Brazil meets carbon reduction target in forested areas

The result was unveiled at the UN Climate Change Conference

Published on 11/12/2018 - 16:53 By Débora Brito* - KATOWICE

Brazil managed to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions in forested areas by 1.28 billion tons from August 2017 to July 2018—down 60 percent in the volume released in forest activities.

The result surpasses and anticipates the target of bringing forest emissions between 36 and 38 percent by 2020—a goal set in 2009 during the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The figure was based on the absorption of carbon by Brazilian forests, and was made public Tuesday morning (11) by the Brazilian delegation at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change  (COP 24), being held in Katowice, Poland.

The report shows that the forest sector—which once accounted for some 75 percent of total yearly emissions—is no longer the country’s biggest source of carbon emissions, and absorbed 538 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in 2018.

The result is believed to stem from the reduction in deforestation in the Amazon and the Cerrado, as well as the absorption of carbon by indigenous territories and green areas preserved in reserves or private property. The registration of over 5.4 thousand rural territories with environmental preservation areas also made it possible to spot areas with great capacity for carbon absorption.

Floresta que margeia o Rio Iriri.
Forest sector is no longer Brazil's biggest source of carbon emissions. - Lilo Clareto/ISA/Direitos reservados

Deforestation

The survey released today also indicates that deforestation in the Cerrado shrank 11 percent this year, reaching the lowest rate for deforested area since the beginning of this time series, in 1999.

The Cerrado is South America’s largest biome, and stretches over more than 2 million km². Over half of its space has been degraded, especially as agricultural boundaries were further and further expanded.

Brazil also reported that some 9.4 million hectares of native vegetation in the Amazon were recovered from 2004 to 2014. The government declared that the area restored enables the country to meet the target of recovering 12 million hectares of forest vegetation by 2030. The recovery referred to as a priority in Brazil’s environmental policy.

Environment Minister Edson Duarte celebrated the results and said the numbers confirm Brazil’s contribution in decreasing the amount of greenhouse gases in the world. “Brazil played an important role. This must serve to encourage others to do more; in other words, what Brazil did is important, but we feel that a lot more should be done because the situation is serious across the world. A contribution must be made by all countries,” Duarte told Agência Brasil.

The minister is attending the so-called Talanoa Dialogue today, an occasion in the conference where nations present their experiences and initiatives in de-carbonization, among other meetings and multilateral activities. The 195 nations comprising the climate convention are expected to put together an action plan to implement the Paris Agreement, signed at the 2015 conference, and aimed at promoting measures to limit global warming to 2º C by the end of this century.

*The reporter is attending COP 24 at the invitation of the United Nations Foundation.

Translation: Fabrício Ferreira -  Edition: Valéria Aguiar / Nira Foster

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