Providing incentives for zero-deforestation

To protect tropical forests and carbon stocks, while supporting sustainable livelihoods for the communities that depend on them, this project will create durable, large-scale economic incentives for forest protection and support the implementation of zero-deforestation supply chains by multinational companies in Brazil and beyond.

Why

Tropical deforestation and degradation produce billions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually and threaten the world’s highest-carbon, highest biodiversity forests – along with the culturally and linguistically diverse peoples who inhabit them.

The root cause of tropical deforestation and degradation is the absence of economic incentives to protect and restore forests and the carbon they contain. In the absence of sufficient incentives, policymakers in tropical regions lack motivation and resources to enforce environmental laws, maintain protected areas, empower indigenous and local communities, and promote green growth development policies. Agricultural producers find it more profitable to continue deforesting and degrading forests to supply commodities like beef, soy and palm oil.

Environmental Defense Fund and partners will implement three interrelated initiatives: international policy and commitments; private/public finance; and zero-deforestation supply chains. Initiative I, “Global Consensus,” will build global consensus on the central role of forests in climate mitigation and strengthen political will to expand pay-for-performance commitments for forests by developed nations. Initiative II, “Market Demand and Private Investment Initiative,” will promote the development of compliance carbon markets and pioneer innovative private-public financing models, in order to create incentives for robust long-term private investment in forest protection while deploying public financing and innovative finance approaches to mobilize private investment in the interim. Initiative III, “Supply-Chain Governance and Zero-Deforestation Zones,” will deliver economic incentives, improved forest governance and a transition to zero-deforestation agricultural production landscapes.  Focusing on the states of Pará and Mato Grosso, the two most important agricultural regions in the Brazilian Amazon, this initiative will provide proof of concept at scale that can drive broader change around the world.

Expected results

Through 2020, 1) developed nations double their commitments to economic incentives for REDD+ through 2030; 2) at least half a billion dollars in private investment is made into REDD+ and 3) 30% of soy produced in Brazil and 30% of cattle from the Amazon are produced in Zero Deforestation, Zero Illegality Zones (ZDZs) including in Pará and Mato Grosso.

Partners

• Climate Advisers
• Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin,
• Forest Trends
• International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
• London School of Economics
• Mercator Institute on Global Commons at the University of Berlin,
• lmazon
• Instituto Centro de Vida
• Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazonia and Instituto Socioambiental
• Union of Concerned Scientists