Restrictions by the Europe Union should be seen as an oportunity, not an obstacle
Luiz H. Varzinczak, Nature-Based Solutions Analyst, GSS Carbono e Bioinovação
The recent prohibition on imports of agricultural and livestock products sourced in deforested areas, approved by the European Union in late 2022, is a significant new challenge for the sector in Brazil. The new rules follow recent advances in discussions about the role of political and social players and their actions to contain adverse impacts of climate change and the loss of biodiversity.
Brazil plays a crucial role in this context, due to interests that are often considered antagonistic. While the country has the largest rainforest and one of the world's most extensive endowments of biodiversity, with unique ecosystems of importance to the global community, on the other hand it is also one of the world's leading exporters of agricultural commodities, a status achieved mostly by farms and cattle ranches expanding into environments formerly made up of native vegetation, especially in the Cerrado and Amazon biomes. This destruction of the original plant cover has caused alarm due to concerns over climate change, since preserving forests is a key tool to avert the global threat of higher average temperatures.
Although viewed in a negative light by many stakeholders – one more regulation in the long chain of verifications and licensing required to export agricultural products, with the potential to shut down markets for farmers – this EU ban is actually more of an opportunity than an obstacle. Here I explain why.
The advance of farming and cattle production has made Brazil a commodity powerhouse in the sector, but it has also left a swath of unproductive areas degraded by intensive soil use in monoculture systems and unproductive pastures that now lay abandoned or never reached their full potential. Indeed, much of the native land converted to farming and pastures is now degraded. For example, a study done in 2021 by the Image Processing and Geoprocessing Laboratory, located in the Institute of Socioenvironmental Studies at the Federal University of Goiás (Lapig/IESA/UFG)¹, found that of about 160 million hectares converted to cattle pastures in Brazil, some 100 million (62%) show varying degrees of degradation. The question is: does Brazil need to keep cutting down forests to be a leader in agricultural commodity exports? The answer is definitely a resounding no, because there are much more sustainable alternatives with enormous potential benefits for the country.
One alternative is to recover degraded pastures, turning them into productive and environmentally sustainable systems. For example, according to The Nature Conservancy², the recovery of degraded areas in the Cerrado will be enough to meet Brazil's demand for soy with no need to clear new areas of native vegetation. Another is Integrated Crop-Livestock-Forestry (ICLF) systems, in which recovered pastures enjoy greater environmental integrity by joining livestock with grain production and preserving native vegetation, to store more carbon in the soil and improve unproductive landscapes³. A similar alternative is to adopt agroforestry systems, bringing greater diversity to crops and enabling environmental recovery⁴, as well as maximizing beneficial effects through the participation of local communities in the process, thus offering sustainable development to all participants.
It is for these reasons that the new European Union regulations can be a starting point to rethink Brazil's land use and conversion process. Projects supported by the Land Innovation Fund have been helpful in this regard. For example, the Treevia+GSS partnership's project to remunerate and pay for farmers' environmental services in the Cerrado stimulates the conservation of native vegetation, avoids the degradation of these areas by a variety of agents, and prevents further deforestation on the farms. In addition, beyond the specific scope of LIF's work, the GSS has done a variety of different studies to offer restoration solutions in which many players can recover previously degraded areas and help improve a region’s environmental quality, which is so important to meet today's needs.
With a greener future on the way and growing concerns over sustainability, biodiversity protection, and mitigating the impacts of climate change, ignoring this discussion and disdaining today’s sustainable alternatives is a step back, since even more conditionalities are likely to emerge in the near future to ensure environmental preservation. This is a chance we cannot afford to miss, for Brazil to develop its economy and protect nature at the same time. There is still time.
Luiz H. Varzinczak is member of the LIF’s project Payment for Environmental Services, implemented by Treevia and GSS Carbono e Bioinovação.