Category: Opinion

How the private sector can support the Amazon alliance to end deforestation

This week the Leaders of State of the eight countries that share the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT) signed the Belém Declaration, a historic statement in order to face the challenge of protecting the integrality of the Amazon region, fighting poverty and inequalities, “with the purpose of gathering efforts to promote sustainable development that is harmonious, […]

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Pilot project completes with 350+ waste pickers benefitting

Waste won’t wait: How solutions which support informal waste pickers can start to clear the way now for a world without plastic pollution.

Globally there’s an estimated 20 million+ informal waste pickers. An army of recycling experts, picking their way through the rubbish discarded into the environment, as a result of a lack of organised collections, sorting and recycling. Discerning about where they place their effort, waste pickers choose the most valuable waste to collect, sort and redesignate. […]

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VCM’s requirement for regulatory surplus hinders climate action

Pedro Moura Costa[1], February 2023 1.Introduction: the urgent need to promote NBS in the Amazon There is an urgent need to promote conservation and restoration at scale. It is estimated that the sequestration and conservation of carbon stocks in vegetation can lead to 16 Gt CO2 annual benefits worldwide[2]. The importance of vegetation and nature-based […]

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The pursuit of integrity and its impact on climate action

Carbon markets are at a pivotal moment. On one hand, there is the need to ensure integrity of credits. On the other, the perception of risk about credit quality may spook investors. Pedro Moura Costa asks how to balance these forces to create the most climate impact?   Background: market confusion The outgoing year saw […]

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Beyond Carbon Credits: the potential of climate finance to promote greater ambitions in tropical forest conservation

By Beto Mesquita, BVRio’s Director of Forests and Public Policies. Exceeding expectations, climate finance was treated as a key issue at COP27, but the conference outcomes still fall far short of what is needed to increase the world’s climate ambition. The historic decision to create a loss and damage fund for developing countries and those […]

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Campanha de solidariedade aos catadores e catadoras do Brasil

Cologne & Waste Pickers: The evolution of waste collection

Circular Action Director, Thierry Sanders, reflects on this year’s Plastic Waste Free World Conference & Expo and on the evolution of waste collection. The hall of the Plastic Free World trade fair at the Kolner Messe is bustling with international visitors passing by stands of paper packaging as alternatives to plastic. Also on display are […]

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Corresponding Adjustments and their Impact on NDCs and Additionality

Published on Ecosystems Marketplace, this opinion piece by BVRio Director, Pedro Moura Costa, aims to illustrate the impacts of corresponding adjustments on voluntary carbon markets, a useful analysis to inform policymakers and market players as to when to require the use of adjustments. Enthusiasm for international carbon trading must be tempered by the need to […]

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The EU proposal to reduce deforestation, what does it mean for the timber sector?

The European Commission has proposed a new regulation to reduce global deforestation and forest degradation driven by EU consumption of certain commodities. If enacted, the proposed regulation would repeal the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR), therefore, having relevant implications for this sector. In this article, BVRio outlines some of the features of this proposal. The proposed […]

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Tetekon is the new Iroko : Lesser-Known Timber Species are the best way to go!

Tetekon is the new Iroko : Lesser-Known Timber Species are the best way to go!

There are over 50,000 species of timber in the world, but only a small fraction is widely used commercially. This, however, does not mean that the rest of the species are unsuitable for a variety of commercial uses. There under-utilised species are known as Lesser-Known and Lesser-Used Timber Species (LKTS) and can often substitute more popular species in terms of performance and aesthetics, and cost-effectiveness. This makes choosing LKTS a good business decision, which also has the potential to improve livelihoods and protect biodiversity.

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