October 2, 2021

18:10

Cassandra Castro – from Cenarium

BRASILIA – Brazil wants to reach the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference – COP26, showing that it is doing its “homework” regarding the commitments signed in the Paris Agreement of 2015. Each nation has defined its NDC’s – Nationally Determined Contributions, in a joint action that aims to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. The Brazilian goals are to reduce greenhouse gases by 37% by 2025 and 43% by 2030.

A strategy that has been consolidated and discussed globally is the so-called “Carbon Market”, which aims to encourage sustainable initiatives that are less harmful to the environment and help reduce the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. It is one of the main factors responsible for worsening the so-called greenhouse effect, which is one of the villains of the rise in temperature of the planet.

Even with the existence of voluntary initiatives that stimulate carbon neutralization, Brazil still needs more defined rules for this segment. A bill by Congressman Marcelo Ramos (PL-AM) proposes the regulation of the carbon market in Brazil. With the proximity of the COP26, which takes place in November, in Scotland, the intention is that the PL 528/21 be analyzed and voted in the House of Representatives so that the country arrives at the Conference with a legislation already defined around the subject.

“With the regulation of the carbon credit market, we will be able to monetize, to transform into effective wealth the forest assets of the Amazon forest, which sequesters carbon from the atmosphere, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, to establish emissions targets mainly for the industry sector and the energy sector, which concentrate 70% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the world”, highlighted the parliamentarian from Amazonas.

Carbon neutral

A project carried out by the Amazon Conservation and Development Institute (Idesam) has made a difference in the lives of the inhabitants of the Uatumã Sustainable Development Reserve and in Apuí, both in Amazonas. The Carbon Neutral project has existed since 2010 and allows people and companies to mitigate the impacts they generate on the planet, neutralizing their carbon emissions by planting trees in Agroforestry Systems.

The researcher for Idesam’s Climate Change Program, Elen Blanco Perez, explains in a very didactic way why it is important to guarantee the protection of trees and why this is so vital for our planet. “In the same way that we need to eat in order to develop, plants do this through photosynthesis. Through this process, plants absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. The CO2 becomes biomass and as the tree grows, it stores the carbon in order to develop.

In the work done in the communities, this process of carbon neutralization happens by planting trees through the Agroforestry System, also known as regenerative agriculture. In an area belonging to the families themselves, several species are cultivated, from fruit trees that guarantee the producers’ food security, to those of commercial interest, such as copaíba, from which oil can be extracted, and all of this being added to the preservation of species and the balance of carbon emissions in the atmosphere.

Elen Perez explains that the calculation of the existing carbon stock is done for the Amazonian species and is done through a forest inventory. The Carbon Neutral Project (PCN) directly involves 45 families in the Uatumã RDS. In Apuí, it reaches about 34 families. “It is a grassroots work, which requires engagement with the community, conversation, and follow-up”, she says.

In the researcher’s evaluation, it is necessary that any law that is created to better regulate the carbon trade be “aligned with what is already recommended and followed by international mechanisms, all this is fundamental to give credibility to the Brazilian carbon market”.