Workshops will support Amazon states in leveraging their potential to access international climate finance

BVRio is one of the organisations which will be part of a series of workshops to be held this year within the scope of the project ‘Unlocking and Leveraging Low Emissions Development’, run by the Sustainable Amazon Foundation (FAS). The workshops aim to level information between representatives from the nine states of the Legal Amazon towards achieving their potential to access carbon markets and international climate finance.

In the first workshop, held December 13 and 15, 2022, government representatives and partner organisations of the project discussed the requirements and eligibility criteria of the ART/TREES Standard in the context of the Amazon region. This was the first face-to-face meeting between the states and organisations participating in the project and facilitated the exchange of experiences, know-how and alliances. 

Beto Mesquita, BVRio Director of Forests and Public Policies, spoke about the challenges of implementing a jurisdictional REDD+ strategy that effectively contributes to reducing the alarming rates of deforestation in the Amazon;

“The choice and adoption of a certification standard for the resulting carbon credits are one of these challenges. The workshop highlighted the opportunities and difficulties imposed by the different realities of the states of the Legal Amazon, particularly regarding compliance with socio-environmental safeguards, the integrity of carbon credits and the harmonisation and nesting of private projects under development.”

During the three-day event, ample time was given to answer questions, propose and create working groups and plan the actions for the coming months. “As a partner of the state of Rondônia in the implementation of its Climate Governance System, BVRio is committed to building paths and implementing the instruments provided in the law at the state level, so that it leverages the necessary resources to combat deforestation, with social engagement and fair distribution of additional benefits.” added Beto.

The project forms a strategic network of civil society organisations* to support state governments in the Legal Amazon, intending to contribute to the strengthening of effective actions to address deforestation and the climate crisis. To this end, the project supports the states to leverage their potential to access the carbon market through the ART/TREES standard, a voluntary, high-quality global carbon program created to register, verify and issue carbon credits from jurisdictional REDD+. The Standard enables access to the LEAF Coalition (Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance), an international investment fund that aims to boost trading in high-value-added carbon credits.

In a statement on its website, the manager of the Innovative Solutions Program of FAS, Gabriela Sampaio, positively evaluated the workshop results; “Besides providing a forum for the implementing organisations […], the workshop allowed us to demystify many concepts and aspects about the TREES standard and also to outline the next steps for the Amazon region to prosper as a whole and be able to trade carbon with high integrity, respecting the socio-environmental safeguards.”

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* The network is the result of a partnership between the Forum of Secretaries of Environment of the Legal Amazon and the Governors’ Climate & Forests Task Force in Brazil and UNDP Brazil. FAS, together with BVRio, Conservation International (CI-Brazil), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), IPAM Amazônia, ICV – Instituto Centro de Vida, and the Earth Innovation Institute, are responsible for the implementation of the project in the states. BVRio is working with the state government of Rondônia.

Photo Credit: Michael Dantas