The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Amazon rainforest in Oiapoque, Brazil © Fabio Maffei

About 70 percent of Brazil’s emissions come from the destruction of its forests, making it one of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters, just behind the United States, China and Indonesia.

The Conservancy is working with landowners, government officials, businesses and indigenous communities to establish two large-scale forest carbon pilot projects that will cover a combined 47.4 million acres in the Brazilian Amazon, an area more than twice the size of Portugal.

Preliminary studies reveal that these programs may prevent deforestation of about 4.4 million acres in the next decade and reduce emissions of approximately 980 million tons of carbon dioxide, equal to the emissions from the annual energy use of 80 million U.S. homes.

This study focused on two regions of the Brazilian Amazon: northwestern Mato Grosso state and São Felix do Xingu, the municipality with the second highest rate of deforestation in Brazil.

What we are doing

• We hosted a workshop convening government environmental leaders, renowned scientists and other stakeholders for discussion and for building momentum for REDD pilots in the Amazon.
• We hosted a forum in our two REDD pilot sites to begin dialogue with potential partners on the opportunities and challenges of implementing a REDD pilot in the region.
• We hosted a two-day workshop in the city of Cuiabá, Brazil, with leading scientists, NGOs and policy makers on scientific developments in measuring forest carbon and discussed implications on REDD initiatives.

The Conservancy is now identifying and working with key partners to implement the REDD pilots in the states of Mato Grosso and Pará. We also aim to create and implement a training program on REDD for government representatives and local stakeholders in REDD pilot sites.