Conserving rainforest in the Western Amazon
Context
Tropical rainforests, such as those found in the Amazon basin, have long been referred to as “the lungs of the world”. Around a third of the world’s primary tropical rainforest (490 million hectares) is situated in Brazil, and around 80% of this tropical rainforest is situated in the Brazilian part of the Amazon basin. The Amazon rainforest is one of the most biodiverse habitats on the planet, and is home to 10% of all known terrestrial species. Additionally, on average, a new species is discovered in the Amazon every 3 days! 1 million indigenous people live in the Amazon rainforest too, so preserving it is vital to keep their communities intact.
However, sadly, 20% of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest was lost between 1975 and 2018, largely to clear land for agriculture, oil and gas production, mining, logging, and infrastructure. The rate of deforestation has increased over the past 3 years, with the rate towards the end of 2020 reaching its highest level since 2008. This is deeply concerning and shows how important projects that protect rainforest are right now.
Project
This project seeks to protect and conserve tropical forest in Acre, Brazil. The project operates through a number of schemes to support and train forest guards, educate and support the local community, assist local people in securing land tenure, and provide training to local farmers. These strategies help to limit the expansion of farmland into forest areas, as well as supporting local people to generate sustainable income from the forest – without needing to deplete it or its resources.
The project was developed in partnership with the local community and in coordination officials of the State of Acre, Brazil, to ensure a comprehensive plan to reduce the pressure on forest resources.
Verification
This project is verified by the Verified Carbon Standard and Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard. You can view it on the Verra Registry here.
Climate solution #38
Forest protection
In their biomass and soil, forests are powerful carbon storehouses. Protection prevents emissions from deforestation, shields that carbon, and enables ongoing carbon sequestration.
For each hectare of forest protected, the threat of deforestation and degradation is removed. By protecting an additional 335-466 million hectares of forest, this solution could avoid carbon dioxide emissions totaling 5.5-8.8 gigatons by 2050. Perhaps more importantly, this solution could bring the total protected forest area to almost 0.98-1.1 billion hectares, securing an estimated protected stock of 179-203 gigatons of carbon, roughly equivalent to over 655-743 gigatons of carbon dioxide if released into the atmosphere.
The benefits of forest conservation include biodiversity protection, non-timber products, erosion control, pollination, ecotourism and other ecosystem services.