Brazil Recognised For Reducing Greenhouse Gas

By Didhiti Ghosh

Kolkata/Panama, March 3, 2019: The recent decision to provide financial resources to Brazil from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for having successfully reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from deforestation in the past is an unprecedented milestone for the international community and praise Brazil’s efforts and commitment to the protection and conservation of native vegetation as an essential step for the country in reaching the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The payment from the GCF is based on results achieved by Brazil in the Amazon biome between 2014-2015, and which have been reported and validated by experts from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This is the essence of REDD - a mechanism to reward countries for having reduced their deforestation.

The report came months after sources in Brazil said that deforestation in the country has risen to its highest level in a decade, with 7,900 sq km of the Amazon rainforest felled just in the last 12 months.

New figures released on 23rd November 2018 by the Brazil Government show deforestation had risen by 13.7 per cent since the same time the previous year.

Edson Duarte, Brazil’s environment Minister, said in a statement that illegal logging was the main reason for the spike in deforestation levels. He called on the government to increase its policing of the Amazon rainforest.

The states of Para and Mato Grosso have been particularly affected by deforestation, according to the report.

While the rate does mark a significant rise from last year, when the rate of deforestation dropped 16% in a 12-month period, it still marks a 72% drop from 2004, when the Brazilian federal government launched measures to combat deforestation.

In that year, an area the size of Haiti - more than 27,000 sq km - was cleared from the rainforest.

Satellite data suggest 6,624 sq km (2,460 sq miles) of forest were destroyed, down from 7,893 km sq in 2015/16, Environment Minister Jose Sarney Filho said.

"When the illegal loggers know that (officers of) the Brazilian State are on location, they diminish their activities," he said.

The size of the deforested area from August 2016 to July 2017 was four times that of Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo.

Taken state by state, the picture was mixed.

While deforestation diminished by 55% in Tocantins state and by 43% in Roraima, it rose by a massive 86% in Amapa, according to the satellite data gathered by the Programme for the Estimation of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon (PRODES).

Amapa is the state where the National Reserve of Copper and Associates (Renca) is located.

There was an outcry in August, when the then President Michel Temer signed a decree opening up parts of the reserve for mining.

A court blocked the move and the government revoked it in September.

Some environmentalists have cast doubt on whether the drop is caused by government police.

Paulo Barreto, a senior researcher for non-profit Amazon institute Imazon, said that Brazil's economic recession and a drop in livestock prices were probably the major causes of the decline.

Ranchers clearing forest for cattle have been major contributors to deforestation.

Both Greenpeace Brazil and the Climate Observatory said they were worried deforestation would increase after Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s president-elect at that time and the country’s actual supremo, takes office in January 2019.

Even though this payment represents a small fraction of the volume of results reported by Brazil during 2014-2015, it will be instrumental to pilot a new and innovative program titled “Floresta”. It will be implemented by the Government of Brazil and supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), along with national and local governing institutions, civil society representatives and private sector. It focuses on ecosystem restoration, prevention of forest degradation and incentives for environmental services in the Amazon biome. The main beneficiaries will be family farmers, traditional and indigenous communities.

“The Floresta Pilot Program will be an opportunity for extensive multistakeholder consultations and participation, and for Brazil to reduce the pressure on native forests and therefore the achievement of the country’s NDC. We are honoured for the trust placed in UNDP for supporting the country with this important and historic initiative. There is much hard work that lie ahead as we move now to the implementation phase”, said Maristela Baioni, UNDP Brazil Assistant Resident Representative.

Brazil has achieved significant results through reducing emissions from deforestation in the Amazon biome, it is estimated that the country reduced a total of 6,125,501,727.00 tCO2e of emissions from deforestation in that area between 2006 and 2015.

The Amazon region holds the largest tropical rainforest in the world and is home to plant and animal species that are still being discovered by scientists.

Most of its millions of square kilometres are inside Brazil, where under laws dating back to 1965, landowners must keep a percentage of their property forested.

With this approval, UNDP has supported a total of 75 countries to access more than US$ 700 million in GCF finance for full-sized climate change projects. Since the GCF’s inception, UNDP has received 30 formal requests from Nationally Designated Authorities to support the development of funding proposals, and to provide readiness and preparatory support as a delivery partner. To date, 20 Readiness and National Adaptation Plans proposals supported by UNDP have been approved by the Executive Director of the GCF Secretariat.

Climate change is a priority for UNDP. The organization is the largest implementer of climate action in the UN System, supporting over 700 projects, in 140 countries of a total value exceeding US $3 billion. In addition to UNDP’s own resources, this grant support is delivered in partnership with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) administered trust funds and the Adaptation Fund, as well as other multilateral, bilateral and national partners.

The UNFCCC COP 19, held in November 2013 in Warsaw, Poland, adopted the 7 decisions of the Warsaw Framework for REDD. This agreement has widely been recognized as a breakthrough in negotiations providing clarity on several important issues related to REDD implementation. Photo Courtesy - http://blogs.edf.org / UNDP

(DIDHITI GHOSH is the Director of a cultural-exchange radio programme at Radio Satelitevisión y Americavisión, Chile. She is a professor & a certified conference interpreter of the Spanish language and is the Bureau Chief of INDIAN OBSERVER POST based in Kolkata. Contact: didhiti.24@gmail.com).