world. Over 75% of the forest has lost its resilience since the beginning of the 21st century, according to a study published in March in the Nature Climate Change journal, which brings the biome closer to its tipping point. Nevertheless, according to the Global Forest Watch platform, Brazil accounted for 40% of all primary tropical forest loss in the world in 2021. Between August 2020 and July 2021, the biome lost more than 13.2 thousand km², according to the National Institute for Space Research (PRODES/INPE in Portuguese acronym), an increase of 22% compared to the previous 12 months, and the highest rate recorded since 2006. In a document developed by more than 200 scientists, the Scientific Panel for Amazonia warned that nearly 17% of the Amazon forests have been converted to other uses and at least another 17% have been degraded. This loss could compromise the biome's role in global water cycles and the regulation of climate variability, in addition to hastening its savannization process. The allocation of international resources, therefore, is crucial to avoid the collapse of our forest ecosystems. We understand that it is essential to develop a global instrument that supports the efforts for forest conservation. For such a mechanism to be efficient and of great impact, we take the liberty of indicating some principles for its efficient and effective operationalization. Here are the following: To establish a simple and transparent financing system, with broad governance and the involvement of civil society; To establish clear rules that are amenable to projects conceived by all spheres of government, communities, third sector organizations, the academia, and the private sector; Allocate resources based on results, especially regarding the standing forest maintenance; Prioritize direct access to funds for forest peoples, who are historically contributing to its conservation and whose livelihoods are directly affected by the escalating deforestation. We remain at your disposal to contribute in any way needed for the AMAZON21 Act to achieve efficient results, leading to the standing forest maintenance, and ensuring the quality of life of the Amazonians, thereby benefiting the global community. Sincerely, Agropalma Amata Arapyaú Institute Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance BVRio CBKK S/A Climate Observatory Climate Policy Initiative Conselho Nacional das Populações Extrativistas (CNS) [National Council of Extractivist Populations] Coordenação das Organizações Indígenas da Amazônia Brasileira (Coiab) [Coordination

09/03/2022
Mining on indigenous lands is not a solution to fertilizer problem

Indigenous lands' environmental integrity, areas of utmost relevance for climate stability and the protection of the country's cultural diversity, may be at risk if the Chamber of Deputies approves, without further discussion and substantial improvements, Bill (PL) 191/2020, which allows the mining of mineral resources, the construction of hydroelectric dams, and industrial agriculture on those territories. The Bill was brought up again last week and may have an urgency request for its voting approval at any moment, without going through the proper analysis of competent commissions. The possibility of an urgent voting procedure is being used under the misguided argument that mining on indigenous lands would overcome the shortage of fertilizers, especially potassium, coming from Russia in the wake of the war between that country and Ukraine. Mining on indigenous lands does not solve the fertilizer problem. According to a survey carried out by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG in Portuguese acronym), based on data from the National Mining Agency (ANM in Portuguese acronym) and the Brazilian Geological Service, two thirds of the Brazilian reserves are outside the Amazon. Moreover, even among those located in the biome, only 11% overlap with indigenous lands. The lack of significant overlap of potash reserves and indigenous lands was also confirmed by an independent study carried out by the Brazilian Association of Mineral and Mining Research Companies. Also, in accordance with the UFMG research, if investments are made for potassium extraction from different types of potassium salts and rocks, the country's existing reserves could give us autonomy beyond 2100. Furthermore, ANM has more than 500 active potash exploration processes in progress that could be made feasible without harming the original peoples' territories. The war between Russia and Ukraine, therefore, must not be an excuse to approve a bill that has not yet been properly discussed by society and, above all, has not been consulted with the organizations representing the indigenous peoples, the most interested parties in the matter. The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, a movement formed by more than 300 representatives of agribusiness, civil society, the financial sector, and the academia, advocates that Congress turn its attention to another urgent discussion - the several obstacles encountered in the country to produce fertilizers, such as legal uncertainty, the tax system, and other regulatory problems, which make imported products more competitive than domestic ones.

12/01/2022
Undermining Cerrado monitoring threatens biodiversity and agricultural production in Brazil

The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, a multi-sectoral movement composed of more than 300 companies, civil society organizations, financial sector and the academia, views with concern the announcement of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) regarding the discontinuation of Cerrado monitoring. The biome, which covers approximately 24% of the country's territory, accounts for the sources of most of the hydrographic basins that are crucial to Brazil's water and energy supply. It is, also, the hub of the agricultural production, sheltering the cultivation of commodities such as soy, corn, and cotton. In addition to its economic relevance, it is worth noting that the Cerrado is recognized as the world's richest savanna in biodiversity and is undergoing a forthright process of degradation. Last December 31, INPE released that the biome lost 8,531.4 km² of native vegetation in one year, between August 2020 and July 2021. This is a 7.9% increase over the index for the previous 12 months. It is, therefore, time to invest in monitoring and research, and not to dismiss teams and resources. The possibility of a "data blackout" on deforestation in the Cerrado reflects INPE's shortage, whose budget in 2021 was R$75.8 million, an 85% reduction from what it received in 2010 (R$487.6 million). There is funding for maintenance of Cerrado monitoring only until April. The country, therefore, is beginning a countdown to ensure the survival of INPE's work, whose data is necessary for the continuity of environmental monitoring, agribusiness, and scientific studies. It is worth pointing out that the expense of sustaining the threatened project is minimal. Cerrado monitoring costs only R$ 2.5 million per year. In order to have an idea, the fine for illegal deforestation of 1 hectare is worth R$ 1,500. Thus, the infractions related to the devastation of 1,700 hectares already pay for the entire system. By signing a forestry agreement during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) exactly 70 days ago, alongside 140 countries, Brazil committed itself before its citizens and the international community to protect critical ecosystems such as the Cerrado. Several countries, such as the United States, as well as the European Union, have already indicated that socio-environmental care is a focal issue for the diplomatic agenda and business transactions. Brazil, by not fulfilling its duties, chooses isolationism and backwardness. Nor will you be able to control the narrative. Other initiatives, involving governments and civil society, can take over biome monitoring on their own. Actions will always be stronger than words. Hence, once again the country's reputation is at stake, as it demonstrates incoherence and misalignment between the commitments it has taken on - both for tackling the climate crisis and the loss of biodiversity - and the actions it implements - regardless of whether they are linked to research, monitoring, and intelligence, which should promote good public policies. The Brazilian Coalition calls on the federal government to ensure the necessary resources for the continuity of the monitoring program for the Cerrado and all of Brazil's biomes. It's a matter of lawfulness, transparency, and credibility.

03/12/2021
Brazilian Coalition contributes to the public consultation on the National Policy on Climate Change

The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture sees with concern the draft Bill on the National Policy on Climate Change (PNMC in Portuguese acronym), which is available for public consultation until Saturday, December 4th. The draft text erroneously proposes to repeal the current legislation on the matter, Law 12.187/2009, and weakens the principles, guidelines, commitments, and governance mechanisms that are key to guide the Brazilian climate policy. Furthermore, the draft bill reduces the participation of civil society and subnational governments in decision making related to the PNMC, centralizing governance in the Interministerial Climate Change and Green Growth Committee, whose framework is not further detailed - not even the concept of "green growth" is described in the draft. This is therefore a step backwards, considering that civil society, the academia, the private sector, and subnational governments, which are excluded by the proposed governance, are essential for the creation and promotion of sectorial actions for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Among other critical points in the draft include: There is no mention of quantifiable targets for the reduction and neutralization of emissions - even those assumed by the country during the Glasgow Climate Conference (COP26), in November - focusing only on guidelines for reaching the targets; It is unclear what measures must be taken to achieve greenhouse gas emissions neutrality by 2050, or what policies will be adopted to halt illegal deforestation by 2030; The draft excluded the authorization for the establishment of the Brazilian Market for Emission Reduction (MBRE in Portuguese acronym), foreseen in the PNMC law of 2009; It also withdrew the determination for official financial institutions to provide specific credit and financing lines for carrying out actions and activities that meet the PNMC targets; Sectoral plans are defined as PNMC instruments, but there is no clear mention of the sectors that should elaborate plans for mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and each one has its own specific features. Among them are power generation and distribution, public transportation, interstate passenger and cargo transportation systems, converters and consumer durables industry, the fine and base chemical industries, the pulp and paper industry, the construction industry, mining, health services, and agriculture and livestock; In line with the agreement signed at COP 26, it must be clear that the gradual substitution of fossil fuels will be instrumental to government action in the PNMC, as well as the incentive to renewable energy development. However, biofuels themselves, of which Brazilian biomass has great potential, are only generically mentioned in the new draft text; The Bill proposes a measure, in theory unconstitutional, by establishing that, for the execution of the PNMC, the States and the Federal District must submit to the Federal Executive Branch the state and district plans on climate change. The provisions harm the principle of the federative agreement foreseen in Article 18 of the Federal Constitution: the federal entities have autonomy and should not be obliged to submit their projects and political programs to the federal government. The Brazilian Coalition considers that the PNMC law of 2009 already establishes the appropriate parameters for the national policy on climate change. It is desirable to direct the effort to its implementation and to updating the described targets, and not to repealing the law. Hence, the Coalition supports that the new bill, a draft of which was released by the Ministry of the Environment, should not be presented. The debate about updating the PNMC is underway in the federal legislative branch, through bills already approved in the Senate, and which now go to the House of Representatives. The Coalition defends having this debate continue in Congress, with the due participation of the different sectors of society to improve the proposals currently at stake. It is important to emphasize that the new PNMC version must encourage reforestation actions and recovery of degraded areas as a joint and complementary effort to combat deforestation. If, however, the draft is taken to the legislature, the Brazilian Coalition recommends that it proceed after a series of content adjustments and insertions, as presented here. These suggestions, however, do not represent the movement's endorsement of the proposal presented by the Ministry of the Environment. Find here the contributions sent by the Brazilian Coalition to the public consultation, in Portuguese.

19/11/2021
Amazon deforestation hits record high and shows Brazil heading towards the abyss

The announcement on this Thursday afternoon of a new record high according to the Project for Monitoring Deforestation in the Amazon by Satellites (PRODES in Portuguese acronym), a tool of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) that measures the annual rate of deforestation in the Amazon, is a definitive warning of the risk that the entire country runs in face of the forest's collapse. Between August 2020 and July 2021, 13,235 km² of forest were decimated in the Legal Amazon, the highest rate since 2006. The surveillance operations have proven to be ineffective in curbing the countless environmental crimes that occur inside the biome, from land grabbing to illegal mining, including timber trafficking and the illegal occupation of protected areas. The Amazon is on the verge of reaching the point of no return, which will result in mass extinctions and failure of its environmental services. This is a social and economic issue. The increasing degradation of its territory has the potential to create a humanitarian crisis, as traditional communities will lose the natural resources they depend on for subsistence. Nor will the cleared forest produce the streams of moisture that fill the hydroelectric dam reservoirs, irrigate agricultural production, and ensure the supply of most of the country's population. Brazil is unfeasible without the Amazon. It is a mistake to rely on sporadic operations that last a few months to fight devastation, in pursuit of immediate results. The fight against deforestation is daily and depends on strategic planning, based on analysis of historical trends and on the identification of the most crucial points. This was the strategy that allowed an 83% deforestation reduction in the biome between 2004 and 2012. The country has the means to experience this success again. For this, it needs to adopt urgent and structural measures. The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture points out actions that must be taken for a prompt drop in deforestation: Intensifying the fight against lawlessness, with the embargo being immediately reinstated for all deforested areas with evidence of irregularity; Implementation of the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR, in the Portuguese acronym) and suspend registration in public forests and in cases of intervention in legal reserves and Permanent Protection Areas, or in cases of overlapping with embargoed areas - in 2020, about one third of deforestation was registered in locations registered in the CAR overlapping with these units; Immediate return of territorial planning, including the demarcation of indigenous lands and quilombola territories and the allocation of 10 million hectares for the implementation of conservation units; Grant financing under strict socio-environmental criteria; Seek full transparency and strictness in vegetation clearance authorizations; and Suspend the land tenure regularization processes for properties with deforestation after July 2008. During the Climate Conference (COP 26), which ended last Saturday, Brazil signed the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration, committing to stop deforestation by 2030. The country, therefore, must now turn around on its path towards the abyss, proving that its commitment will not be fake.

02/11/2021
Signature of forestry agreement is a win in the fight against climate change

The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, a multi-sectoral movement formed by more than 300 companies, civil society organizations, financial sector and the academia, praises the initiative taken by more than 100 leaders, including the Brazilian government, who signed a global agreement on the preservation of forests at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26), in Glasgow. Signatories to the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use committed to allocate more than $12 billion in public funds and $7.2 billion from the private sector to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. The countries that joined the initiative have on their territory the equivalent of 85% of the world's forests. The agreement is, as of now, a positive legacy from COP 26. Deforestation accounts for about 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. At last, the international community recognizes that the devastation of the forests is no longer acceptable, and that their preservation is crucial to face the climate crisis and to curb the increase in global temperature to, at most, 1.5 degrees Celsius, as claimed in the Paris Agreement. By committing to the Declaration, Brazil demonstrates a collaborative attitude to the international community, at a time when the country is under scrutiny for its inability to reduce its deforestation rate and for not demonstrating a sufficiently ambitious review of its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), that is, of its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Coalition encourages Brazil to translate its political will into solid actions which will be vital for the accomplishment of the forest agreement. The fifth largest greenhouse gas emitter and with more than 60% of the Amazon, the largest tropical forest in the world, in its territory, the country cannot avoid its responsibility to curb global warming and ensure the Paris Agreement's success. Brazil needs to demonstrate to the world that it is possible to attune large-scale commodity and food production to conservation. The business sector has already carried out several initiatives that point in this direction. The country must invest in the development and deployment of technologies to increase sustainability in the field, such as the traceability of the supply chain. Likewise, as the agreement states, it must recognize that the development of the forest economy must include traditional communities, who are the guardians of these ecosystems. Only 1.6% of deforestation in the country between 1985 and 2020 occurred on indigenous lands, according to a survey released in August by MapBiomas.

25/10/2021
Senate adopts misguided emissions reduction target

TheBrazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, a multi-sectoral movement formed bymore than 300companies, civil society organizations, financial sector and the academia, views with concern the approval of Bill (PL in the Portuguese acronym) 1.539/2021 in Federal Senate, which amended the National Policy on Climate Change. The text gives room for the country to even increase its emissions in the future, since it proposes that there be a reduction based on an uncertain baseline that is subject to multiple interpretations, described as "emission reductions projected until 2025", thus going against the country's and global needs, which request effective reductions compared to what is currently emitted. TheBrazilian Coalitionbelieves that the new text should maintain an existing rather than projected baseline for calculations, as per Brazil's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). For the NDC, the baseline is the country's emissions registered in 2005. The National Congress' engagement in drafting a more ambitious climate commitment is important, as suggested by theBrazilian Coalitionin the report "Recommendations for COP 26", released last week. The country needs to submit a clear and convincing revision of its emission reduction target, detailing plans and resources that will be allocated for this purpose. In this respect, the proposal, found in the original versions of Bill 1.539/21, to anticipate to 2025 the goal of a 43% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, is praiseworthy, but as long as this reduction is based on 2005 - or the most recent year yet inventoried, and not a blurry projection of future increase. Brazil has been criticized since last year by the international community for not having extended its emission reduction targets until 2030. The submission of a new commitment at the Glasgow Climate Conference is crucial to show the country as a truly committed player in restricting the increase in global temperature, avoiding the environmental collapse already predicted for the coming decades by the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released in August. The planet is facing a countdown that could lead to ecosystem failure and mass extinctions. It is up to Brazil to take a leadership position in the efforts to combat a potential succession of natural catastrophes.

16/09/2021
Brazilian Coalition stands for the creation of a National Policy on Bioeconomy

Task Force claims training for professionals working in areas such as food and forests, in addition to the commitment of the business sector to ESG principles VISION To expand the scale and add value to productive chains and ecosystem services derived from native vegetation, whether exclusively or in combination with planted forests, agricultural or pastoral systems, from small-scale extractive or family-based, to larger scale agroforestry systems. CONCEPT The recent boom of initiatives focused on Bioeconomy, in Brazil and worldwide, has made the term to embrace countless concepts and sectors, tailored to the reality of each region on Earth. In temperate countries the concept is most connected to the agenda of decarbonization of the energy matrix, creation of biomaterials alternative to petroleum derivatives, promotion of a regenerative and circular economy, rethinking consumption patterns and raising the level of socio-environmental responsibility of companies in their supply and distribution chains. There are other related topics that belong to this ecosystem, such as biomimetics and its bio-inspired innovations, or biotechnology associated with the production of food, medicines and bio-derivatives, with extremely powerful outcomes in regenerative models for agriculture and biodiversity. In Brazil, the concept was embraced by sectors in which the country is a world reference, such as biofuels (ethanol, biodiesel, biomass, biogas), bioproducts (cellulose, native and planted wood), innovations in biomass derivatives (lignin and derivatives) and health (biopharmaceuticals and vaccines). The Brazilian agricultural sector also employs the term when referring to new agricultural soil management practices, which prioritize the use of bio-inputs, bio-fertilizers, biological pest control, pollination, phosphorus and nitrogen-fixing inoculums, enzymes, precursors, rumen modulators, and countless innovations of the new understanding frontier of the role of microbiota in the relationship between soil, plant, herbivores, and decomposers. Furthermore, there is the Bioeconomy that is related to the sustainable exploitation or management of the native flora in its countless combinations of denseness and joint venture of non-timber extractivism, related to the biodiversity value chains, case of acai and other species such as copaiba, cashew nut, cocoa, cumaru, winter's bark, candeia, jaborandi, manioc, several palms, carnauba, babassu, moriche palm, macaw palm, jussara, pupunha palm tree, butia, among countless beautiful plants of our flora and their amazing derivatives. The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, a movement formed by more than 300 representatives of agribusiness, industry, civil society, financial sector and academia, as a group with a rich diversity of organizations and companies related to agriculture and forestry, seeks to adopt a definition of Bioeconomy concept that is more comprehensive and related to the Brazilian identity and vocation. As such, the Coalition's Bioeconomy Task Force will act in synergy with other bioeconomy initiatives in Brazil, including those led by partner networks and organizations. However, in order to address tangibles objectives and set a priority line of action, the Task Force focuses on the Bioeconomy derived from forestry and agroforestry systems in Brazil, at different scales and reaching multiple sectors, such as traditional peoples and communities and family farmers, among other important stakeholders in the chains. Thus, we seek to promote the economic use of forests and native vegetation, in ecosystems managed with good socio-environmental practices, that favor endogenous local development and the commercialization of larger scale chains, therefore generating income, empowerment, and the well-being of local communities. POSITIONING The drive to scale up the Bioeconomy has a direct link to global efforts towards sustainable development and maintaining healthy life on Earth. In Brazil, the Bioeconomy shall promote the responsible use of biodiversity, the development of sustainable agricultural and forestry systems, the protection and restoration of native vegetation, the socioeconomic inclusion of traditional communities and family farmers, and the generation of income for all Brazil's rural and forestry areas. Therefore, the Bioeconomy has integral adherence to the founding objectives of the Coalition, it is almost a synthesis of everything that guides our path and actions. The Coalition's proposed Bioeconomy explores the interface between agriculture, livestock, and forests, with the goal of scaling up sustainable and biodiverse production systems that promote landscape restoration, soil regeneration, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem service valuation, and agricultural efficiency. The starting point is to protect agricultural soil from desiccation and erosion, increase organic matter and the water holding capacity of the soil. I

03/06/2021
Brazil wins National Policy on Payment for Environmental Services with tax incentives and mechanisms of governance and transparency

The National Congress overturned, on June 01, 2021, the Partial Veto 5/2021 to the Law No. 14,119/2021, establishing the National Policy, the National Registry, and the Federal Program of Payment for Environmental Services (PES). This step forward is also added to the overthrow of other vetoes in March of this year and, therefore, the country has ensured an attractive, participative, and transparent PES policy. The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, movement formed by more than 300 representatives of agribusiness, civil society, the financial sector and the academy, congratulates the parliamentary leaders who promoted the broad process of dialogue, collective effort and negotiation that resulted in this important accomplishment. The National Congress showed that PES is a priority to Brazil and was steadfast in maintaining the political principles and rescue fundamental aspects that threatened the effectiveness of the norm due to presidential vetoes. Thus, the country is now preparing to develop the regulation of this policy, in order to guarantee its implementation, adequate to the practices already existing in Brazil and consistent with the principles that rules the subject. The Brazilian Coalition, once again, will be available to the government to help develop these regulations and attract investments for this agenda. About the Brazilian CoalitionThe Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement formed with the objective of proposing actions and influencing public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy, with the creation of quality jobs and the fostering of innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generation and distribution of wealth to the entire society. More than 300 companies, business associations, research institutes and civil society organizations have already joined the Brazilian Coalition - coalizaobr.com.br/en

01/06/2021
Overthrow the veto to tax incentives of the National Policy Payment for Environmental Services is key to attracting investment

The Partial Veto 5/2021, affixed to the Bill 5028/2019, which institutes the National Policy for Payment for Environmental Services (PES), is on the agenda of today's session of the National Congress. The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, movement formed by more than 300 representatives of agribusiness, civil society, the financial sector and the academy, calls on parliamentarians to overthrow this veto, since the tax incentives are key to attract new sources of funding to PES mainly through the private sector. The main resistance of some parliamentarians has been the understanding that the tax incentives to the PES would be a form of revenue waiver, which could only be done by an act of the Executive Branch. However, PES-related revenue is still non-existent and, therefore, does not represent a loss of revenue for the Union, nor a financial-budgetary impact. Taxing payment to the service provider can be detrimental to the effective implementation of the National Policy on PES Payments, as it will reduce the resources that will be transferred - and which are currently low. In this regard, considering that, in order to receive payment, providers will invest in good practices and equipment, the increase in tax revenue will come through the strengthening of the restoration and environmental conservation chain in mid-term. It is also worth mentioning that environmental services have been gaining attention from the private sector, given the growing representativeness of the concept in important corporate sustainability indexes, such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index family (New York) and FTSE4Good Index Series (London). In Brazil, the assessment of ecosystem services is considered in the B3’s Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE-B3) since 2018. In addition, major asset management companies in the world, such as BlackRock, also began to evaluate funds based on environmental, social and governance parameters. Thus, to meet investor demand and stand out in the financial sector, fiscal and economic incentives can attract private sector resources for both to boost environmental funds that finance PES, and to increase the range of projects. Another important aspect of PES programs is that, in addition to the positive impact on the income of landowners, there may be benefits associated with the ecosystem service itself, such as the possibility of selling non-timber products, the reduction in water treatment costs and the issuance of credits for capture or reduction of greenhouse gases emissions, among others. Whereas the incentive can positively impact the entire chain of economic activities already taxed, there will certainly be an increase of fiscal and tax collection. Therefore, enabling private investment and international cooperation is crucial, especially in a post-pandemic economic recovery scenario. For this reason, the Brazilian Coalition reinforces its request to parliamentarians to guarantee the economic attractiveness of the PES and, thus, make viable an important tool for protecting forests and valuing rural producers who help preserve the environment. About the Brazilian CoalitionThe Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement formed with the objective of proposing actions and influencing public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy, with the creation of quality jobs and the fostering of innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generation and distribution of wealth to the entire society. More than 300 companies, business associations, research institutes and civil society organizations have already joined the Brazilian Coalition - coalizaobr.com.br/en

28/04/2021
Changing the law will not solve land tenure regularization and could encourage increased deforestation

The Senate Bill (PLS, in the Portuguese acronym) #510/2021 has again brought to Brazil’s Congress’ agenda a proposal that may actually cause great damage to public forests and traditional populations of the Brazilian Amazon, despite the fact that it promises to deal with the situation of thousands of rural producers who have been waiting for decades for the title of the land on which they produce. The Bill in question is virtually a reissue of the first report of Provisional Measure #910/2019, which was immensely criticized by several sectors of Brazilian society, including the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forest and Agriculture, a movement formed by over 290 agribusiness, civil society, financial sector, and academia representatives. We understand that carrying out land regularization of occupations that have existed for decades on public lands is a critical step to avoid conflicts, provide legal security and offer economic inclusion to rural producers, while promoting social justice and allowing good governance in the Brazilian territory. However, this is not what the PLS #510/21 is about. The changes proposed by the PLS go against what is expected from the land regularization process in the country, especially in the Amazon. The Bill aims to change the deadline again so that invasions of public lands are legalized (moving to 2014) and also to allow larger areas (up to 2,500 hectares) to be assigned to people claiming they are occupiers while dismissing an inspection. This constant flexibilization logic regarding the timeframe and the size of the properties to be titled ends up legitimizing land grabbing practices and encouraging new illegal squatting, which increases the pressure on public forests.The vast majority of public land occupiers are small producers. Well-established and productive possessions have certainly taken place before 2014, which proves that amending the law is a mistake. One of the claims is that an authorization for remote sensing use is required to support and streamline the verification of information submitted by the applicant. Since 2009, Brazilian legislation provides for such procedure for land regularization of small producers (installments of up to 4 fiscal modules). These installments are equivalent to 95% of all non-titled assets registered with INCRA (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform). With this legislation, the federal government issued almost 32 thousand land titles between 2009 and 2018. However, according to data submitted by INCRA to the Supreme Court, figures have dropped dramatically since 2019: over the last two years, only 554 titles were issued. The PLS 510 seeks to extend law coverage to both medium and large producers, which account for only 5% of the total, but hold 36% of the area, while exempting them from on-site inspection. Since satellite images provide limited information on the area, this change will disproportionately increase the risk of fraud, which may even worsen conflicts over land in the Amazon. The Brazilian Coalition is of the opinion that land regularization needs to be seen from a broader perspective than just granting public land titles to rural producers. The challenge also includes the titling of agricultural and extractive communities, indigenous lands, quilombola territories, land reform settlements, and the allocation of 64 million hectares (Mha) of public forests, of which 30 million are under the Federal Government responsibility. Given the importance of conserving these areas for the climate, they should be used primarily for forest concession and creation of protected areas. Unfortunately, organized groups of land grabbers act in concert to invade these public lands and never be punished. In order to finally resolve Brazil's huge land liability, one needs to firmly enforce the existing law and expedite the destination for sustainable use of still standing forests. None of this will be achieved with the Bill in question. It is an urgent commitment to be taken by the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary Branches against actions that further compromise the fight against the deforestation of Brazilian biomes, especially the Amazon. Our main source of greenhouse gas emissions is proven to be the result of deforestation, which is closely linked to the irregular occupation of public lands. We have reached the threshold of climatic emergency, among other reasons, due to the laxness with illegal behaviors such as land grabbing. The Brazilian Coalition suggests that the National Congress install a Working Group, with a set deadline and clear mandate, to bring together experts who can provide guidelines and make legislative proposals to improve public forests management. Meanwhile, the Executive Branch should proceed to regularize the land tenure of small possessions, resume the processes of recognition of both indigenous and quilombola lands, and create Conservation Units, based on existing legisl

08/04/2021
Brazilian climate goal should be more ambitious: the Leaders Summit on Climate in April is an opportunity to move forward

TheBrazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, movement formed by more than 280 representatives of agribusiness, civil society, the financial sector and the academy, expresses the importance of the Brazilian government to expand its climate ambition during the Leaders Summit on Climate, organized by the American government, hosted on April 22nd and 23rd. The planet's climate is changing fast. The reaction of nations to this change must be broad, permanent, and far more ambitious. Otherwise, the increase in the average temperature on the planet will exceed 1.5 ° C by the end of this century creating an unpredictable climate scenario. Brazil is considered a key country in the global efforts for the climatic balance of the planet and has already proved what it is capable of. Between 2004 and 2012, Brazil made the largest reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) ever recorded by a single country, by reducing its deforestation rate by 80%. This is the time for Brazilians to recover this historic role. For this reason, Brazilian Coalition reaffirms that the country's ambition in this climate agenda needs to be expressive and permanent. Something important not only for the international community, but also for the country to consolidate itself as one of the largest economies in the world. This year, Brazil has a new opportunity to expand its ambition and put itself at the forefront of the negotiations on the fulfillment of the Paris Agreement goals, contributing with innovative and disruptive mechanisms, urgent for a post-COVID-19 world. With the review of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in December 2020, Brazil indicated a reduction in the level of ambition. This flag makes the country less attractive for international investments and carbon market mechanisms. Brazil will only receive support and external partnerships for mitigation efforts in return of effective advances in climate agenda. Therefore, it is essential for the country to achieve a significant reduction in GHG emissions, work to eliminate illegal deforestation of its biomes and fighting lawlessness. Brazil is essential for the planet's climatic balance and the conservation of the Amazon may be key to the achievement of the global goals of the Paris Agreement. It is in the land use sector that Brazil can make major contributions to the climate. Two thirds of national GHG emissions come from this sector, with deforestation as the most prominent. Deforestation alone accounts for 40% of the country's emissions. This sector offers a vast potential for carbon removals, whether through environmental conservation, restoration or sustainable agricultural and forestry production. It also contributes to the generation of jobs and income, urgent in the economic crisis that we are going through, in addition of promoting food and water security. Besides, by environmental conservation in relevant biomes, we can avoid future and tragic pandemics such as the ones we live in, the result of zoonoses from the destruction of ecosystems. Despite the clear and growing concern of various sectors of society, national and international, the loss of forests in Brazil is advancing rapidly and significantly. It is urgent, therefore, that strong action would be taken over, avoiding a scenario of destruction and fire from recurring or intensify in 2021. To this end, Brazilian Coalition considers it urgent to implement the 6 actions for prompt deforestation halt,launched in September 2020 and handed over to the authorities. The actions being: Action #1:Resume and enhance-surveillance, with rapid and exemplary accountability of identified environmental illegalities In order to resume and enhance enforcement actions, it is necessary to support and expand the use of intelligence and expertise of Ibama (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation) and Funai (National Indian Foundation), aiming at holding offenders accountable for environmental crimes through agile, broad and efficient punishment. In this sense, full compliance with applicable law, including infield destruction of equipment used by environment criminals is important. The use of technology to implement this action is also crucial. Resuming Ibama’s Remote Control Operation, successfully implemented in 2016 and 2017, should be strongly considered. Action #2: To suspend Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) covering public forests and accountability for any illegal deforestation. Federal and state governments should now start the CAR's streamlined analysis and validation, allowing for faster implementation of PRAs and CRAs. In addition, its credibility is compromised by overlapping records, so it is essential to suspend, immediately, in the cadastral database (SICAR), overlapping records in the areas of public forests (conservation units, indigenous lands, non-designated public forests, etc.

14/12/2020
Review of the Brazilian climate goals should follow Brazil's historic role

Some years ago, Brazil's contribution to the world in controlling its deforestation rates, between 2004 and 2012, was considered the largest ever made by one of the parties to the Climate Convention. This prominent role has been slipping away. For this reason, the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, a movement composed of more than 260 representatives from agribusiness, civil society, the financial sector, and the academy, expresses its concern about the review of the NDC (climate goal) presented by the Brazilian government to the United Nations, which jeopardizes global efforts to keep the planet's average temperature rise at a maximum of 1.5 ° C until the end of this century. The lack of dialogue in the NDC review process also worries the Brazilian Coalition. Brazilian society was fundamental for the country to present an ambitious goal at the Climate Conference (COP) 21, in 2015, which resulted in the signing of the Paris Agreement. In the review, the tradition of dialogue and listening to society has not been respected. With the revision of the NDC, Brazil changed relevant parameters that raise doubts about its level of ambition and planning capacity. The lack of clarity may hinder the country in attracting investors. Market mechanisms, emphasized by the new document, may indeed be important, but they need to be coordinated with different instruments and policies. It is fair that the country can receive external support for its mitigation efforts, but if it is in exchange for effective progress. It is essential for the country to achieve a significant reduction and work to eliminate illegal deforestation in its biomes and combat illegality. However, the mention of public policies as part of the strategy for meeting the climate goals was removed in this review of the NDC, generating uncertainties and legal unreliability. The percentage reduction (of 37% and 43%, compared to 2005, in 2025 and 2030, respectively) remained the same in the review and the reduction of 43% in 2030 was confirmed, which until then had been done only as an indication. However, the mention of the absolute goal in giga tons of carbon was removed, which draws attention, since Brazil stood out for being the only emerging country to have a goal of absolute reduction of greenhouse gases. It is positive that Brazil has announced a goal to neutralize its emissions by 2060 (carbon neutrality), even if indicative, but the parameters used for this purpose are not clear. Greater engagement with various actors in civil society could point to directions and means of implementation, including possibilities to anticipate the deadline for compliance. It should always be remembered that the land use and forest sector play a crucial role in the country's carbon neutrality, considering not only the challenges of containing deforestation but also the vast potential for carbon removals, whether through restoration activities or agricultural and forest production. The commitments under both the Paris Agreement as the National Policy on Climate Change (NPCC) will only be met if the country establishes a climate governance that is effective and that promotes adequate means of implementation, which is not yet a reality. The NPCC, for example, brings goals for 2020 that have not yet left the paper. The Paris Agreement's ambition-building mechanism was inspired by a Brazilian proposal. The idea was for countries to present voluntary goals if they are always progressive, gradually seeking to make climate commitments more ambitious. Therefore, the Brazilian Coalition reaffirms that the ambition in this climate agenda must be no going back and that Brazilian society must remain in the prominent role of a new economy. About Brazilian CoalitionThe Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement formed with the objective of proposing actions and influencing public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy, with the creation of quality jobs and the fostering of innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generation and distribution of wealth to the entire society. More than 260 companies, business associations, research institutes and civil society organizations have already joined the Brazilian Coalition - coalizaobr.com.br/en

15/09/2020
Actions for Prompt Deforestation Halt

The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, movement formed by 200+ representatives from agribusiness, financial sector, civil society and academia, presents strategic actions seeking fast, permanent reduced deforestation, especially in the Legal Amazon. This short-term reduction - in a few months’ time - is critically important for Brazil. Not only because of the advanced social and environmental losses involved, but also due to the threat that forest destruction in the region poses to national economic issues. There is a clear, growing concern from different national and international society sectors with the advanced deforestation. In the past few weeks, unprecedented mobilizations by investors and entrepreneurs have been announced. For example, Brazilian Embassies in eight countries received a statement of international investors about their concerns with environmental issues in the country. In addition, CEOs and sectoral entities also addressed Vice-President Hamilton Mourão, the Parliament and the Supreme Court with a statement requesting an end to deforestation in the Amazon. Those demonstrations were also followed by a letter of former finance ministers and former Central Bank presidents to President Jair Bolsonaro. Brazil’s three largest private banks sent the government a plan for the Amazon. Since its foundation in 2015¹, the Coalition has been working to halt forest destruction in the Legal Amazon. Given the seriousness of the current situation, its members propose a set of actions for the effective reduction of deforestation in the short term. There is a total of six proposed actions that seek to intervene in the advanced deforestation causes. • Action # 1: To resume and enhance surveillance, with rapid and exemplary accountability of identified environmental illegalities. In order to resume and enhance enforcement actions, it is necessary to support and expand the use of intelligence and expertise of Ibama (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation) and Funai (National Indian Foundation), aiming at holding offenders accountable for environmental crimes through agile, broad and efficient punishment. In this sense, full compliance with applicable law, including in-field destruction of equipment used by environment criminals is important. The use of technology to implement this action is also crucial. Resuming Ibama's Remote Control Operation², successfully implemented in 2016 and 2017, should be strongly considered. Rationale: The government's performance, in its task of enforcing environmental law, has historically resulted in rapid and regional reduced deforestation in the Amazon. The environmental enforcement agencies have had successful experiences. Operation Remote Control, for example, is efficient in remote notification of rural landowners and squatters who illegally deforest. Notifications and embargoes can be carried out simply and almost automatically, by crossing deforestation data with information from official databases, such as: the Rural Environmental Registry System (SICAR, in the Portuguese acronym) or Land Tenure records (which allow the identification of the land holder) and Vegetation Suppression Authorizations (ASV, in the Portuguese acronym). There are over 70,000 reports available that apply this methodology in the system MapBiomas Alerta, which was developed in cooperation with Ibama . The methodology used in this operation is similar to that recently proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture for land settlement in the Amazon, an even more complex issue than the remote embargo on illegally deforested areas and the accountability of violators. • Action # 2: To suspend Rural Environmental Registry (CAR, in the Portuguese acronym) covering public forest and accountability for any illegal deforestation. To proceed with the immediate suspension, in the Rural Environmental Registry System (SICAR), of records overlapping public forests areas (conservation units, indigenous lands, unsettled public forests, etc.) listed in the National Registry of Public Forests (CNFP, in the Portuguese acronym) of the Brazilian Forestry Service. Rationale: According to Law No. 11,284/2006, forests in public areas can only be used for sustainable use by allocating them to protected areas (indigenous lands, Conservation Units etc.) and to community use (such as quilombola territories³) or forest concession through bidding. The CAR records on public forests are therefore irregular and must be suspended until it is fixed or canceled by SICAR. There are over 11 million hectares of CARs4 declared over public forests that are eventually used to legitimize land grabbing processes. Classifying these CAR records on public forests as “suspended” will allow all actors in both public and private sectors to clearly distinguish these records fr

11/09/2020
Clarification Note

The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, a movement formed by 200+ representatives from agribusiness, civil society, financial sector and academia, clarifies that it was not involved in any of the stages – conception, creation, launch or dissemination – of the “Defund Bolsonaro” campaign. The clarification is necessary since some sectors have mistakenly related the Coalition to this campaign. The Brazilian Coalition reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the dialogue between all sectors, in a respectful, proactive and constructive manner, as it is the basis of our movement. About the Brazilian CoalitionThe Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement formed with the objective of proposing actions and influencing public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy, with the creation of quality jobs and the fostering of innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generation and distribution of wealth to the entire society. More than 200 companies, business associations, research institutes and civil society organizations have already joined the Brazilian Coalition - coalizaobr.com.br/en

17/07/2020
Brazil needs to protect indigenous people from both pandemics and illegality

The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, a movement formed by 200+ representatives from agribusiness, civil society, financial sector and the academia, believes that Brazil can be a forest, agricultural, and biodiversity power while conserving and expanding the country's huge natural asset. But this model only makes sense if protection of indigenous people is guaranteed. The contribution of indigenous territories to the integrity of the Amazon biome has been proven in several studies. In addition to protecting the environment, which also benefits agricultural production, their inhabitants represent an enormous wealth and socio-cultural diversity. For this reason, whenever the defense of the territories or the ways of life of Brazilian indigenous peoples and their traditional knowledge are threatened, Brazil is also at risk. Historically vulnerable to diseases and hostages to a poor health services structure, especially in the North, the country's 800,000+ indigenous people face a critical scenario amid the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data from IPAM (the Amazon Environmental Research Institute), the mortality rate among indigenous people is more than double that of non-indigenous people. Given this threat, it is essential to reduce circulation between cities and indigenous communities. For this reason, the Brazilian Coalition reinforces the urgency of implementing the Emergency Plan to Combat COVID-19 in Indigenous Territories, in order to ensure access to the preventive actions and services needed by these communities. In addition, the movement views with concern the Presidency's vetoes to basic guarantees that the plan's text brought.It also concerns the Government's actions to medicate these populations with medicine whose scientific evidence has been questioned by the medical profession and the World Health Organization. Therefore, the effective participation of indigenous peoples in performing the plan is a basic principle of respect and effectiveness. When it comes to indigenous communities, the COVID-19 crisis has been exacerbated by the constant invasion of their lands, which not only increases crime rates in these territories, but also carries the virus to these populations. It is therefore urgent for the Executive Branch to comply with the decision of the Federal Appellate Court of the 1st Circuit, which determined the immediate withdrawal of all prospectors from the Ianomami Indigenous Land – estimated 20 thousand invaders – as well as the presence of public servants from Funai (National Indian Foundation), Ibama (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), and the military during the pandemic to curb illegality in these areas. Ensuring the protection of indigenous peoples and communities during and after the pandemic is to ensure that Brazil promotes and respects human rights, the environment and agriculture, which depends on the environmental services of forests. This commitment benefits the country's image, the position of Brazilian products in international markets and the people who live in and protect the forest. That is why the interest in the safety and well-being of the original peoples is of all Brazilians and a duty of the State and, thus, requires immediate Government measures. About the Brazilian CoalitionThe Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement formed with the objective of proposing actions and influencing public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy, with the creation of quality jobs and the fostering of innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generation and distribution of wealth to the entire society. More than 200 companies, business associations, research institutes and civil society organizations have already joined the Brazilian Coalition - coalizaobr.com.br/en

15/07/2020
Rural Credit Advances Make Way to Additional In-Field Sustainability

In recent days, important advances have been announced in the Brazilian rural credit, which may accelerate the adaptation to the Forest Code and the adoption of low carbon technologies in agriculture. The changes have already been incorporated in the Rural Credit Manual and are effective for all financial institutions since July 6, 2020. One of the incentives to the Forest Code is the Brazilian Central Bank Rule N. 4824, which on June 18 set out the increased defrayal credit limit by up to 10% for producers who submit the validated Rural Environmental Register (CAR). When the CAR registration became mandatory for granting credit (Rule N. 4663, valid as of 01/01/2019, except for some producer profiles, and Resolution 4828, valid as of 07/01/2020, without exceptions), there was a great incentive to register rural properties. For this reason, when requiring the CAR validated for the extension of the credit limit, an incentive to state agendas to advance this important stage of validation of registrations is created, so that we take another step forward in the implementation of the Forest Code. It is also a sign of alignment between the allocation of public resources and the interests of society. Still in line with the Forest Code, whose article 41 encourages environmental adequacy and the adoption of good agricultural practices, the 2020/2021 Safra Plan, announced on June 17, brought relevant changes and encouragement. Even in a pandemic scenario, there was an increase of 20% in the resources allocated to the ABC Program, the main support line for low carbon agriculture and for the adoption of good practices in the field. The reduced interest rate (Rule N. 4827) is another indication of this Program's differentiation, whose rates are second only to Pronaf (National Agriculture Support Program), aimed at small producers. In addition, ABC Ambiental now also allows to finance the acquisition of Environmental Reserve Quotas (CRA) (Rules N. 4824 and 4827) to offset Legal Reserve areas. This measure can be one of the main bases for a market for Payments for Environmental Services in Brazil, encouraging preservation by owners with of forest surpluses and paying for this great contribution to society. Such advances in rural credit are the result of a long history of dialogue between the Ministries of Economy and Agriculture with society as they heard suggestions on how to improve these tools. The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forest and Agriculture recognizes and congratulates the teams and leaders of these ministries for the changes, which had contributions from the movement's network, composed of 200+ representatives of agribusiness, civil society, financial sector and academia. There are still major challenges for rural credit to continue moving towards sustainability. Financial institutions need to recognize the importance of the Forest Code in their risk assessment even more. This recognition can encourage the large-scale adoption of more sustainable agricultural practices, in order to contribute to the mitigation and adaptation to climate changes and to reduce the risk of investments. In addition, enabling technical assistance and rural extension to producers can boost investment credit taking. It is important to remember, however, that nearly 70% of the total agribusiness credit in 2019 was contributed by the private sector and by capital from the rural producers themselves. The engagement and concern of private investors with the climate, forestry and agriculture agenda is key and has been growing. For this reason, public and private credit policies need continuous improvement to ensure that all financing in Brazil complies with environmental legislation and induces sustainable land use. In this sense, rural properties that have illegal deforestation after 2008 should not access funds provided by the Safra Plan. The Brazilian Coalition will continue to be available to the government and society in order to improve these tools and gather the necessary efforts for their implementation. About the Brazilian CoalitionThe Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement formed with the objective of proposing actions and influencing public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy, with the creation of quality jobs and the fostering of innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generation and distribution of wealth to the entire society. More than 200 companies, business associations, research institutes and civil society organizations have already joined the Brazilian Coalition - coalizaobr.com.br/en

05/06/2020
Brazil and the world depend on the Amazon: it does not deserve to be destroyed by unlawfulness

During this World Environment Day, the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests, and Agriculture warns, once more, about the severe scenario of illegal deforestation and fire outbreaks in the Amazon. They have been representing a high risk to biodiversity, climate, water security, and have been devastating to traditional peoples and the country’s reputation for markets, investors, and society in general. According to MapBiomas, 99% of all the deforestation in Brazil in 2019 has definite signs of illegal activities, i.e., occurred in protected areas that have restrictions regarding vegetation removal or without authorization. About 75% of deforestation in 2019 coincides with lands registered in the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR). Therefore, it is possible to associate an Individual or General Taxpayer Registry Number (CPF – for individuals and CNPJ – for businesses) with the area deforested. A recent trend indicates the deforestation rate will set a new record of the decade in 2020. Data from INPE's DETER system registered 5,666 squared kilometers of the Brazilian Amazon deforested between August of 2019 and April of 2020, the equivalent of a 95% increase compared to the period between August 2018 and April 2019. In April, according to data from Imazon, Brazil has lost part of the Amazon Forest equivalent to the size of the city of Porto Alegre (RS). It was 529 square kilometers destroyed, an increase in 171% compared with April last year. Studies from IPAM indicate that 2019’s fire season in the Amazon was connected to the increase in deforestation andnot with the typical weather of the dry season in the region. Actions to combat the flames avoided that the fire scenarios in 2019 became even worse. However, they were not able to contain the increase in deforestation. The Amazon Council needs to establish a coordinated and continuous action with all the Amazon region's environmental inspection agencies. Brazil has excellent laws that, if implemented, will bring answers to the fight against unlawfulness. One of the central pillars of the maintenance of Amazon's integrity and its benefits to the country is the proper treatment of public areas in that biome, currently highly vulnerable. There was an increase in 50% of deforestation in Conservation Units, Indigenous Lands, unassigned areas and land without information between January and March 2020 compared to the same period last year. In these areas, land grabbing and theft of natural resources occur; both are crimes against public assets that demand effective and immediate action from the State. In addition to public assets damaging, land grabbing also has the indirect effect of associating the well succeeded and respectable Brazilian agriculture to land stealing, making this matter even more urgent to be solved. It is necessary to act now to avoid that a more intense new season of deforestation and fires materialize this year, given the increase in deforestation in 2020 and adding the vegetation cut down in 2019 that has not been burned yet. It is essential to decree a fire moratorium from now until, at least, the end of the dry season. To exacerbate this worrying scenario, the Executive Power, in May and April of 2020, has taken measures that compromise inspection and conservation of our forests. The dismissals in the inspection sector of IBAMA and the normative ruling of Funai to legalize farms in indigenous lands in the process of homologation go against combating environmental crimes. Such measures should be reviewed by the Amazon Council to avoid the weakening of the environmental institutions and policies. The image and the commercial position of the country have never been so compromised. The collective work that took decades to build a good reputation is quickly being undone. This scenario goes beyond environmental urgency. Brazil’s GDP and future growth are intrinsically connected to the protection of the Amazon. Businesses, particularly the agricultural sector, depend upon the maintenance of ecosystem services, such as the rain. Our forests act as Brazilian agriculture's "sprinkler." Besides the water, there are many other ecosystem services, such as pollination of crops, which directly benefits food production. Also, today Amazon is the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The crisis demonstrated the interdependence of the system and the need to integrate social and environmental dimensions. There is no Brazil without an Amazon economically and socially prosperous, and environmentally preserved. The image of the forest and its populations preserved is the image of the country. Therefore, fighting against unlawfulness in the Amazon, based on permanent, continuous, and coordinated actions, with wide participation and support from society, is the only path possible for a Brazil that desires to be understood by the world as a nation that is serious, vigilant of its laws, and in search of sustainable tr

25/05/2020
The Brazilian Coalition argues that Bill 2633/20 should not be subjected to an urgency vote and suggests a Special Commission

Since 2009, Brazilian legislation has already allowed land tenure regularization of small producers’ private properties (properties of up to 4 fiscal modules) to be carried out without the need for a field inspection, with the support of other means of proof, such as remote sensing, to certify the occupation. Such properties account for 95% of all private property holders without land titles registered with INCRA. Therefore, the real obstacles to the regularization of this great majority are not clear. It is essential to understand the obstacles that render the current law and administrative structure unable to solve the problem of land tenure regularization, in addition to their failure to prevent the increase in deforestation in small and medium-sized properties¹. It is necessary to carry out a more in-depth diagnosis and consider adding mechanisms that effectively fight illegality. For this reason, we need more time to improve the Bill (PL) 2633/2020, which converted most of the text of Provisional Measure (MP) 910/2019, and should not be subjected to an urgency vote. Throughout the processing of MP 910, the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture maintained an open dialogue with several interlocutors from the government and Congress². Hence, we recognize that there were many advances in relation to the original text. However, some of the points still need to be more deeply discussed. Such points include the strengthening of government bodies such as INCRA, a key element for the implementation of any land tenure legislation. In addition, land tenure liabilities must also take into consideration public areas, which have been suffering increasing invasions and land grabbing. A debate on the issuing of land titles to settlers and the allocation of more than 60 million hectares of public forests not designated for conservation and sustainable use is essential. Considering that the dialogue on the topic is complex, requires the participation of different sectors of society and cannot be carried out during the pandemic and the remote work operation of the Legislative branch, the Brazilian Coalition suggests that Congress install a Special Commission, with due validity and mandate, to bring together experts and prepare studies that support the proposals to be debated. Meanwhile, the Executive branch could move forward with land tenure regularization of small properties, as well as the resumption of legitimization processes concerning indigenous and quilombola lands and the creation of Conservation Units, based on our current legislation. The Brazilian Coalition will be available to the Commission and Congress to contribute to this debate. About the Brazilian Coalition The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement formed with the objective of proposing actions and influencing public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy, with the creation of quality jobs and the fostering of innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generation and distribution of wealth to the entire society. More than 200 companies, business associations, research institutes and civil society organizations have already joined the Brazilian Coalition - coalizaobr.com.br/en 1 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-0537-2.epdf2 The Brazilian Coalition expressed opinions on MP 910 - on the following dates: 05/08/20, 05/06/20, 05/03/20, 04/16/20, 04/02/20, 03/18/20, 02/12/20 and 02/06/20. All of the Coalition’s opinions are based on proposals contained in 2030-2050 Vision, in the Proposals for 2018 Election Candidates and in the movement’s Base Document.

06/05/2020
Letter to the Minister Tereza Cristina regarding Brazilian Coalition’s stance on MP 910/2019

Dear Mrs. Minister Tereza Cristina, The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture recognizes the effort from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) and Deputy Zé Silva, rapporteur of the Provisional Measure (MP) 910/2019, in improving the original document of the MP 910/2019. We stress the progress of the current report, presented on May 4, 2020, to not change the timeline currently in place, since this decision strengthens the Forest Code. It leads to stopping the cycle of periodically postponing the deadline to legalize land occupation and, therefore, sends a strong message to invaders that this situation can no longer repeat or continue. However, the current report exacerbates still unsolved problems, such as the waiver of an in-person inspection for occupations of up to 15 fiscal modules. The proposal presented by the Coalition recommends the waiver of an in-person inspection of properties of up to four fiscal modules, which would solve the situation of 102,000 (95% of the total) private properties without titles registered with INCRA. The increase of self-declaration from 4 to 15 fiscal modules increases the area to be provided by 52% (from 5.4 million hectares to 8.4 million hectares), with only 4,898 additional landholders. We did not find technical reasons for any of the interested parties for this expansion in only 4.5% of the properties since the proposal sent by the Coalition already contemplates small landholders. It is precisely in this small percentage of properties that lies the higher risk of the MP becoming a stimulus to land grabbing. Besides, although the current report has removed the definition of an environmental infraction, it establishes that only properties under seizure or environmental violation after the depletion of administrative procedures are subject to mandatory inspection. Also, the MP proposes to exonerate the land tenure agency with remote mechanisms. Still, it does not take into consideration that the same remote instruments - that in MAPA's opinion are enough to determine land occupation and proper use - are also used to determine illegal deforestation. We suggest that the MP contemplates the use of these tools to verify illegalities. We hope that the Ministry of Agriculture and Congress can accept our latest contributions. The approval of this MP with a waiver of inspections limited to properties with up to 4 fiscal modules and the requirement of compliance with environmental laws will promote a vital land tenure legalization policy towards the sustainable future of land use. This type of policy is the one embraced by the most diverse sectors of society during the sensitive moment in which the country deserves to give good news and make a tremendous socio-economic and environmental commitment to the world. It would be a real political intelligence and win-win move, as well as an eternal legacy from the government. Lastly, we suggest that, from a possible approval of this MP 910 focusing exclusively on small owners, a new process of discussion on land tenure legislation for medium landowners begin. The Brazilian Coalition will be available to contribute to this process. Sincerely, André Guimarães – Coalition’s Co-Facilitatorand Executive-Director of the AmazonEnvironmental Research Institute (IPAM) Marcello Brito – Coalition’s Co-Facilitatorand President of the Board of Directorsof the Brazilian Agribusiness Association (Abag) About the Brazilian CoalitionTheBrazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agricultureis a multi-sector movement formed with the objective of proposing actions and influencing public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy, with the creation of quality jobs and the fostering of innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generation and distribution of wealth to the entire society. More than 200 companies, business associations, research institutes and civil society organizations have already joined the Brazilian Coalition -coalizaobr.com.br/en

16/04/2020
Open Letter to the Presidents of the Congress and the Chamber of Deputies regarding Provisional Measure 910/2019

Dear leaders of the Brazilian Legislative Branch, Brazil is urging to solve a deadlock that has been getting worse over the decades: land tenure legalization. This is an essential step to eliminate conflicts, bring legal security, increase investments and offer economic inclusion to many rural producers. Therefore, land tenure legalization is a paramount condition to the economic, social and environmental development of the country. That said, Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture – a movement that gathers more than 200 representatives from the agribusiness, third sector and academia – requests you that the Provisional Measure (MP) 910/2019 does not get placed on the calendar to vote. This MP was presented as a supposed solution to the land tenure challenge. However, it has severe impacts on combating illegality, especially in combating land grabbing and the consequent growth of illegal deforestation and agrarian distress. The MP 910/2019 goes in the opposite direction of good land management since it shows invaders that crime has no consequence. Who would be interested in this mistake? In a position paper about the MP 910, the Coalition has detailed this and other risks from this measure. Due to this concern, the Coalition has started a dialogue with the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra) to find a content for the MP 910 that would allow to 1) take advantage and improve positive actions, such as the use of technology in the land tenure legalization process; and 2) correct severe flaws of the MP 910 based on data and technical information. This dialogue continues and we have the hope that our contributions will be heard and followed by the Executive Branch. Thus, we warn that MP 910’s current content, presently with the Congress, concerns the members of the Coalition, as it does not resonate with important names and organizations from the sectors of our economy. We believe that it is necessary to think of a new proposal for the land tenure challenge, one that contemplates a wide debate among the diverse sectors of society and still considers the necessary economic recovery post-COVID-19 pandemic, especially in rural areas with a specific focus on family farming and communities arrangements. National Congress members know they can rely on all the support and knowledge of our network to build a solution capable of: using the most modern technology available, enforcing existing laws, benefiting good land occupants, and bringing security and investments to the country. Sincerely, André Guimarães – Coalition’s Co-Facilitatorand Executive-Director of the AmazonEnvironmental Research Institute (IPAM) Marcello Brito – Coalition’s Co-Facilitatorand President of the Board of Directorsof the Brazilian Agribusiness Association (Abag) About the Brazilian CoalitionTheBrazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agricultureis a multi-sector movement formed with the objective of proposing actions and influencing public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy, with the creation of quality jobs and the fostering of innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generation and distribution of wealth to the entire society. More than 200 companies, business associations, research institutes and civil society organizations have already joined the Brazilian Coalition -coalizaobr.com.br/en

18/03/2020
Open Letter to the President of the National Congress, Mr Davi Alcolumbre

The organizations, collectives and signatory networks of this letter, members and partners of the Rede de Advocacy Colaborativo (RAC), Observatório do Clima (OC), Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, Observatório do Código Florestal (OCF) and GT Infraestrutura require from the President of the Federal Senate and the National Congress, Senator Davi Alcolumbre, to suspend the consideration and vote of polemic matters of high public interest and that can cause harmful effects on the environment, the economy and to the Brazilian society while the restriction of access to the Senate remains, except for urgent matters related with confronting the crisis associated with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data from the Ministry of Health, the new coronavirus responsible for the transmission of the respiratory syndrome COVID-19 has already caused more than 290 infections in all national territory. This week two deaths caused by this virus, in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, have been confirmed. Since the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, on March 11, a series of recommendations have been issued by health surveillance agencies and other public health agencies to avoid the exponential increase of the contamination and a possible overburden of the health system. Because of this, several organizations, public agencies and companies have suspended employees’ in-person work and public events for the next weeks – the Chamber of Deputies itself has canceled their schedules and significantly restricted access of citizens to their facilities, and many Senate sessions are being canceled since this Monday (17). Also, the dismissal of senators above 65 years of age indicates that about 1/3 of the representatives of the House will be apart from the main debates that continue this week. As suspensions or confirmations of deliberative sessions (even when online) are occurring in real-time and some of them during session times, the country is at serious risk of watching highly important topics for our citizenship (fundamental and inalienable rights) being voted by the Parliament with an extremely low quorum and under no transparent and participative public debate. Among the matters of very relevant national public interest which can be voted at any time, we highlight the Provisional Measure (MPV) 910/2019, about land tenure legalization across Brazil. This MPV notably stimulates and awards land grabbers, criminals and environmental offenders, not only, but above all in the Amazon, and brings easiness, incentives, amnesties, and unacceptable discounts to acquire the title of land illegally occupied. According to studies from Esalq/USP and UFMG, 43 million hectares of public land (equivalent to the states of São Paulo and Paraná combined) will be affected by the rules of this MPV in Legal Amazon alone, and 35% of all deforestation between 2018 and 2019 has occurred precisely in this area. In this regard, we remember the commitment made by you, Senator Alcolumbre, during the Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP 25) in Madrid, in December of 2019, to not allow the advancement – in the Chamber of Deputies – of legislative measures involving setbacks in environmental protection norms and impacts on traditional populations. During COP 25, you have explicitly stated: “We will not accept backtracks in environmental policy. We will not consider matters that can threaten forests and traditional peoples”. Matters such as these, of extreme relevance and impact to national public heritage, need to be discussed widely and democratically, without any restrictions of entry of people (citizens and society organizations), parliamentarians, political parties, leaderships and assistances of the Legislative House, and with wide and total transparency and participation of civil society. Brasília, March 17, 2020. Sign this letter, - Associação dos Povos Indigenas do Brasil (APIB)- Campanha Nacional pelo Direito à Educação- Coalizao Não ao Fracking Brasil (COESUS)- Conselho Nacional dos Seringueiros (CNS)- Conselho Nacional de Populações Extrativistas - FBOMS Fórum Brasileiro de ONGs e movimentos sociais para desenvolvimento e meio ambiente- FORUM de Mudanças Climáticas e Justiça Social - GT Infraestrutura na Amazônia - Observatorio do Clima (OC)- Observatório do Carvão Mineral (OCM)- Observatorio do Código Florestal (OCF)- Observatório do Petróleo e Gás (OPG)- Rede Grupo de Trabalho Amazônico (GTA)- Rede de ONGs da Mata Atlantica (RMA)- Amigos da Terra - Amazônia Brasileira- APREC Ecossistemas Costeiros- APREMAVI- Artigo 19- ASCEMA Nacional - Associação Mineira de Defesa do Ambiente (AMDA)- Associação para

12/02/2020
Provisional Measure 910 can intensify the land tenure crisis and stimulate illegal deforestation

The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture – which gathers more than 200 representatives, of agribusiness, environmental defense entities and academia, that seek to promote the conservation and sustainable land use in the country – understands that the land tenure legalization of public lands occupied for decades is an essential step towards eliminating conflicts, providing legal security, allowing the economic inclusion of rural producers, promoting social justice, and allowing good governance in Brazilian territory. Land tenure legalization also promotes efficient land use, stimulates owners to do long-term investments, and allows the identification and punishment of those responsible for environmental infractions. However, instead of proposing measures to update and improve the management of land tenure bodies in order to promote an efficient legalization that respects safeguards, the government has chosen to present Provisional Measure 910 of 2019 (MP 910) to the Congress. This measure regards “land tenure legalization of occupations located in areas of the Brazilian Federal Government.” The changes in current legislation promoted by this Provisional Measure go in the opposite direction of what is expected in the process of land tenure legalization in the country, especially in the Amazon. By authorizing that recent illegal occupations (until December of 2018) are legalized, including the occupation of large areas (up to 2,500 hectares), MP 910 is validating criminal practices of land grabbing and stimulating its occurrence in the future. It is sending criminal groups the clear message that crime pays off. The justification presented by the Federal Government to extend the deadline from 2008 to 2014 or 2018 has no foundation since it disregards Forest Code’s time marker for environmental regularizations, which is July 22, 2008¹. Also, the Provisional Measure intends to give more advantages to those who already received the property title but haven’t been paying what they owe for the land or are not compliant with the obligations imposed. In predicting soft billing rules for defaulting owners and changing once more renegotiation deadlines, the provisional measure discredits that such rules will continue to exist or be enforced. This stimulates more defaulting and rural violence. Another serious problem is the stimulation of public land grabbing generated by the expectation of obtaining titles for recently occupied areas and through the trade of lands below market value. The illegal expansion over public lands means a loss of over 70 billion reais to public funds². MP 910 practically annuls the possibility of stopping the expansion of the agricultural frontier over native vegetation areas. Currently that is a very serious problem. According to MapBiomas, more than 90% of the deforestation happening in the Amazon is illegal. Also, according to data from the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), 35% of the deforestation in the Amazon (2018-19) occurred in public lands subjected to land grabbing³. The profitability of the invasion business, deforestation, and the trade of public lands will continue to induce a disorderly expansion, one without agronomic or environmental reasonability, based on power, and not following the best project for land use. In the short term, this scenario will drive away investors and buyers of our agricultural commodities4, and, in the medium and long term, it will create problems to agricultural production by interrupting natural cycles that guarantee rainfall in most of the country. Therefore, in addition to the agricultural sector itself, it harms Brazilian society as a whole. In extending titling by self-declaration to properties of up to 15 fiscal modules – without the need for an inspection by public authorities – MP 910 will facilitate fraud and increase land tenure conflicts. The example of the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), which is self-declared and encompasses more than 90% of rural properties in the country, shows what can happen if this alteration is approved: 95% of registered properties present some kind of overlap with other properties5. Therefore, to promote titling without an inspection, in this scenario, will aggravate the current situation. Tools such as the use of satellite images are not able to verify who is promoting the occupation, or if the occupation is tame and peaceful. According to the Tribunal de Contas da União (2014)6, the Brazilian federal accountability office, although occupations above 4 fiscal modules represent only 4% of all the properties titled by the Program Legal Land, they account for 30% of all titled area. For these reasons, we understand that MP 910 cannot be approved as it is written. The changes it brings do not help land tenure legalization and the proper use of the Brazilian territory, but lead to an increase in land grabbing

10/02/2020
Technical Note on Bill No. 5028/2019 – National Policy of Payment for Environmental Services

Updated on June 9, per the latest Payment for Environmental Services Taskforce discussions, which will be discussed with the Senate’s Environment Commission Introduction 1 – The main goal of this document is to offer technical support and subsidize both the legislative consultancy of the Federal Senate and the team of the current Rapporteur for Bill No. 5028/2019, Senator Fabiano Contarato, in adapting some essential points for the National Policy of Payments for Services Environmental Policies (PNPSA) to be designed as to ensure its effectiveness, adequateness to the practices already existing in Brazil and consistency with the principles and concepts accepted in the literature and legislation inherent to the theme. 2 – Currently under examination by the Environment Commission, the proposal for the Senate Bill No. 5028 of 2019 aims not only to set out the National Policy of Payment for Environmental Services (PNPSA) but also to establish legal certainty for environmental service valuation schemes. 3 - Statute No. 12651, of May 25, 2012 (Article 41 of the Forest Code) already acknowledges environmental services provided in both Legal Reserve and Permanent Protection areas and provides incentives for their maintenance and/or recovery. Bill No. 5028 of 2019 therefore timely provides for the establishment of a National Policy of Payment for Environmental Services, which is strategic as it expands the coverage on the topic and allows for compatibility between the development of productive actions and the preservation of natural assets in Brazil. 4 - The Payment of Environmental Services experiences already underway in the country¹, whether with public/private funds or both, have also been demonstrated in the results achieved given that using this category of economic incentive can cause a behavioral change in favor of the provision and/or recovery of environmental services, which would be unfeasible in the absence of such incentive. 5 - This process is the result of an accumulation of discussions on the topic that have already been held in the Chamber of Deputies under Bill No. 0792/2007 by Representative Anselmo de Jesus and Bill No. 312/2015 by Representative Rubens Bueno. 6 - This opinion was guided by the discussions held at the Dialogue Forum Public Policies and Economic Instruments of the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture² involving several professionals in the area and the business sector. Institutions that have historically worked on the theme have engaged in the document draft, such as: the Institute for Environmental Research in the Amazon (IPAM), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Grupo Boticário Foundation for Nature Protection, the Business Council for Biodiversity and Sustainable Development (CEBDS), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), BVRio, World Resources Institute (WRI), Proactiva, among others. Recommendations • Considering the need to promote a broader policy to accommodate the different PES schemes without prejudice to the advances in this agenda that have been achieved through public and private subnational initiatives, we suggest the displacement of Section II (of PNPSA actions), section III (PNPSA application criteria), Section IV (of the PES contract), Section V (Governance); Section VI (National Register of PES) for the Federal Payment for Environmental Services Program. • Considering that there are several ways to pay for the environmental service provided, for example by means of direct payment to the individual (contractual relationship) or by means of financial compensation of another nature (tax credits), we suggest the exclusion of the word “contractual” from the definition of PES provided for in article 2, item IV, so that other modalities are not excluded. • This policy should not have governing among one of its objectives; instead, it should bring legal certainty and recognize the topic within a broad approach that allows the implementation of the various possible PES schemes at the subnational level, which encourages changes in behavior in favor of provision, recovery and/or maintenance of environmental services, without creating obstacles to those experiences that are already underway. • It is essential that the policy guidelines recognize the environmental services generated in agricultural, agroforestry and agrosilvopastoral systems conducted under sustainable management, which contribute to the capture and retention of carbon and the conservation of soil, water and biodiversity. • The joint body should have the task of suggesting metrics (instead of proposing) for the valuation of contracts and of proportionality criteria in the payment for environmental services that involve public resources. It should not be forced. It must respect the autonomy of plans and programs, because there is no metric that covers all PES profiles. In addition, it is important that the joint body’s

04/12/2019
Brazilian Coalition Strategic Agenda for the Government

On December 3rd, 2019, the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture sent an email to the office of the Minister of the Environment with the suggestion of a strategic agenda to implement the proposals of the movement. The agenda was created based on converging topics between the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) and the Brazilian Coalition, identified in a hearing that occurred on October 22th, 2019, with the participation of some members of the movement and the Minister. Since the Minister expressed interest in knowing more about the specific actions supported by the Coalition, we forwarded to his office the proposals below. This reinforced the movement’s interest in keeping a dialogue with MMA and was a way of suggesting the most urgent actions to be implemented. In addition to MMA, the proposals also regard the Ministries of Economy and Agriculture. See the complete document below: STRATEGIC AGENDA PROPOSED BY THE BRAZILIAN COALITION TO THEMINISTRIES OF ENVIRONMENT, AGRICULTURE, AND ECONOMY FOUNDATION OF THE BRAZILIAN COALITION TO HAVE A DIALOGUE WITH THE GOVERNMENT The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture gathers more than 200 representatives of agribusiness, environmental defense entities, and academia that seek to promote the sustainable use of the land in the country. The reunion of these diverse sectors has as its foundation dialogue and collective participation around common goals. The Brazilian Coalition defends policies and economic incentives that seize Brazil’s comparative advantages and place the country as a global player of a new development model, in which agricultural production and environmental conservation move together, side by side. Over its almost five years of existence, the Brazilian Coalition has always pursued the establishment of a bridge of dialogue with the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary powers, focusing on a climate, forests, and agriculture policy. The following premises guide the dialogue between the Brazilian Coalition with these powers: • Balance of services to all sectors of society (private, third sector, and academia);• Strengthening of participation spaces in public policies to contribute to governmental decisions;• Opening of the Brazilian government to dialogue and transparency regarding its commitments. Given the current crisis scenario in the Amazon, the response of the State and Brazilian society is urgent to safeguard our heritage and recover the country’s reputation with investors and the market. This response should have the reduction of deforestation and the improvement of the business environment for sustainable production as its final goal. For this reason, the Brazilian Coalition proposes an initial strategic agenda to the Brazilian government to stop deforestation, organize national territory (by land tenure legalization and Ecological-Economic Zoning), and to create the necessary incentives for the sustainable use of the land, based on the economic value of forests and bioeconomy. The strategic agenda below is structured in four lines of action that are considered a priority at the present moment, but it does not lessen the importance of other actions proposed by the Brazilian Coalition in the documents available at the website (coalizaobr.com.br/en). ILLEGAL DEFORESTATION AND LAND TENURE LEGALIZATION According to data from Mapbiomas, most of the deforestation in Brazil is a result of illegal activities. The country needs to establish implementation means to meet its commitments, according to NDC’s climate goals, internationally recognized as one of the most ambitious among developing countries. It is necessary to adopt an assertive and effective attitude regarding the problem and put into practice policies and strategies that allow fighting illegality in all its dimensions. Illegal deforestation is also associated with the complex challenges of land tenure legalization and land-use planning in Brazil. These challenges need to be addressed by aiming to consolidate a land-use model that guarantees legal security for investments, traditional communities, and biodiversity conservation. Urgent actions to fight illegal deforestation and solve land tenure legalization:• Support Amazon’s Task Force, created on August 22th, 2018, by the Federal Public Ministry, by allocating exclusively dedicated prosecutors, more part-time dedicated prosecutors, and expanding support staff.• Install a task force to promote the destination of the 65 million hectares of undesignated public forests in existence in the Amazon for conservation and sustainable use.• Suspend access to credit and support of land tenure legalization to all properties identified with illegal deforestation based on data from Mapbiomas and INPE.• Establish a National Task Force involving Justice, the Executive and Legislative Powers and Public Prosecution to promote the resolution of lan

29/08/2019
Taking back control of deforestation and combating illegality are premises for a Brazil that wants to be an agri-environmental leader

Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture Manifesto to the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro. The more than 200 members of the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, a group that brings together representatives of agribusiness, environmental protection, the financial sector, and academia, express their concern about the escalation of deforestation and illegal activities in the forest. We ask the government to use all the necessary instruments to curb these practices. Today, over 90% of deforestation in the Amazon is illegal. Other crimes are associated with this grave scenario, such as drug trafficking and tax evasion. The current government must take the necessary measures, since it has at its disposal the military and police apparatus and, therefore, should be a reference in the fight against illegality. It is necessary to regain control of deforestation. We have already experienced periods when a significant drop in deforestation occurred amid a cycle of leaps in agricultural productivity. This history shows that deforesting is not necessary to increase agricultural production. Agribusiness is being hampered by illegal gangs, tarnishing the industry's reputation, increasing legal uncertainty and unfair competition for producers and companies. Field security also involves fighting forest fires. Although fire is regularly used in some agricultural practices, it is also used as a means to illegally open areas in the forest. The relationship between deforestation and fire is particularly strong in 2019. More fires in a milder drought year indicate that deforestation may be a driving factor of the flames. Combating illegal deforestation also involves curbing invasions of indigenous lands or protected areas, including for the purpose of illegal mining. The government should create incentives for law enforcement, controlling criminal actions and increasing vigilance over clandestine activities. This is a common agenda between agribusiness and climate and environmental organizations. It is also an agenda of interest to investors, as agricultural activities are directly linked to the climate issue, which affects a wide range of economic sectors. Climate change could cause significant financial losses, such as the California drought in 2015, which resulted in an estimated $ 2.7 billion in agricultural losses. On the other hand, Brazil has a great opportunity to attract new resources from national and international investors if it is able to monetize its environmental assets. In addition to remunerating the maintenance of the standing forest, these resources can have direct effects on our economy, for example, by incorporating the value of Brazilian environmental assets into the country's GDP. Science corroborates the urgency of actions to combat climate change. The latest IPCC report makes it clear that there is no shortage of evidence on the urgency of the issue. Brazil, the global leader in remote sensing technologies, increasingly needs to use its scientific data to improve its public policies. The challenge is great, but the country has a lot to gain. With its strong and competitive agribusiness, Brazil needs to secure the post of agri-environmental power, as it is home to the largest rainforest in the world, the highest biodiversity rates and 12% of the planet's freshwater. To this end, government policies need to focus efforts on addressing the climate crisis, controlling deforestation and illegality in the field and promoting sustainable agribusiness, enabling not only the fulfillment of the Paris Agreement, but also increasing the ambition of its goals to ensure the planet's climate, water and food security. The Brazilian Coalition, on behalf of the sectors it represents - agribusiness, environmental protection agencies, academia and the financial sector - wants to help the government advance this agenda in a participatory and collaborative manner. The movement has a set of proposals that have been presented to various ministries and legislative representatives. Beyond administrations, this is a long-term state agenda and the path to sustainable development for Brazil. About the Brazilian CoalitionThe Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement that was established with the goal of proposing actions and influencing public policies that would lead to the development of a low carbon economy, with the creation of quality jobs, stimulus to innovation and Brazilian global competitiveness, and generation and distribution of wealth for the whole society. More than 200 companies, businesses associations, research centers and civil society organizations have joined the Brazilian Coalition.

26/08/2019
White Paper: The Potential of Carbon Markets and Results-Based Payments for the Post-2020 Period

August 23, 2019 – The year of 2020 will be a milestone in the recovery of carbon markets around the world. Starting this year, the main international agreements aiming to stop climate change and reduce the global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) will come into effect. Some main treaties signed include: The Paris Agreement and The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). In addition to these treaties, there are many ongoing initiatives in Brazil. The National Policy on Climate Change (PNMC), established by law in 2009, promoted the development of a Brazilian Market of Emissions Reduction (MBRE). Since 2015, the country has been internally developing the Project Partnership for Market Readiness (PMR). The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture supports the immediate implementation of the MBRE, which considers not only emissions reduction, but also, the removal of carbon from the atmosphere as predicted in the PNMC. Thus creating a work agenda that stimulates synergies between the market and the valuation of forest assets. In the context of international initiatives, both the Paris Agreement and CORSIA predict the structuring of market mechanisms, which should be operating in the next 10 to 15 years. Such mechanisms are expected to generate incentives that are important to emissions reduction and removal in different countries and regions. Brazil is one of the countries with the highest potential to attract international investments to mitigate its emissions, especially focusing on land use, forests, and agricultural sectors. However, in order for Brazil to successfully attract international investments, the private sector and the federal and state governments must have an active dialogue with the organized groups of Brazilian society. This dialogue would allow for an understanding of Brazil’s potential to produce and manage mitigation results and would build a balanced process that contributes to the global reduction of GHG emissions. It is worth remembering the goals set by Brazil within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Brazilian Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) [1] aims to reduce emissions in 37% by 2025 and 43% by 2030, compared to 2005 levels. Most of this reduction is anticipated to come from the forest, land use and agricultural sectors, presently responsible for 70% of national GHG emissions [2]. The sectorial target to eliminate illegal deforestation in the Amazon (that is presently responsible for 90% of all the deforestation of the biome [3]) should represent the largest contribution to fulfilling the Brazilian NDC. However, due to the current trend of returning to previous deforestation rates [4] (mostly in the Amazon and Cerrado), Brazil is at risk for falling short of its national goals of GHG reduction. Other crucial targets that Brazil is at risk for falling short of include: to strengthen the compliance with the Forest Code at federal, state, and municipal levels, and to restore and reforest 12 million hectares of forests for multiple uses by 2030. Resuming the reduction and control of deforestation in the Amazon and Cerrado, as well as reforestation, will demand large volumes of financial resources and a permanent commitment from the government, private sector, and society in general. Different, yet complementary mechanisms are necessary to facilitate Brazil to reach its emissions reduction targets. Mechanisms that focus on structuring new financing strategies via market and results-based payment, capable of attracting investors, governments, and companies on behalf of the harmonic, inclusive and sustainable use of the land in Brazil, are essential to reach the national targets and promote large-scale reduction of emissions in the country. Therefore, it is essential that Brazil implements initiatives which incentivize forest conservation and sustainable use, as well as, reforestation and restoration through a clear and effective program of forests’ environmental services valuation. It is also crucial to mobilize additional financial resources to complement the existent resources, such as, resources from international carbon markets, as predicted in the Paris Agreement (Article 6), in CORSIA/ICAO, and in the REDD+ systems. The Brazilian Coalition defends structuring results-based payments systems and carbon markets based on four pillars. These pillars are meant to guarantee the environmental integrity of the global climate system, while promoting additional efforts to reduce emissions in countries and jurisdictions. Carbon markets and results-based payments are a means of strategic implementation of most varied mitigation efforts. In this context, they also act as a structural incentive for sustainable efforts in order to increase ambition, which is crucial to an increased target in the Paris Agreement. Pillar 1: Carbon markets should promote the additionality of th

30/04/2019
Forest Code: It is time to implement it, not modify it

May 1st, 2019 – The intensive discussions about the legislation Brazil should have in place to allow for the conciliation of the agricultural production with native vegetation’s protection took almost five years. The process that resulted in the approval of the new Forest Code, in 2012 (Federal Law 12,651/2012), was one of the most vivid debates that ever took place in the Brazilian Congress, with large mobilization and participation of the different interest groups. After seven years since its publication, the Forest Code has already reached important results, such as the more than four million records in the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) – equivalent to almost 100% of the area required to be registered – creating one of the most relevant geographic information systems on land use and occupation. However, a constant scenario of legal insecurity prevents greater advances. Until last year, the deadline to register with CAR had been postponed four times consecutively, causing a delay of approximately four years in the conclusion of the registration phase. One of the consequences of this is the low adherence to Environmental Regulation Programs (PRAs); stage in which producers present their plans to solve the environmental liability they identified. In December 2018, with the end of successive extensions of the deadline to register with CAR, it was expected that the legal security necessary to move to the regularization stage would have been installed. However, a series of Bills and Provisional Measures aiming to change mechanisms that are essential to implementing the Forest Code are being presented at Congress. These initiatives keep the legal insecurity environment and harm the efforts to implement the law. Among the more than 190 members of the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, gathering representatives of agribusiness, the forest sector, environmental defense entities, and academia, there is a clear consensus: the implementation of the Forest Code, in its current configuration, is the first step to strengthen the agricultural production and, at the same time, the environmental conservation of the country. This moment has arrived and it can no longer be postponed. The implementation of the Forest Code is also part of a set of measures against illegal deforestation and represents a way to value the efforts of rural producers that obey the law and are harmed by the unfair competition with violators. Great part of the deforestation of the Amazon is illegal. Fighting illegality should be any government’s priority. Strengthening legal agriculture contributes to the image of the sector abroad, guaranteeing access to the most demanding international markets. Crosschecking land tenure data with land cover and use data shows us that the country has the second largest forested area in the world. One third of the native vegetation area of the country is found in private properties. This happens due to the legal requirement to keep areas of Legal Reserve and Permanent Preservation on their properties along with the excess kept by some rural producers that are above the percentage required by law. At the same time, Brazil has the third largest agricultural production area in the world. Both experts on the subject and the Ministry of Agriculture itself agree that there is no longer the need to convert native vegetation into agricultural or livestock production areas. The agricultural sector is the main beneficiary of conservation since its productivity is highly dependent on climatic conditions. Forests act as Brazilian agriculture’s “sprinkler”. Besides water, there are countless ecosystem services, such as pollination of the crops, that directly benefit agriculture. Lastly, the implementation of the Forest Code is crucial to meet goals established by Brazil in the Paris Agreement. The Brazilian Coalition has already highlighted the gains the country has in remaining in the Paris Agreement, in view of its historic leading role on the topic. It is imperative to uphold the law; we cannot waste time with new modifications on its mechanisms. For this reason, the Brazilian Coalition recommends to the National Congress and the Brazilian government that they concentrate their efforts on the next stages necessary to the effective implementation of the Forest Code. Some of the actions that urgently need to be implemented are: to direct resources to speed up CAR’s validation, to advance in PRAs regulation, to implement the instruments necessary to create a real demand for Environmental Reserve Quotas (CRA), and to regulate the article of the law regarding financial incentives to protect native vegetation – including payment for environmental services and the creation of the Brazilian Market on Emissions Reduction. The Forest Code is the instrument essential for the sustainability of the agribusiness, for the development of the coun

14/12/2018
Brazil can only gain from staying in the Paris Agreement

The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture and its more than 180 members that represent agribusiness, environmental protection entities and academia believe that the country has a lot to gain from staying in the Paris Agreement: the main international commitment on climate change. The Paris Agreement represents an agenda of extensive opportunities. For rural producers, the commitment is seen as an important incentive to create mechanisms that are able to compensate producers that have a surplus of preserved areas in their properties, as a way to pay for the environmental service provided by these areas. For forests and agriculture, the Agreement represents a clear sign towards a low carbon economy. A relevant part of the Brazilian economy is based on agribusiness, responsible for 23.5% of the National GDP and 19% of the formal jobs in the country. The sector is highly dependent upon climatic conditions to guarantee its productivity. Forests act as “sprinklers” of the Brazilian agriculture and to protect them is the best path to guarantee the sector’s continuity. In global trade, Brazil, which today is responsible for 7% of the agricultural products in the planet, can attract more distinguishing features and competitiveness to its products. This would value its image and reputation and open new doors in international markets, which have been increasingly demanding producers to meet sustainability criteria. All of these gains are possible results of Brazil’s support for the Paris Agreement combined with a national policy for the low carbon economy and coherent with the country’s trajectory as one of the leaders in international climate negotiations. The country has the obligation of keeping its leading role, out of respect for its history and responsibility to the planet. Therefore, the Brazilian Coalition requests that the government considers the gains that the Paris Agreement can represent to many sectors of society. Thinking about the importance of this agenda, the Brazilian Coalition recently launched a vision for the future for forests and agriculture, in which the group members indicate goals for 2030 and 2050. For this reason, we believe that, in addition to continuing to support the global effort in reducing emissions, the country has to advance in this agenda as a long-term State policy for Brazil and the world. About the Brazilian Coalition The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement that was born with the goal of proposing actions and influencing public policies that lead to the development of a low carbon economy, with the creation of quality jobs, stimulus to innovation and Brazilian global competitiveness, and generation and distribution of wealth for the whole society. More than 180 companies, businesses associations, research centers, and civil society organizations have joined the Brazilian Coalition – coalizaobr.com.br/en

08/11/2018
Agriculture and Environment Ministries merger announcement concerns the Brazilian Coalition

November 8, 2018 – The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture received with concern the news that the president elect, Jair Bolsonaro, and his team are considering merging the Environment and Agriculture Ministries. According to the letter published on October 24, addressed to the candidates of the Brazilian presidential elections’ second round, the Brazilian Coalition highlights that the merger of these ministries can threaten the necessary power equilibrium that has to be respected in the context of public policies. A regulatory agency cannot be submitted to a regulated sector, as a matter of coherence and governance. In the past few years, the Brazilian Coalition has been working with these ministries with the goal of contributing to public policies synergy and complementarity of these areas. Both agendas (environment and agriculture) are essential to guarantee the balance between environmental conservation and sustainable production and need to be equally weighted in government’s decision making. Moreover, the Ministry of Environment’s actions go beyond agricultural and forest issues, because they also involve licensing, pollution control, the use of chemical products, water safety, among others. The strengthening of federal institutions, such as IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) and ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation), is an essential condition to assure the government’s role in these agendas. Therefore, the environmental agenda is much broader than only agriculture’s issues. The members of the Brazilian Coalition – representatives of agribusiness, environmental defense entities, academia, and the financial sector – are at the elected government’s disposal to present more details of the risks associated with this fusion, as well as to present the countless opportunities the country has in taking advantage of a low carbon economy. The Brazilian Coalition is a nonpartisan movement that presented 28 proposals to the main candidates of this year’s election and that continues open to contribute to the sustainable development of the country. About the Brazilian Coalition The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement that was born with the goal of proposing actions and influencing public policies that lead to the development of a low carbon economy, with the creation of quality jobs, stimulus to innovation and Brazilian global competitiveness, and generation and distribution of wealth for the whole society. More than 180 companies, businesses associations, research centers, and civil society organizations have joined the Brazilian Coalition– coalizaobr.com.br/en

24/10/2018
Elections: The Brazilian Coalition reaffirms the importance of the Paris Agreement, the low carbon economy and democracy

Open letter to the candidates of the Brazilian presidential elections’ second round, Mr. Fernando Haddad and Mr. Jair Bolsonaro October 24, 2018 - In this decisive moment for the future of the country, the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture reaffirms the important commitment the country has with the world to assure humanity’s food, water and climate security. Agribusiness is essential to our economy’s prosperity, since it corresponds to more than 20% of the Brazilian GDP. Moreover, Brazil is the third largest agricultural producer of the world, responsible for 7% of the world production, as well as one of the largest biofuels and forest products producer. At the same time, the country owns the largest tropical forest of the planet and stands in the global rank as the seventh largest carbon emitter, having more than 65% of its emissions attributed to deforestation and farming. Brazilian agriculture depends on climatic conditions, such as rain, humidity and temperature. These conditions can only be assured by forest conservation. Protected areas, for example, whether conservation units, indigenous lands or quilombola territories, help to preserve ecosystem services that are provided by forests and fundamental to agribusinesses, such as: water, erosion reduction, mitigation of climatic extremes, and the pollinators and habitat necessary to plague and disease controllers. For this reason, the Brazilian Coalition has been stating that agricultural production and environmental conservation have to walk alongside. Our development, prosperity and well-being depend on this balance! In this context, the Brazilian permanence in the Paris Agreement, and the legislation and environmental conservation and sustainable agriculture agendas are important to the sector: they guarantee the correct pricing of the current and future production and the Brazilian insertion in the most demanding international markets, such as Europe and Japan, in addition to maintaining the country’s historical protagonism in climate change negotiations and mitigation. Moreover, they contribute to global efforts in avoiding the temperature rise above 1.5°C, according to the most recent IPCCreport developed by more than six thousand scientists. Proposals, such as merging the Agriculture and Environment Ministries, can threaten a necessary power equilibrium that has to be respected in the context of public policies. In the past few years, the Brazilian Coalition has been working with these ministries with the goal of contributing to these areas public policies so they are in synergy and complementarity. Both agendas (environment and agriculture) are essential to guarantee the balance between environmental conservation and sustainable production, and need to be equally weighted in government’s decision making. Moreover, the Ministry of Environment’s actions go beyond agricultural and forest issues, but they also involve licensing, pollution control, the use of chemical products, water safety, among others. The strengthening of federal institutions, such as IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) and ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation), is an essential condition to assure the government’s role in this agenda. In this context, it is crucial to emphasize that the greatest part of deforestation in Brazil comes from illegal activity. Fighting this illegality should be any government’s priority. Therefore, strengthening control authorities – including the Public Prosecution –, remote sensing technologies and data transparency should be guarded as not only means for environmental protection, but also for protecting the great majority of rural producers, who follow the law and suffer from transgressor’s unfair competition. Command and control actions are necessary and desirable to fight illegal deforestation and repress the illegal trade of timber, livestock, grains and other products. Besides inspecting, the government also needs to implement the Forest Code’s mechanisms, which aim at solving the country’s environmental liabilities and at valuing landowners that follow the legislation and contribute to forest conservation. The Brazilian Coalition was created in a turbulent political moment of the country, in which the actors of the climate, forests and agriculture agendas were disarticulated due to the many divergences over debates that resulted in the approval of the current Forest Code. It was the desire to gather efforts in searching for common goals that mobilized these actors again. Without democracy, dialogue and transparency, this alliance would never have been possible. Our movement is proof of the value that the democratic exercise of dialogue among the different sectors of society can represent. The more than 180 members, among agribusiness representatives, environmental defe

23/04/2018
Brazilian Coalition reinforces its support for Sinaflor and calls for the immediate start of this system

April 23, 2018 -The National System for the Control of the Origin of Forest Products (Sinaflor), announced by the Government in March 2017, was created with the aim of concentrating information on the control and monitoring of the origin of different forest products, such as coal and exploited timber in forest management regime. Thus, all forest activities that are subject to control by official organizations of the National Environmental System (Sisnama) must be linked to Sinaflor to issue authorizations to exploit and commercialize its products. The Federal Government stipulated the goal of May 2, 2018, to start Sinaflor on a national scale. Moving forward to the operational stage is fundamental for improving the control and governance, safety and legality environment of Brazilian forestry activities. Therefore, the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture reinforces once again its support for Sinaflor, as it had done last year in a communiqué issued on March 8, 2017. The movement also reaffirms the importance of this system as a tool for transparency and control of the origin of the country's forest products. In addition, the Brazilian Coalition requests the official Sisnama organizations that have not yet formally joined Sinaflor to do so before May 2, 2018, in order to allow the immediate functioning of the system. Check below the statement of the Brazilian Coalition released on March 8, 2017: Sinaflor is an important step in fostering the legal timber market in the country São Paulo, March 8, 2017 - The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture participated in the launch of the National System for the Control of the Origin of Forest Products - Sinaflor, held yesterday in Brasília, with the presence of the Minister of the Environment, Sarney Filho, and the president of Ibama, Suely Araújo. Sinaflor is a system that integrates other platforms from Ibama, such as the Forest Origin Document (DOF) and the Annual Operational Plan (POA), as well as the Rural Environmental Registry National System (Sicar). One of its objectives is to improve the control of the origin of products, such as wood and coal, tracking all the process, from authorizations of exploration to their transport, storage, industrialization and export. Therefore, it aims to increase the degree of security and reliability of the systems as a whole. All states in the country are expected to use Sinaflor as of 2018 to issue operating and marketing authorizations for these products. For the Brazilian Coalition, the first version of Sinaflor, presented yesterday, represents an important step for the timber sector. “The system brings progress for the productive chain of native wood, which suffers from irregularities in its production processes. The minister and the president of Ibama also pledged to launch a new version of Sinaflor by the end of the year, responding to traceability and transparency challenges. The Brazilian Coalition is ready to contribute to this process”, said Marcelo Furtado, facilitator at the Brazilian Coalition, who participated in the event's opening table. “Sinaflor still needs some improvements, but it can already reduce significantly the possibility of fraud by bringing more operational security to the issuing of permits for timber extraction”, says Jeanicolau de Lacerda, an assessor at Precious Woods company and one of the leaders of the Coalition's Tropical Forest Economy Working Group. He and other members of the Working Group were also present at the launch. For the Working Group, it is still necessary to find concrete ways to promote the broad traceability and transparency of information on the origin and final destination of timber products. These are key elements for achieving two objectives of the Brazilian Coalition, which are to curb illegality in the sector and increase the area of sustainable managed forest in the country by 10-fold, reaching 25 million hectares by 2030. This will promote the fight against illegal deforestation and lead to a more sustainable forest economy based on the correct management of forests and the generation of income and quality jobs throughout the production chain. “Transparency puts the spotlight on enterprises that operate in the right way. It encourages the maintenance of forests, the respect for local communities and the preservation of natural resources. It also contributes to the development of adequate public policies that bring the whole sector to legality”, says Leonardo Sobral, forest manager at Imaflora, who also leads the Tropical Forest Economy Working Group. The tropical timber market is responsible for more than 200,000 direct jobs and produces 13 million m³ of log/year, generating a gross annual income of R$ 4.3 billion. However, according to data from the Institute BVRio, about 80% of timber sold in the country seems to be illegal and is not certified.

16/04/2018
Senate bill ignores agroecological zoning of sugarcane

The Senate Bill (PLS) 626/2011 has returned to the agenda and should be voted on in the Senate floor in next weeks. The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture reaffirms its position paper against this Bill, according to the position already published on September 11, 2017 (available below). Faced with the risks mentioned in this position paper, the Brazilian Coalition asks the Senators to vote for the rejection of PLS 626/2011. Read the position paper: Senate bill ignores agroecological zoning of sugarcane Note of the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture on Senate Bill 626/2011: São Paulo, September 11, 2017 – Senate Bill 626/2011, sponsored by Senator Flexa Ribeiro (PSDB-PA), which is being processed by the Federal Senate, aims to authorize sugarcane cultivation in the Legal Amazon, in already degraded forest areas and in stretches of savannas and general fields of the states that make up the region. This bill contradicts the efforts made by the federal government, the productive sector and society towards the sustainable production of sugarcane in the country. In 2009, the Brazilian government approved Decree 6961, which provides for Agroecological Zoning and determines areas and rules for the licensing of new plants, excluding expansions on sensitive biomes such as the Amazon and Pantanal, as well as areas of native vegetation. Bill 626/2011, proposing a change in the zoning guidelines, could cause a strong pressure for deforestation in the Amazon biome. Brazilian biofuels and sugar are not associated with this deforestation. Senate Bill 626/2011 can tarnish this reputation and jeopardize the markets already conquered and the value of Brazilian products. Brazil needs to focus on promoting increased production of bioenergy and biofuels in the current unused areas, along with environmental preservation. The demand for economic development in the Amazon regions is legitimate. However, the Coalition believes that the creation of quality jobs can only be achieved through the low-carbon economy. Currently, sugarcane cultivation occupies about 10 million hectares. Zoning, by excluding 92.5% of the Brazilian territory as unfit for sugarcane cultivation, still allows its expansion in 64.7 million hectares, of which 19.3 million hectares are areas of high productive potential. Therefore, we understand that, in protecting sensitive biomes, zoning signals areas big enough to enable agribusiness to expand and intensify its production while ensuring the preservation of protected areas. These areas are critical to provide ecosystem services, such as maintaining temperature and rainfall regimes. Therefore, the Brazil Coalition defends the maintenance of the sugarcane Agroecological Zoning terms and demands that Senators members of the next Commissions read Senate Bill 626/2011 (Commissions for Agriculture and Agrarian Reform and Environment, Consumer Protection and Inspection and Control, with a final decision) to consider the risks mentioned above and vote for their rejection. The sugarcane industry plays an important role in meeting the Brazilian climate target and is able to increase its participation in the national energy matrix by 18% without plowing under the Amazon. About the Brazilian Coalition The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement established to propose initiatives and influence public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy by creating decent jobs, encouraging innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generating and distributing wealth across society. Over 160 companies, business associations, research centers and civil society organizations have already joined The Brazilian Coalition – coalizaobr.com.br

10/11/2017
COP 23 should consider the strategic character of the implementation of the climate targets in its negotiations

São Paulo, November 10, 2017 – The official negotiations at COP 23 will have the important mission of advancing to devise the rulebook for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, which will standardize the NDCs (climate targets) to ensure that the commitments of the countries are comparable. Brazil, as well as the majority of the signatory countries, is at this stage, and to make the Agreement a reality, needs to rely on a strategic plan for implementation of its NDC. Although it is ambitious, the Brazilian NDC is a feasible target for the country, which has already proved to be able to reduce its GHG emissions, through the fall in the rates of deforestation in the Amazon region between 2004 and 2012, simultaneously with a period of extraordinary sustainable productivity jumps in Brazilian farming. However, currently, Brazil has faced a period of environmental setbacks and of increase in its CO2 emissions by around 9%. Even though the most recent data from INPE indicates a decline of 16% in the deforestation of the Amazon in the last year, the country is still far from achieving its climate target. Therefore, COP 23 will be an important moment for Brazil to align discourse and practice, proving that it will redirect its actions and public policies toward a low-carbon economy and following its leadership in international discussions, stimulating greater ambition in both the Brazilian NDC and in the Paris Agreement. For this reason, theBrazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculturebelieves that the implementation of the NDC should be seen as an agenda for a low-carbon development for Brazil, which will bring economic opportunities, achieving positive results in agricultural production and in environmental conservation, concomitantly, and not only as the fulfillment of a public commitment. To this end, it is important that the discussions on the implementation of the NDC in COP 23 consider various aspects, which are detailed below. The low-carbon economy should bring fundamental social impacts, such as the creation of quality jobs, generation and distribution of wealth, improvements in people's health, greater recognition and protection of indigenous peoples and traditional communities, and other benefits to society as a whole. For the transition toward this economy, national and international economic mechanisms will be required, in order to build new standards of production and consumption. If it is not regulated by public policies and instruments capable of inducing new vectors of demand and supply, the action of the strength of the market alone will not suffice to achieve the climate targets and an economic turnaround. Among these instruments there are the carbon pricing, payment for environmental services, REDD+, etc. In addition, actions of monitoring are crucial to measure the effectiveness of investments and understand the best way of guiding them. Allied to governance, wide transparency should also be observed, which will allow society to monitor and evaluate the progress of climate targets and, therefore, it is also necessary to ensure mechanisms for the participation and involvement of different players. Finally, the development, availability, access and dissemination of technologies for new economic models must complete the transition to low-carbon development. Whether in agriculture and cattle raising production or in the forestry business, innovation is the inducer of a new economy, which must be accompanied by actions of training and technical assistance to workers. Brazilian Coalitionhopes that COP 23 can enhance the discussions on the implementation of the Paris Agreement, considering all the points addressed here as essential in a national strategy. Several members of the movement will be present at the conference, contributing and monitoring the international negotiations and will be at the disposal of players on the agenda of climate, forests and agriculture interested in joining efforts. About the Brazilian Coalition The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement established to propose initiatives and influence public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy by creating decent jobs, encouraging innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generating and distributing wealth across society. Over 150 companies, business associations, research centers and civil society organizations have already joined The Brazilian Coalition – coalizaobr.com.br/en

14/09/2017
The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests, and Agriculture Position on REDD+

São Paulo, September 14, 2017 – The Brazilian NDC, ratified by the country in 2016, will be one of the main guiding principles for Brazil's sustainable development agenda in the coming years. Its implementation will demand the integration of efforts from many sectors of the economy, to reach Brazil’s total emission target of 1.3 GtCO2 in 2025. In the last decade, we have promoted one of the largest reductions in carbon emissions by a single country, through the reduction of deforestation in the Amazon between 2005 and 2014. Land-use and agriculture changes, especially deforestation, remain the most relevant sectors for Brazil's NDC, since together they respond for about two thirds of our national emissions1. The resumption of deforestation’s reduction, as well as the recovery of forest areas and reforestation, will require large volumes of resources, in addition to a permanent commitment from governments, the private sector, and society in general. In this scenario, multiple mechanisms will be required so that Brazil fulfills its emission reduction targets. Among these mechanisms, there are those focused on new financing strategies – including new market mechanisms – capable of attracting investors interested in mitigating climate change. They will be increasingly relevant and may guarantee the scale up liquidity to existing mechanisms of carbon valuation. Under this perspective, the REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) mechanism represents the greatest opportunity to finance the emission reduction efforts undertaken in Brazil. However, to date, our capacity to raise resources through REDD+ has been limited to about 6% of the national potential. According to the reference values of the agreements signed by the Amazon Fund (US$ 5/tCO2e), and based only on emissions reductions from deforestation in the Amazon, Brazil could have raised US$ 30 billion between 2006 and 20152. However, until now, the country has raised less than US$ 2 billion, an amount far below the potential offered by the emission reductions shown. Investments in REDD+ are essential for compliance of Brazilian NDC. They must be addressed transversally and complementarily to the Brazilian Forest Code enforcement, the promotion and expansion of sustainable forest management, restoration actions, and payment for ecosystem services, among others agendas. Therefore, the Brazilian Coalition understands that some short and medium term measures must be taken to prepare the country to benefit more from the opportunities of REDD+ investments, as listed below: 1. Create and regulate effective and complementary mechanisms for assessing emission reductions from deforestation and removals related to forests and agriculture in Brazil, including participation in national and international carbon markets, as applicable, to support the enforcement of the Brazilian NDC. 2. Continue with the design and implementation of the Brazilian Emissions Reduction Market (MBRE), fostering the implementation of pilot projects over the next two years, creating a work agenda that stimulates synergies between the market and the valuation of forest assets. 3. Regulate article 41 of the Brazilian Forest Code. This article addresses incentives for environmental conservation in private properties, as well as other legal provisions (draft bills on payment for environmental services, state legislations on REDD+, among others), that enable the capture, conservation, maintenance, and increase of the carbon stock. 4. Acknowledge subnational initiatives (such as state REDD+ Programs and ongoing pilot projects in the Amazon) as key elements for the National REDD+ Strategy and to obtain additional resources for environmental management and reduction of deforestation in the biome. 5. Reformulate the governance of the National Commission for REDD+ (CONAREDD+) to ensure fairness in decision-making procedures (e.g., with votes in blocs), expanding the number of seats for civil society, including the private sector, and accelerating implementation of the National REDD+ Strategy. 6. Create a reference level to increase forest stocks in Brazil, within the scope of the national REDD+ strategy, so that the mechanism can also be used for the recovery of degraded areas, Permanent Preservation Area (APP), Legal Reserve (RL) and others, and to expand the supply of forest products by management or plantation. 7. Broaden the scope, fundraising, and swiftness of implementation of the Amazon Fund, based on the following measures: (i) raise resources for all verified removals; (ii) incorporate the stocks’ increase in the limits of fundraising; and (iii) include all Brazilian biomes, both for demonstration of removals and for fundraising. The Brazilian Coalition highlights the regulatory role of the Brazilian State for REDD+ and advocates a comprehensive, technically-motivated debate involving all stakeholders. We believe

11/09/2017
Senate bill ignores agroecological zoning of sugarcane

Note of the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture on Senate Bill 626/2011: São Paulo, September 11, 2017 – Senate Bill 626/2011, sponsored by Senator Flexa Ribeiro (PSDB-PA), which is being processed by the Federal Senate, aims to authorize sugarcane cultivation in the Legal Amazon, in already degraded forest areas and in stretches of savannas and general fields of the states that make up the region. This bill contradicts the efforts made by the federal government, the productive sector and society towards the sustainable production of sugarcane in the country. In 2009, the Brazilian government approved Decree 6961, which provides for Agroecological Zoning and determines areas and rules for the licensing of new plants, excluding expansions on sensitive biomes such as the Amazon and Pantanal, as well as areas of native vegetation. Bill 626/2011, proposing a change in the zoning guidelines, could cause a strong pressure for deforestation in the Amazon biome. Brazilian biofuels and sugar are not associated with this deforestation. Senate Bill 626/2011 can tarnish this reputation and jeopardize the markets already conquered and the value of Brazilian products. Brazil needs to focus on promoting increased production of bioenergy and biofuels in the current unused areas, along with environmental preservation. The demand for economic development in the Amazon regions is legitimate. However, the Coalition believes that the creation of quality jobs can only be achieved through the low-carbon economy. Currently, sugarcane cultivation occupies about 10 million hectares. Zoning, by excluding 92.5% of the Brazilian territory as unfit for sugarcane cultivation, still allows its expansion in 64.7 million hectares, of which 19.3 million hectares are areas of high productive potential. Therefore, we understand that, in protecting sensitive biomes, zoning signals areas big enough to enable agribusiness to expand and intensify its production while ensuring the preservation of protected areas. These areas are critical to provide ecosystem services, such as maintaining temperature and rainfall regimes. Therefore, the Brazil Coalition defends the maintenance of the sugarcane Agroecological Zoning terms and demands that Senators members of the next Commissions read Senate Bill 626/2011 (Commissions for Agriculture and Agrarian Reform and Environment, Consumer Protection and Inspection and Control, with a final decision) to consider the risks mentioned above and vote for their rejection. The sugarcane industry plays an important role in meeting the Brazilian climate target and is able to increase its participation in the national energy matrix by 18% without plowing under the Amazon. About the Brazilian Coalition The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement established to propose initiatives and influence public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy by creating decent jobs, encouraging innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generating and distributing wealth across society. Over 150 companies, business associations, research centers and civil society organizations have already joined The Brazilian Coalition – coalizaobr.com.br/en

29/08/2017
Government insists on extinction of mineral reserve without discussing with society or providing impact study

Note of the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture on the extinction of the National Reserve of Copper and its Associates (RENCA): São Paulo, August 29, 2017 – The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture condemns the extinction of the National Reserve of Copper and its Associates (RENCA) carried out by presidential decree on August 28. Even if this decree replaces the previous one to detail how environmental preservation will take place in the region, this measure again is announced without being subjected to discussions with society. The Brazilian Coalition believes that without listening to the different stakeholders, the Government will not be able to construct an adequate plan to ensure the preservation of regional protected areas, all the more while refusing to conduct a socio-environmental study on the impact of the extinction of the reserve. This measure comes in addition to other Government and Congress actions that contradict the development of a low-carbon economy, one that creates quality jobs, fosters innovation, boosts Brazil’s global competitiveness, while generating and distributing wealth to the whole society. This decision otherwise worsens the national scenario of social and environmental setbacks. The threat to forest protection has already been identified as a concern by the Brazilian Coalition, in the case of bills to reduce Conservation Units (CU) and specifically in the case of Provisional Measures 756 and 758, actions that can cause increased deforestation in the country and that, unfortunately, returned to the Congress’ agenda as a bill (PL No. 8107/2017). Even if the current decree does not change the rules of the nine environmental protection areas present in RENCA, releasing the mining activity results in drastic changes in the occupation dynamics of the region while bringing great risks to the maintenance of these areas and their ecosystems. One of the areas that could suffer from the extinction of RENCA is the Tumucumaque Mountains National Park, the largest national park in Brazil and the largest in the world's rainforests. Currently, only 0.31% of RENCA's forest area is deforested, according to PRODES data. According to IPAM (Amazon Research Institute, in the Portuguese acronym) calculations, this percentage should increase to 5%, even if the protection of the environmental areas is not changed, or even reach 31%, if these protected areas lose their effectiveness in containing the pressure of deforestation, which can be caused by the multiplication of legal and illegal mining, mainly, in the area of the Paru State Forest (figures 1 and 2). Figure 1. A 5% increase in deforestation in RENCA's forest area, even with maintenance of environmental protection areas. Figure 2. A 31% increase in deforestation in the RENCA forest area, if protected areas lose effectiveness in containing the pressure of deforestation. Fighting against deforestation and forest protection are critical conditions for agribusiness to function, given the influence of forests on rainfall, biodiversity in crop pollination and temperature variation, especially in the Amazon region. Preservation, especially in a world under threat of climate change, is also a key part of Brazil's ability to fulfill the commitment made in the Paris Agreement, reducing its emissions of greenhouse gases, including those from deforestation. The role of protected areas in fighting against deforestation has historically been critical. According to a study by IPAM, the creation of 24 million hectares of areas of integral protection or sustainable use played a key role to the decline in deforestation between 2005 and 2008. The extinction decree of RENCA goes against this history and is seen, by the Brazil Coalition, as part of a set of social and environmental setbacks. More than addressing such setbacks, it is also essential to give urgency and strengthen the implementation of the Forest Code, combating attempts such as the extension of the deadline for registration in the Environmental Rural Registry (CAR). The extinction of the mineral reserve also adds to the risks present in the process of reviewing the regulatory framework for environmental licensing, which is being processed in Congress, that may change the environmental rules for the mining sector. The Brazilian Coalition listed principles and guidelines that need to be guaranteed in the revision of this statute to stimulate the economic activity in line with the preservation of the socioenvironmental assets. Therefore, the Brazil Coalition requires the interruption of the national socioenvironmental setbacks scenario, which has threatened public interest agendas, such as environmental protection and the implementation of the Forest Code, and calls for the repeal of the decree until a formal process discussion and consultation on the extinction of this reserve. About the Brazilian Coalition The Braz

14/07/2017
Congress threatens forest protection areas again

Parliament members may override the presidential veto on provisional measures 756 and 758, and analyze a new draft bill that affects the same region São Paulo, July 14, 2017 - Even though president Michel Temer has vetoed Provisional Measures (MP) 756 and 758, which threatened to reduce nearly 600,000 hectares of important forest protection areas in the states of Pará and Santa Catarina, this week the subject returned to members of Congress, who may reject the presidential decision. Additionally, a new draft bill (PL 8107/2017) was presented to the Chamber of Deputies yesterday with the utmost urgency, to specifically address the reduction of 349,085 hectares in the Jamanxim National Forest, in Pará. Analysis of the MP vetoes had been scheduled for the Chamber during yesterday's plenary session on July 13. But the subject was struck from the agenda and should be analyzed before the Chamber’s next session on August 15. MP 756 and 758 not only affect the Jamanxim National Forest (Flona), but the Jamanxim National Park in Pará and São Joaquim National Park in Santa Catarina, which are critical areas for preservation. For example, from 2004 to 2016 the Jamanxim National Forest lost more than 117,000 hectares of forests, which led to the release of 70 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to calculations from the Environmental Research Institute of the Amazon (IPAM). By 2030, the expropriation of this area may result in 280,000 fewer hectares of forest, and the emission of 140 million tons of CO2. In May, the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture publicly requested the veto of these measures. A letter signed by the Brazilian Coalition was delivered to the president and several other representatives of the Brazilian government. Numerous national and international organizations and leaders voiced their opposition, including the model Gisele Bundchen, who received Temer’s response with regard to the veto via Twitter. The president vetoed the MP on the deadline for the sanctions, on the eve of a visit to the Norwegian government, which is a leading investor in the Amazon Fund. Even so, he could not reverse the image of increasing Brazilian deforestation, and Norway consequently announced a R$ 200 million cut in its donations to Brazil. The goal of draft bill 8107 is to replace MP 756 and to further increase the area established in the original version of the MP, which converted part of the Jamanxim National Forest into an Environmental Protection Area (APA), a less rigid category which allows privately held properties, farming, and mining within these areas. When announcing that Temer would veto MP 756 and 758, Environment Minister Sarney Filho had already declared that a draft bill would be submitted to address land conflicts and illegal activities in the region, which has been the scene of numerous protests. On July 7, pickup trucks belonging to the Brazilian Environmental Protection Agency (Ibama) were burned in an attack on this agency’s inspection and monitoring efforts. The current social and environmental setbacks in Congress (according to these MP and this draft bill) go far beyond environmental damage. The country is not only losing investments, but also a great opportunity to position itself as a leader in the low-carbon economy; it is also ignoring the significant work of constructing regulatory frameworks like the Forest Code, and groundbreaking tools like the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and the National System for Control of the Origin of Forest Products (Sinaflor). About the Brazilian Coalition The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement established to propose initiatives and influence public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy by creating decent jobs, encouraging innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generating and distributing wealth across society. Over 150 companies, business associations, research centers and civil society organizations have already joined The Brazilian Coalition – coalizaobr.com.br/en

21/06/2017
Brazilian Coalition refutes proposal that extends time to register with the Environmental Rural Registry (CAR)

São Paulo, June 21, 2017 - The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests, and Agriculture – a multi-sector movement formed by over 150 companies, business associations, research centers and civil society organizations, that aims the development of a low-carbon economy – refutes the proposal that advances in Congress, which extends once again the time to register with the Environmental Rural Registry (CAR). The draft bill PLS 287/2015, which is pending in the Senate, extends to May 2018 the limit of the benefits of the Forest Code, weakening its deployment agenda. Such extension disrespects the rural producers who have joined the CAR within the time limit set by the law and benefits those who are in the margins of legislation. Most producers have already registered and started the process of compliance with the Code. Statistics available on the official CAR portal indicate that almost 100% of the areas that can be registered – based on data by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) – are already registered in the system. In total, the CAR System (Sicar) has already registered over 400 million hectares, and more than 4 million rural owners and squatters with CAR throughout the country. CAR certainly represents one of the utmost advances in the implementation of the Forest Code. The achieved results turned Sicar into one of the largest geospatial databases in the world, with a vast network of rural properties and settlements; as well as their respective areas of protection: legal reserves, permanent preservation area, and areas of restricted use. Sicar is one of the most relevant Geographic Information Systems (GIS) worldwide. Therefore, the Brazilian Coalition understands there is no reason to extend, for the third time, the registration with CAR. A possible extension of the legal term only benefits a small part of landowners, who already had more than enough time to rectify. The Brazilian Coalition also highlights the urgency to intensify Government’s support regarding the registration of the small rural producers, settlers, and quilombolas, so that they may be in the Sicar’s base within the term established in the current law. We believe the priority now is to ensure progress in the CAR’s validation process by the States, and the implementation of the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA). These actions will bring even more credibility to the Forest Code, and to Brazil's leading position in the international environmental markets and agendas, by showing markets that the country's agricultural products respect the law, and demonstrating Brazil's engagement to commitments such as the Paris Agreement. Thus, concerning the Brazilian institutions and the laws created, the Brazilian Coalition stands against any modification in the Forest Code that brings greater legal insecurity to the rural producer, damages to the environmental agenda, and delays in the implementation of this legislation. Therefore, we request the senators and deputies from Parliamentary Fronts of Agriculture and the Environment, and other representatives, not to follow up on this agenda, avoiding the increase of divergences and changes in the agri-environmental agenda. About the Brazilian Coalition The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement established to propose initiatives and influence public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy by creating decent jobs, encouraging innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generating and distributing wealth across society. Over 150 companies, business associations, research centers and civil society organizations have already joined The Brazilian Coalition – coalizaobr.com.br/en

12/06/2017
Open letter: Brazilian opportunities in a low-carbon economic development agenda

São Paulo, 12th June,2017 Your Excellencies President of Brazil, Michel Temer, and Ministerial Officials of the Interministerial Committee on Climate Change (CIM): Minister Aloysio Nunes (Foreign Affairs), Minister Blairo Maggi (Agriculture, Livestock and Supply), Minister Eliseu Padilha (Chief of Staff), Minister Fernando Coelho Filho (Mines and Energy), Minister Gilberto Kassab (Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications), Minister Marcos Pereira (Industry, Foreign Trade and Services), Minister Osmar Terra (Social and Agrarian Development) and Minister Sarney Filho (Environment). President and Ministers, The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture1, a multi-sector movement formed by over 150 companies, associations, research centers and civil society organizations, announces this manifesto in response to the public consultation of the Ministry of the Environment on the strategy for the implementation of the Brazilian climate commitment (Nationally Determined Contribution on climate, NDC) presented at COP 21 in Paris. We acknowledge the efforts of the Brazilian Government and we congratulate the choice of a collective and participatory step in the construction of the NDC's strategy. The purpose of this letter is to gather and disclose Coalition's view on the Government's proposals and to increase our readiness, as well as our members’, to contribute to the construction of this strategy. The main objective of the Brazilian Coalition is to propose actions and influence public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon, competitive, responsible and inclusive economy. The movement also seeks to identify synergies between the agendas for protection, conservation and sustainable use of forests, agriculture, and mitigation and adaptation to climate change. These contributions are necessary because the forestry and land use sector represents the main opportunity to reduce the net emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in Brazil2. At the same time, it is a central sector for the country, since Brazil currently represents 7% of the world's food production, and intends to reach 10% in five years3. Such leadership and ambition require commitment to the responsible use of its natural resources and to the economic valuation of renewable activities related to land use. The search for more balance between forest conservation and the efficient use of our soil for agricultural production is one of the biggest challenges and opportunities for Brazil in the coming years. The various organizations that form the Brazilian Coalition4 held a series of meetings to review the base document presented by the Ministry of the Environment. Therefore, the government's public consultation triggered an important conversation between members with different roles and expectations in the agricultural production and environmental conservation agenda. As a result of the consensus within this group, we understand that NDC's implementation strategy should not be treated only as a way to fulfill a public commitment, but rather as a low-carbon development agenda for Brazil that brings economic opportunities, achieving positive results in production, employment and income generation, and environmental conservation, simultaneously. Betting on a low-carbon economy can bring Brazil to a new status in the international arena, since the adaptation to international market standards is a factor of competitiveness. It also demonstrates its commitment to the global climate change agenda, in which the country ranks as one of the world's largest emitters and, at the same time, as a potential leader of one of the most renewable energy matrices on the planet. Therefore, the country must contribute to the solution of this problem by reducing its GHG emissions5 and seeking means of implementation and opportunities that enable the necessary changes. Brazil's recent past demonstrates that it is possible to meet the demands of the productive sector and the commitment to reduce GHG emissions since the deforestation rates in the Amazon decreased between 2004 and 2012, the same period in which the Brazilian agricultural production grew significantly. We believe that this new economy will also bring fundamental social impacts, such as the creation of quality jobs, the generation and distribution of wealth, improvements in people's health, greater recognition and protection of indigenous populations and traditional communities, and other benefits to society as a whole. Given the magnitude, diversity, complexity, and interdependence of the various measures involved in the NDC implementation, the Brazilian Coalition considers it is necessary to develop a national strategy based on integrated and not specific actions. The lack of transversality was identified by the Brazilian Coalition as the main flaw of the base document presented by the Ministry of the Environment, since the suggested actions are not connected to each o

25/05/2017
Open letter: Request to veto the provisional acts 756 and 758 that reduce forest protection in Brazil

São Paulo, May 25th, 2017 His Excellency President of Brazil, Michel Temer, The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture – movement formed by civil society representatives, the business sector and the academic community – requests to the President of the Republic to veto the provisional acts 756/2016 and 758/2016. These provisional acts approved by the Senate plenary on May 23rd (bills 4/2017 and 17/2017) reduced the Jamanxim National Forest (Flona), in the municipality of Novo Progresso (PA), the National Park (Parna) of Jamanxim, in the municipalities of Itaituba and Trairão (PA) and the Parna of São Joaquim (SC). The approval of these provisional acts goes against the protection of the environment and the battle with the growing deforestation in Brazilian biomes. Moreover, it compromises the credibility of the necessary economic development initiatives in the country. These acts bring irreparable damage to biodiversity and climate and will benefit a few individuals at the expense of the national interest. The approval of these laws will withdraw the protection of 588.5 thousand hectares of forests in the Amazon and cause the reduction of 20% of Parna de São Joaquim, one of the main refuges of the Atlantic Forest biodiversity, the most threatened biome in the country. It will result in increased illegal exploitation and depredation encouraged by the highest authority of the Republic, creating an undesirable precedent for new occupations of areas preserved in Conservation Units (Unidades de Conservação, UCs). Jamanxim Flona, created in February 2006, along with other UCs, has an important role in the region and form a green barrier with more than 6.4 million hectares. This initiative managed to contain the overwhelming advance of deforestation along the BR-163 – a highway that connects Cuiabá (MT) to Santarém (PA) – which increased by more than 650% between 2001 and 2004, as a result of the acceleration of speculation Real estate of public lands. Sectors that defend the approval of the reduction of these invaluable protected areas argue that the difficulties faced by the government to implement this protection prevented the effective control of illegal and predatory exploitation caused by deforestation and mining. However, reducing them is the worst way to try to solve the problems, which will actually worsen without legal protection. The analysis of the images obtained by the MapBiomas platform show the very high risk to which these areas will be submitted. These maps show that from 2004 to 2016 Jamanxim Flona lost more than 117 thousand hectares of forests, which released 70 million tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere according to calculations by the Environmental Research Institute of the Amazon (Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia, IPAM). By 2030, the reduction of these areas can result in 280,000 hectares of less forests and in the emission of 140 million tons of CO2. This process needs to be avoided. It is important to point out that the ICMBio, a federal body responsible for the management of UCs, has acknowledged in a report that the occupation of Jamanxim Flona is recent, stating that 67.7% of the occupants arrived there just before or shortly after its creation, in 2006. This data proves that the occupations had a speculative character. Other legislative and executive proposals threaten the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (Programa Áreas Protegidas da Amazônia, ARPA), which supports the UCs management in the region. The use of resources in ARPA (about US$ 215 million from international donors) is tied to a number of commitments, such as the maintenance of protected areas. Thus, the Government projects aimed at reducing, recategorizing and altering the limits of conservation units clearly disregard a Brazilian commitment, which may affect the investments of one of the world's largest programs of forest conservation in history. The provisional acts approved by the Senate will affect legal security and will undermine investments in the country, moving away demanding investors and consumers of sustainable production systems. In a world in which socio-environmental criteria are increasingly at the heart of decision-making processes of large investors, Brazil is moving away from the possibility to become a competitive and respected economy. In a scenario of intensified deforestation in Amazônia in the last two years, provisional acts such these ones stimulate predatory occupation and disregard for environmental protection areas, jeopardizing gains obtained in attempts to control deforestation in the region, and damage the image of the country and agribusiness. Land regularization of areas with illegal deforestation can not be authorized by the Government. Otherwise, it will not be feasible to stop illegal deforestation, as expected by the Brazilian Forest

08/03/2017
Sinaflor is an important step in fostering the legal timber market in the country

São Paulo, March 8, 2017 -The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture participated in the launch of the National System for the Control of the Origin of Forest Products - Sinaflor, held yesterday in Brasília, with the presence of the Minister of the Environment, Sarney Filho, and the president of Ibama, Suely Araújo. Sinaflor is a system that integrates other platforms from Ibama, such as the Forest Origin Document (DOF) and the Annual Operational Plan (POA), as well as the Rural Environmental Registry National System (Sicar). One of its objectives is to improve the control of the origin of products, such as wood and coal, tracking all the process, from authorizations of exploration to their transport, storage, industrialization and export. Therefore, it aims to increase the degree of security and reliability of the systems as a whole. All states in the country are expected to use Sinaflor as of 2018 to issue operating and marketing authorizations for these products.For the Brazilian Coalition, the first version of Sinaflor, presented yesterday, represents an important step for the timber sector. “The system brings progress for the productive chain of native wood, which suffers from irregularities in its production processes. The minister and the president of Ibama also pledged to launch a new version of Sinaflor by the end of the year, responding to traceability and transparency challenges. The Brazilian Coalition is ready to contribute to this process”, said Marcelo Furtado, facilitator at the Brazilian Coalition, who participated in the event's opening table. “Sinaflor still needs some improvements, but it can already reduce significantly the possibility of fraud by bringing more operational security to the issuing of permits for timber extraction”, says Jeanicolau de Lacerda, an assessor at Precious Woods company and one of the leaders of the Coalition's Tropical Forest Economy Working Group. He and other members of the Working Group were also present at the launch. For the Working Group, it is still necessary to find concrete ways to promote the broad traceability and transparency of information on the origin and final destination of timber products. These are key elements for achieving two objectives of the Brazilian Coalition, which are to curb illegality in the sector and increase the area of sustainable managed forest in the country by 10-fold, reaching 25 million hectares by 2030. This will promote the fight against illegal deforestation and lead to a more sustainable forest economy based on the correct management of forests and the generation of income and quality jobs throughout the production chain. “Transparency puts the spotlight on enterprises that operate in the right way. It encourages the maintenance of forests, the respect for local communities and the preservation of natural resources. It also contributes to the development of adequate public policies that bring the whole sector to legality”, says Leonardo Sobral, forest manager at Imaflora, who also leads the Tropical Forest Economy Working Group. The tropical timber market is responsible for more than 200,000 direct jobs and produces 13 million m3 of log/year, generating a gross annual income of R$ 4.3 billion. However, according to data from the Institute BVRio, about 80% of timber sold in the country seems to be illegal and is not certified. About the Brazilian Coalition The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement established to propose initiatives and influence public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy by creating decent jobs, encouraging innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generating and distributing wealth across society. Over 150 companies, business associations, research centers and civil society organizations have already joined The Brazilian Coalition – coalizaobr.com.br/en

13/03/2017
Positioning on changes in the Brazilian Environmental Licensing regulatory framework

São Paulo, March 13, 2017 - The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture considers that the efficiency and effectiveness of the regulatory processes conducted by the Brazilian State are central elements for the greater dynamism of the economy and the construction of a more prosperous, fair and sustainable development model, generating employment and income. For this purpose, the process of reviewing the environmental licensing regulatory framework, which is already underway, should aim to stimulate economic activity in line with the preservation of socio-environmental assets and the commitments made by Brazil in the international negotiations on climate change and biodiversity conservation. A new licensing regulatory framework should be based on transparency, efficiency and sustainability, guaranteeing legal certainty and predictability for economic agents, without causing damage to the preservation of the environment. It should also be combined with a long-term planning that considers the comparative advantages of the different regions of Brazil and incorporates the technologies for a competitive, sustainable and low-carbon economy. In this sense, we understand that the Environmental Licensing General Law should be supported by the following principles and guidelines: (i) federal legislation should establish national criteria for environmental licensing procedures, in order to standardize the process, reducing legal uncertainty and discretion among federative entities; (ii) the licensing process, including cases with licensing exemption, should be defined in a standardized way, based on an updated analysis of the frameworks of the activities subject to environmental licensing and the socio-environmental fragility or importance of the place of the enterprise; (iii) activities and enterprises involving the suppression of native vegetation must undergo the environmental licensing process, without jeopardizing the compliance with the procedures established to obtain the respective authorizations and the restrictions provided in current legislation; (iv) environmental licensing should be structured so as to facilitate integration with other territorial management systems, such as the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA), the Ecological-Economic Zoning, the maps of the Priority Areas for Conservation, Sustainable Use and Benefit Sharing of Brazilian Biodiversity and municipal legislation on land use and occupation. It should also consider other existing requirements, such as the Forest Code; (v) the current lists of frameworks for activities subject to environmental licensing should be reviewed as they are outdated and have imperfections, such as establishing that any forestry activity regardless of size and location should be qualified as a project of significant environmental impact; (vi) ensure legal certainty so that the activities exempted from licensing, due to their location or nature, have this right respected; (vii) the environmental licensing process should be based on the principle of transparency, and the National System of Environmental Information (SINIMA) should make available technical references of the studies already presented, allowing the use of existing diagnoses in the case of enterprises located in the same area of influence of processes already licensed; (viii) maintenance of the obligation to hold a public hearing whenever the environmental licensing process is established based on the Environmental Impact Study (EIA), in accordance with current legislation, in order to guarantee the participation of the populations potentially affected by the enterprise; (ix) definition of deadlines for all stages of the licensing, in order to ensure predictability of the process, guaranteeing to license(s) applicants and to the society better monitoring capacity from investors and society; (x) investments in technical training, human resources and infrastructure in the environmental agencies responsible for licensing activities, in order to guarantee the quality of the processes and compliance with legal deadlines; (xi) establishment of minimum institutional capacity criteria that should be verified by the municipalities interested in assuming the environmental licensing processes; and, (xii) definition of objective criteria for licensing procedures in federal legislation and their respective regulations, in order to reduce the discretionary power of the licensing body. About the Brazilian Coalition The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement established to propose initiatives and influence public policies that lead to the development of a low-carbon economy by creating decent jobs, encouraging innovation, Brazil’s global competitiveness and generating and distributing wealth across society. Over 150 companies, business associations, research centers and civil society

23/03/2017
Guidelines for technical assistance and dissemination of technology for low-carbon agriculture in Brazil

Low-carbon Agriculture Working Group São Paulo, March 23, 2017 - Technical assistance and dissemination of technology in the Brazilian countryside are topics of fundamental importance to the new economy, based on low emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Among the actions that should be part of the guidelines for the implementation of the Brazilian NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions) are the strengthening of technical assistance and rural extension organizations, training actions, and technology transfer. These actions will effectively contribute to the implementation of a low-carbon agriculture in all activities involved, supporting the recovery of degraded pastures, the integrated crop-livestock-forestry system (ICLF) and the forest recovery/restoration. In this sense, in order to broaden the discussions and in search of widely agreed solutions, the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture promoted in Brasilia, at the end of last year, a round table discussion with several professionals in the area. Conceived and organized by the Low-carbon Agriculture Working Group (GT ABC), the event had four panels composed by professionals from the public, private and civil society sectors, divided into: Public policies to promote technical assistance and dissemination of technology for family farming; Technical assistance in the private sector; Opportunities and synergies in the public and private sector; and Qualification of technical assistance professionals. During five hours of debates, the following points were listed among the main challenges: Non-methodological standardization of technical assistance and dissemination of technology for family farming: The particularities in this niche are given by different types of producers, productive arrangements and land use. All this reflects on specific policies. Therefore, technical assistance must have participatory approaches and quality, and be comprehensive and free. This demands human resources, time and strategy. Considering existing technical assistance programs from the federal government for family farming, we highlight those focused on agroecology and sustainability, and related to Low-Carbon Agriculture (ABC). It is worth mentioning that the National Policy for Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (PNATER) was created in 2010 and focuses on family farming. Agricultural census: Updating producer profile data by region of the country through the agricultural census is strategic and decisive. It was planned for 2016, but it did not happen. The regional characterization of rural properties is extremely important and will allow the development of technical assistance and dissemination of technology strategies that can be applied to the needs of rural landowners. Monitoring of results: In addition to diagnosing the needs of the producer, it is important to promote and monitor collaboratively the results of technical assistance to track the continuous improvement of processes. In this sense, there are already good examples of success in partnerships between private initiative and NGOs, connecting the producer and the monitoring. Long-term vision: The private initiative points out that technical assistance experiences bring gains to all parties involved, with continuous improvement. However, for some themes, the results are not immediately perceived. The positive point identified by the private sector is that agricultural activity gains efficiency and productivity when the producer adapts their activities to sustainability standards (including compliance with environmental, social and labor legislation). In some cases, the industry pays them better or they reach new markets with better quality products. Involving the entire production chain: Training, especially related to accessing new technologies and knowledge, must involve different participants from the productive chains - from producers to banking agents, including technicians. Based on collected perceptions, GT ABC listed key measures focused on low-carbon agriculture in Brazil in order to improve technical assistance and dissemination of technology, with the objective of reaching the commitments agreed by the country in the Paris Agreement and translated into the Brazilian NDC. Incentive to the generation and diffusion of participatory technology, with the explicit adhesion of rural producers. Small-scale or territorial technical assistance planning at municipal or regional level that meets local challenges and specificities. Active participation of the states, through the ABC State Plans, and state agencies for technical assistance and dissemination of technology. Establishment of partnerships between public and private sectors, universities, agriculture federations, trade unions and financial agents. To achieve success and gain scale, it is necessary to establish partnerships and distribute responsibilities among the various participants of the pro

14/03/2017
Increase in deforestation and proposals to reduce Conservation Units compromise Brazilian targets for the Paris Agreement

São Paulo, March 14, 2017 – The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture expresses its concern about the alarming increase in the deforestation rate, as well as its disagreement with recent legislative proposals that can reduce the protected areas in Conservation Units in the Amazon. The increase in forest deforestation places Brazil in the opposite direction of its goals for the National Policy on Climate Change for 2020 and compromises the Brazilian target set during the Paris Agreement. In this moment when the country seeks to restore its confidence by retaking responsible economic management with focus on achieving its goals, it is crucial to return to the climate agenda objectives, especially in what regards to the drastic reduction of deforestation. Data from the INPE (National Institute for Space Research) show that deforestation increased by 60% between 2014 and 2016. In 2016, the rate of deforestation reached almost 8,000 km2, more than twice the rate needed for the country to achieve the 80% reduction target for deforestation in 2020 set by the National Policy on Climate Change. A study by the Environmental Research Institute of the Amazon (IPAM) shows that deforestation has increased within Conservation Units, as well as in public areas not yet destined to a specific use and in rural properties that are part of the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR). More than half of all deforested areas detected by INPE are part of the CAR. This scenario is incompatible with Brazil's recent past: between 2005 and 2012 the country was one of the countries that most contributed to climate change mitigation. The positive result of that period was achieved, among other measures, by the substantial decrease in the Amazon deforestation, a consequence of successful strategies such as continuous monitoring, repression of illegal exploitation and the creation of Conservation Units. The deforestation reached 27,000 km2 in 2004, but decreased to 4,500 km2 in 2012, during a period of extraordinary progress in the Brazilian agricultural production. The recent reversal of this trend, with a sharp increase in deforestation, coincides with the decrease in the frequency of DETER data releases, the reduction of command and control actions, the interruption of the creation of new Conservation Units as well as the proposals to reduce old protected areas, low investment and lack of incentives for the conservation of forests and sustainable activities. In addition, based on preliminary data from the federal government, this upward trend should continue or even worsen in the coming years, jeopardizing the Brazilian climate commitment in the Paris Agreement — one of its pillars is to achieve zero illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon until 2030. Moreover, in recent months, congressmen and public agents have proposed the reduction of protected areas of the Conservation Units in the Amazon in about one million hectares. This is opposite to everything that the country has been defending nationally and internationally. The Brazilian Coalition understands that such actions open the way to greater forest destruction and put at risk traditional populations and economic activities directly or indirectly linked to the forest, such as agriculture, which is responsible for almost 25% of Brazil’s GDP. It is crucial to resume the integrated agenda for the control of deforestation urgently, with actions that include (i) to resume the monthly disclosure of DETER deforestation alerts, (ii) to suspend the land regularization and credit processes and to make sure the parts involved in illegal deforestation will be held responsible, (iii) to implement a task force to promote the conservation and sustainable use of 60 million hectares of public forests not yet destined to a specific use and (iv) to suspend immediately all plans to reduce the Conservation Units. The search for greater balance between forest conservation and the efficient use of our soils for agricultural production is one of the biggest challenges for Brazil in the coming years. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, a country that produces 7% — aiming to reach 10% in five years — of the world's food must be responsible and committed to the proper use of its natural resources. Brazil is a central piece in the global efforts to face the challenges of climate change. The country has the technology necessary to increase its productivity without relying on deforestation. It also has the aspiration to be a more fair and responsible country towards its citizens and the planet. For this, it needs to develop, expand its economy, strengthen its agricultural production and, at the same time, protect its natural assets. About the Brazilian Coalition The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is a multi-sector movement established to propose initiatives and influence public policies that lead to the development of

08/02/2017
Recommendation of the Brazilian Coalition to promote legal and sustainable tropical forest management in Brazil

São Paulo, February 8, 2017 - Brazil has today more than 300 million hectares of natural forests in the Amazon region, but less than three million hectares are sustainably managed. There are huge challenges in terms of conservation and the country has the highest annual rate of conversion of terrestrial ecosystems in the world. The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture believes that a competitive, thriving and sustainable forest-based economy that simultaneously guarantees the conservation and production of natural forests — through actions such as good forest management, forests restoration and related social benefits — can provide a fundamental contribution to support Brazil's commitments to the reduction of greenhouse gas emission (GHG), as well as to strengthen resilience and enable the country to adapt to climate change. The major problem in the sector today is the high level of illegality and informality of wood production in the Amazon, which has damaged businesses and reduced investments. In this context, the objective of the Coalition's Tropical Forest Economy working group is to increase by 10-fold the area of sustainably managed forest in Brazil by 2030 (as per the Coalition’s proposal 14, copied below). This will result in 25 million hectares under sustainable management, in addition to controlling the sale of illegal wood products from native forests. Sustainable forest management in Brazil: is an economic activity with great capacity for generating income(1), creating jobs(2) and collecting taxes in rural areas; has the potential to contribute more to the country’s exports(3); combines production with conservation of forests, contributing to the maintenance of ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as key services such as water supply and carbon stocks; its promotion and expansion are one of the priority points of Brazil’s NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions). Considering all these points, one of the Brazilian Coalition’s priorities is to promote and enhance the forest economy derived from tropical forest management, with the aim to encourage sustainable forest management. To achieve this objective, Proposal 14 lists a few strategic actions. Some of them were prioritized for urgent action, in conjunction with the public sector: To provide transparency and access to logging permits and documents related to the control of tropical timber flows (DOFs, Forest Origin Documents), so as to allow the monitoring of management operations by society in general, with the objective of reducing the unfair supply and competition with products of illegal origin; To increase demand for products of legal and sustainable origin, requiring that all public procurement of timber products require traceability from their origin to the final product, giving preference to products certified by FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) and/or by Cerflor (Brazilian Forest Certification Program). The Brazilian Coalition believes that the combination of these measures is fundamental for the process of improving the economic conditions necessary for the legal and sustainable tropical forest management. At the same time, we propose the creation of an intersectoral working group coordinated by the Brazilian Coalition that includes participants from the public, private and NGO sectors, as well as the academic community, in order to recommend public policies and promote actions to be adopted by both the public and private sectors that result in the removal of barriers, the implementation of initiatives to promote sustainable forest management and the prevention of illegal logging of native forest products. BRAZILIAN COALITION ON CLIMATE, FORESTS AND AGRICULTURE’S PROPOSAL 14 Increase the area of sustainably managed forest in Brazil by 10-fold, by 2030, and curb the sale of illegal wood products from native forests. Strategic actions include: Ensure complete transparency of authorizations and monitoring of management operations for native forests. Employ tracking technology for geo-referencing all production chains, based on the use of products from managed native forests, and their respective monitoring and inspection, at least every 5 years. Encourage voluntary certification by FSC or Cerflor, for products originating from the sustainably managed native forests, and adopt a minimum standard for control, similar to “controlled timber” on the referred to certifications, for noncertified products. Assign co-responsibility to purchasers of products from illegal, non-traceable sources. After 2020, tax all products that are untraceable, at a rate of 40% of their estimated market value, before being released for sale. The amounts collected by this tax, on a state level, would be used to develop programs for sustainable reintegration in the production chain and help in the monitoring and control of illegal logging. After 2020, all

21/11/2016
The Paris Agreement goes ahead

Marrakech, November 18, 2016 – The 22nd UN Climate Change Conference, COP 22, ended this Friday (Nov 18th) in Marrakech, Morocco, where the countries reaffirmed their determination and global effort to meet the goals set by the Paris Agreement, including the announcement by some nations of new and more ambitious targets for their NDCs (i.e., the commitments made in Paris last December). The Marrakech Action Proclamation, which contains key actions and dates for the implementation of the Agreement in the coming years, gives a more concrete form to the measures needed for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonization of the global economy. The Brazilian government, represented by its head of delegation, José Sarney Filho, Environment Minister, reaffirmed in plenary the country's commitment to keep its efforts to limit the temperature increase by 1.5 °C by 2100, inviting all parties involved in the Agreement to demonstrate their clear commitment to that. "Brazil's statement during the plenary regarding the efforts to limit the temperature increase by 1.5 °C indicates that our country is in a position to make the transition to a economy based on decarbonization over time and may go beyond the commitment originally set in our Paris goals", said Carlos Rittl, Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Climate Observatory. Blairo Maggi, Agriculture Minister, also present at the conference, highlighted the importance of agriculture in the commitment to reduce Brazil's emissions and reinforced the need for investment and financing for the implementation of the sector's goals. "To define the path for the implementation of the goals and to contribute to meeting the targets of the Paris Agreement are important actions for the Brazilian Coalition. Knowing that there is an implementation plan and the willingness to keep a broad dialogue with society, we now have a domestic agenda to support us towards our goals", said Marcelo Furtado, facilitator of the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, a multi-sector movement formed by 150 companies, civil society organizations, sector entities and research institutes with the objective of promoting a low-carbon economy with focus on land use. The Marrakech conference was marked by technical negotiations for the regulation and implementation of the Paris Agreement, signed last December. Despite uncertainties about how the new US government will deal with the Convention on Climate Change, the vast majority of negotiators, coming from different nations, remained determined to restrain climate change. The presence of business and financial sectors were the highlights at the COP this year. Many discussions focused on developing innovative funding mechanisms for NDC implementation. "There is a convergence between the environment and the market that will help on this. The search for more efficiency and reduction of emissions in production chains, as well as the willingness to help finance the decarbonization of the economy, shows that we are already in a new era. This is a one way road, and it will change paradigms", said Marina Grossi, Chairwoman of the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (Conselho Empresarial Brasileiro para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável, Cebds). A fundamental path for the Brazilian advance and its real role in the new economy based on low emissions can be found in the land use sector. "Forests have a key role in the success of the Paris Agreement. We have an important commitment to restore and reforest 12 million hectares — an area equivalent to England's territory — which, in addition to promoting carbon sequestration, can bring economic, social and sustainable development to many local and traditional communities", added André Guimarães, Executive Director of IPAM (Environmental Research Institute of the Amazon). "Most of our NDC commitments are based on land use, which involves forest economy, agriculture and the end of illegal deforestation", said João Adrien, Executive Director of SRB (Brazilian Rural Society). "The forestry sector plays a very important role in building a low-carbon economy and it has potential for creating a new development model with prosperity and sustainability. For this, it is important to create adequate mechanisms and means of implementation, in Brazil and internationally", added Elizabeth de Carvalhaes, Executive Chairman of Ibá (Brazilian Tree Industry). The intelligent use of natural resources has also been highlighted in the energy field, in which Brazil has the advantage of holding biofuel production technologies, established technical capacity to use them and a stable and operative distribution system. "We have great potential to further expand our use of biomass, biofuels and bioenergy, and thus decarbonize our economy", said Elizabeth Farina, CEO of the Brazilan Sugarcane Industry Association (União da I

01/11/2016
Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture position on REDD+

São Paulo, November 1, 2016 - Brazil continues to reaffirm its position as global leader on the matter of climate change. The approval of the Brazilian NDC by the Brazilian Congress and its ratification by the President are clear indications that the country seeks to extend its role in international negotiations. With the formal phase of ratification of the Paris Agreement complete, efforts should now be focused on its implementation which will certainly create innumerable opportunities for Brazil. During the last decade, Brazil presided over one of the greatest reductions in carbon emissions made by a single country, through a reduction in deforestation of the Amazon between 2005 and 2014. The continuity of this effort to reduce deforestation-related carbon emissions, as well as the recovery of forest areas, will make huge demands on resources in addition to requiring a permanent commitment on behalf of governments, the private sector, and society in general. In particular, fulfilment of the Brazilian NDC, recently deposited before the UN and which contains ambitious targets, will require the implementation of increasingly agile solutions. The demand for investment in order to reach targets within the deadline (2030) will grow. This scenario will demand multiple mechanisms for Brazil to meet its emissions reduction targets. Among such mechanisms, those geared towards new financing strategies and markets, capable of attracting investors interested in climate change mitigation, will have increasing relevance. Internal regulations, pressure from consumer markets, and the search for efficiency in production chains are some examples of incentives to promote new investment and business opportunities. Brazil needs to prepare for this new global scenario. Without altering the means chosen by the UN, new markets, voluntary or regulated at national and subnational levels, represent a fundamental contribution to the global effort to limit the increase of the planet’s temperature to below 2 ºC. From this perspective, the REDD+ mechanism (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) is the largest opportunity for financing emission reduction efforts in Brazil. However, to date, our fundraising capacity via REDD+ has been limited and insufficiently broad. Following reference values from agreements signed by Fundo Amazônia (US$5/tCO2), Brazil could capture around US$ 19 billion based solely on emissions reduction through deforestation of the Amazon up to 2014. Nevertheless, to date under US$ 2 billion has effectively been captured, a sum falling well below the potential offered by demonstrated emissions reductions. In this sense, the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests, and Agriculture understands that certain short and medium term measures must be taken in order for the country to benefit more from the opportunities it offers for REDD+ investments. These are: Creating and regulating effective mechanisms so that the reduction of emissions and expansion of removal of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) relating to forests and agriculture be recognised as Brazilian assets that contribute to the mitigation of climate change, creating value for such assets, in multiple ways, including through participation in carbon markets where applicable. To move forward with the design and implementation of the Brazilian Market of Emissions Reduction (MBRE), implementing pilot projects over the next 2 years, and creating a work agenda that encourages synergies between the market and the appreciation of forest assets. To regulate Article 41 of the Brazilian Forest Code, as well as other legal provisions (PLs on PSA, state legislation on REDD+, among others) which enhance the value of capture, conservation, maintenance, and increase of carbon stock, including through the exchange of forest assets, as set forth in the Forest Code. To recognise subnational initiatives, such as REDD+ State Programs and pilot projects currently being run in the Amazon, as key elements of the REDD+ National Strategy. To reformulate the REDD+ National Commission (CONAREDD) through an increase in the number of seats for the private sector and civil society, and allowing for greater equality in procedures for decision-making (ex. en bloc voting), with a view to strengthening issues related to transparency and equitable benefit sharing. The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests, and Agriculture is in favour of a technically grounded and broad debate involving all stakeholders, with the aim of broadening horizons for the opportunities that climate agreements will bring to the country. We understand that the REDD+ system has great potential for growth and attracting investment in Brazil. Finally, we recognise that after 2020, with the review of NDCs, demand for offsets and carbon credits in general will increase, positioning Brazil favourably for participating in those markets. We therefore recommend that the s

22/04/2016
The Brazilian Coalition lists steps to achieve climate goals

São Paulo, April 22, 2016 – The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture is in New York, at the signing ceremony of the Paris Agreement, at the UN headquarters. More than 60 heads of state will attend the event. The ceremony opens the one year period for countries to formalize their commitment to the treaty and encourages the national ratification processes. For the Brazilian Coalition — a multi-sector movement formed by over 120 companies, sectoral associations, research centers and civil society organizations —, the advances in the climate agenda not only address the risks of global temperature rise but are also a key to promoting a new development model based on low-carbon economy, generating income and jobs. "The Paris Agreement opens a new era and it is necessary to complete the legislative process for its ratification. The business sector and the civil society are committed, organized and attentive in what regards to the fulfillment of the Brazilian commitments, regardless of the economic difficulties and political situation of the country. We need to make clear that the benefits of low-carbon economy are concrete. The challenge now is to multiply the necessary initiatives on several fronts", says Celina Carpi, Chairwoman of the Ethos Institute Deliberative Board and member of the Brazilian Coalition. The positive impacts that may arise from the implementation of the Brazilian goals (INDC) also include the preservation of water resources, traditional cultures and the rich biodiversity of the country. "The agreement represents an opportunity for megadiverse countries, like Brazil, to attract investments and build a new relationship model between human activities and environment", says André Guimarães, Executive Director of IPAM (Environmental Research Institute of the Amazon), also of this coalition. In the last few months, dozens of professionals from the Brazilian Coalition working groups have started to place their efforts towards the priority steps for the country to gradually reach the targets presented under the Agreement. Some of the main challenges are listed below by members of this group. Low-carbon agriculture "The dissemination and large scale adoption of low-carbon practices, such as crop-livestock-forest integration, mentioned in Brazil's commitments for the climate, calls for simplification measures to access agricultural credits for those who adopt these techniques, as well as efforts in the science and technology fields. This should happen in the research development area and also in the dissemination of its results, and should be put into practice in the rural production sector." — João Paulo Capobianco, Chairman of the Board of IDS (Institute for Democracy and Sustainability) Forest Code "We have to make an effort for the vast majority of landowners to register their properties in the Rural Environmental Registry (Cadastro Ambiental Rural, CAR) until May 5th. This is a central element in the new Forest Code so we can understand the size of the restoration challenge in Brazil. Knowledge and planning are essential aspects for us to achieve the implementation of the Forest Code and to fulfill Brazil's commitments for climate — social, economic and environmental impacts will be vast here and in the entire planet. Brazilian agribusiness has a great responsibility in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. With the support of the whole society, we will transform the most important type of business in the country into something even stronger and more sustainable." — Gustavo Junqueira, Chairman of the Sociedade Rural Brasileira (Brazilian Rural Society) Economy based on the rain forest "There are several restoration models, from ecological recovery until planned planting of commercial species, which would boost the economic activity, generating jobs and income in different regions of the country. We are working to establish a research and technology platform linked to the forestry of native species, involving the main organizations in the sector, companies, government and the academic community." — Rachel Biderman, Director of WRI Brazil (World Resources Institute) Timber traceability "An important way to combat illegal deforestation is to promote the value chain of legal timber. This means that we have to strive for the immediate implementation of a system that gives full transparency and traceability for all licenses issued along the timber path, from logging and processing until sales. This action together with monitoring and controlling activities can enhance and protect forests and promote more responsible and sustainable businesses." — Roberto Waack, Chairman of the Board of Amata Valuation of the carbon market "Brazil should move forward in the elaboration of a REDD+ National Strategy that is tangible and effective. REDD+ (Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest De

01/12/2015
What to expect from Brazil in Paris climate agreement

Brazilian contributions are focused on the agricultural, forestry and land use change sectors. This makes sense, since the country has 12% of the world's forests and is a leading producer of food. The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture analyzes the Brazilian INDC and highlights the role of global society to boost joint action towards a new economic and social model. São Paulo, December 1, 2015 - The World Conference on Climate (COP 21) should provide a document filled with ideas and fundamental actions to combat greenhouse gases (GHG). However, it's necessary to look forward. The future of the planet that will be discussed in Paris must be very different from the one that man has built in the industrial age. Heads of state, negotiators and ordinary citizens need to boost effective changes to a new economic and social model. Based on the decarbonisation of productive activities, this model needs to be more inclusive, fair and sustainable.

28/11/2015
Low-carbon farming: a strategic challenge for Brazil

As one of the world's largest food producers, Brazil can set an example in the industry, combining increased productivity to the reduction of greenhouse gases. The engagement of producers, businesses, governments, and especially consumers are important so the low-carbon agriculture becomes a major practice. São Paulo, November 28, 2015 — The deepening of the relationship between agriculture, forests and climate is a promising challenge for Brazil to fulfill its contributions to the climate agreement (INDC) and move towards a new agrarian economy. Low-carbon practices bring the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG).

26/11/2015
Wood traceability is critical to reduce deforestation

Proper management of tropical forests can encourage activities with social and economic benefits and reduce climate change. The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture proposes the extension of Brazil's management area to 30 million hectares by 2030 and points out that this route will only be possible with the elimination of illegal activities in the production chain of native wood. São Paulo, November 26, 2015 — A strong economy based on the rain forest is a relevant and feasible way to discourage illegal deforestation and, at the same time, improve the timber industry, promote social benefits and mitigate the effects of climate change.

25/11/2015
Carbon valuation and ecosystem services are essential to tackle climate change

The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture stresses the importance of economic mechanisms for carbon and ecosystem services in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), to promote reforestation and maintenance of forests, and to generate income. São Paulo, November 25, 2015 — It is crucial to expand the economic valuation mechanisms of carbon and ecosystem services in order to contain the rise of up to 2°C in average global temperature compared to the period prior to the Industrial Revolution and to mitigate the effects of climate change.

19/11/2015
Forest restoration creates economic opportunities

Forest restoration is one of Brazil's contributions to the new global agreement with focus on climate change, to be signed during the COP 21. The goal contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions and can push forward economic activities that combine environmental and socioeconomic benefits of the rain forest. São Paulo, November 19, 2015 - Brazil has pledged to restore and reforest 12 million hectares of forest by 2030 for multiple uses as their contribution to a new global agreement that will be signed in Paris during COP 21, the UN Conference on Climate Change. This goal can be more ambitious with the implementation of the Forest Code. Moreover, this commitment to the restoration will strengthen a new, inclusive and sustainable economic activity based on the development of native species forestry. For this, The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture points out that it is necessary to initiate a discussion with civil society to understand what the challenge of large-scale restoration means.

05/10/2015
Multi-sector movement defends Brazil’s ambitious contribution to the Climate Conference

The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture (Coalizão Brasil)insists that Brazil can be highly ambitious in its contribution (INDC) to the global climate change agreement, which will be signed in Paris this December. One of the main events in the run-up to the historic agreement will take place in New York next week, when President Dilma Rousseff promises to launch the Brazilian INDC. São Paulo, September 30, 2015 – The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture (Coalizão Brasil) – a movement that brings companies, civil society organizations, research centers and sectoral entities together – understands that Brazil can establish an ambitious INDC, with goals that are tangible, inspiring and mobilizing for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP-21, taking place in Paris in December. The INDC (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) is a document stating what each country intends to do to reduce and remove GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions. President Dilma Rousseff is expected to announce Brazil’s INDC next week in New York during Climate Week, which will bring together political, business and civic leaders from around the world.

05/10/2015
Brazilian Coalition emphasizes that the INDC goals will require significant efforts

The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture (Coalizão Brasil) — sees improvements in the contributions to the global climate agreement ((INDC) announced by the Brazilian government, but emphasizes that the interaction between society and government in monitoring metrics and implementation of mechanisms is necessary. The movement will now get more involved in the economic benchmarks related to the INDC to understand the needs and necessary developments. In November, it will present its conclusions in order to help in the COP 21 discussions. São Paulo, October 5, 2015 — Representatives of The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture (Coalizão Brasil) analyzed the Brazilian contributions to the climate agreement (INDC) and concluded: the proposed figures are significant, and they will need significant efforts in the implementation and alignment between society, productive sectors and government. The movement — formed by over 100 companies, civil society organizations, research centers and sectoral entities — notes that the reduction of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions by 37% by 2025 and by 43% by 2030, based in 2005, is more significant than previously considered.