USD $9 million grant will support effective and economically viable land use policy implementation, including Forest Code
RIO DE JANEIRO – As the world’s fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and with vast natural resources that carry immense potential for the country’s economic and environmental goals, Brazil’s land use policies are some of the most important in the world. In 2012, Brazil revised a key piece of environmental legislation, the Forest Code. If effectively implemented, the revised Forest Code has the potential to put Brazil on track to lower net deforestation while increasing its agricultural production through improved productivity.
Since 2009, Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) has supported policy makers in meeting their goals to simultaneously protect natural resources while growing the economy. Today, CPI announces that it will sustain this work in Brazil into the future through a multi-year grant from the British philanthropy, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF).
The grant will support CPI’s rigorous policy analysis in Brazil, expanding that work to a partnership with Agroicone, a leading agricultural analysis firm. The USD $9 million grant will fund this work through 2018, supporting effective and economically viable land use policy implementation, including through the revised Forest Code.
“We are very pleased that CIFF is supporting our work to help policy makers meet their agricultural production and natural resource protection goals,” said Juliano Assunção, Director of CPI’s Brazil operations and professor at the Department of Economics at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. “Brazil is at an important juncture. Rigorous, objective analysis will help the nation identify the most effective strategies to meet its green growth goals.”
Previous CPI work has shown that Brazil’s satellite-based environmental monitoring and law enforcement policies prevented the clearing of over 59,500 km2 of Amazon forest area from 2007 through 2011, with no impact on agricultural production. Further, the analysis suggests that the country would benefit from developing mechanisms that significantly drive up the private cost of clearing native vegetation, as well as through the advancement of market-based incentives that promote sustainable practices. From a production standpoint, CPI analysis has shown that there is room to increase Brazilian agricultural production via productivity gains, at no apparent cost to environmental conservation. Further work will shed light on pathways forward.
For more information, visit www.ClimatePolicyInitiative.org.
Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) works to improve the most important energy and land use policies around the world, with a particular focus on finance, through in-depth analysis on what works and what does not. CPI works in places that provide the most potential for policy impact including Brazil, China, Europe, India, Indonesia, and the United States. In Brazil, CPI partners with the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro.
