Event in Brasília debates the Amazon, climate emergency and the role of communities in the carbon market

Iury Lima – Cenarium Magazine

VILHENA (RO) – Giving forest peoples a leading role in the carbon credit market, discussing the climate emergency and actions to preserve the largest tropical forest on the planet are guidelines that support a meeting between traditional communities, institutions, civil society organizations, experts and consultants from Tuesday, 10, in Brasilia.

This is a workshop that aims to shed light on this discussion, through a partnership between the National Council of Extractive Populations (CNS), the Institute of Amazonian Studies (IEA) and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

There are 15 attractions between lectures and debates, in addition to the presentation of five projects for the use of financial incentives in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from forest degradation and deforestation, underway in Protected Areas (PAs) of the Amazon, such as Extractive Reserves (Resex) and Indigenous Lands (TIs), the so-called REDD+.

The training takes place at the Assunção Retreat House, in the Federal District, and lasts until next Wednesday, the 11th.

Paiter Suruí : pioneers in the Amazon

For the CNS, “carbon projects can be an opportunity for Extractive Reserves if they are carried out with technical knowledge and with partners that the movement trusts”. For this reason, the Council states that listening to extractivists and leaders who participate in the implementation of REDD+ projects in Resex and TIs “will be one more element in the training”.

One of the invited speakers, pointing out the social benefits of carbon capture for Indigenous Peoples, is the indigenous expert and president of the Association for Ethnoenvironmental Defense Kanindé, Neidinha Suruí.

The environmentalist presents the Surui Forest Carbon Project (PCFS), the first REDD+ project proposed on Indigenous Lands in the world. In progress since 2009, the PCFS helps protect the Sete de Setembro Indigenous Territory, located between the states of Rondônia and Mato Grosso, a region threatened by land grabbers, deforesters and loggers.

The goal is to conserve an area of 13,000 hectares of forest and avoid the emission of 7 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2038.

To CENARIUM MAGAZINE, Neidinha explains that taking this knowledge to other communities, in the event, is important to give them autonomy in the market.

“What we are going to talk about in the meeting is about all the care that one needs to take with a carbon project, especially not to sign any contract with interested companies, because there are many ‘carbon cowboys’. The Paiter Suruí project has won awards and is an example for the world. A reference for everyone”, says the environmentalist.

Mrs. Neidinha Suruí points out that the project “brought many good things to the people, but also difficulties“. On the other hand, with the effort, the result was the first sale of carbon credits to the Brazilian cosmetics company Natura. The first negotiation took place in 2013. It was also the first sale made with international certification in the country.

According to Natura, the purchase was equivalent to the emission of 120 thousand tons of carbon, to offset the release of pollutants in the company’s industrial process. All the money is reverted on the preservation of the Amazon biome.

The negotiations, according to the indigenist and president of Kanindé, happen through the Metareilá Association of the Paiter Suruí Indigenous People, located in the municipality of Cacoal, almost 500 kilometers from Porto Velho.

Alternative income

The practice of avoiding the release of carbon has become a source of alternative income for the Surui, who today number more than 1,300 people, according to the Socio-environmental Institute (ISA).

In the reserve, which covers almost 250,000 hectares of land, the indigenous people work to preserve the Amazon by preventing deforestation and reforesting already affected areas.

Natura does not disclose the values of the negotiations, but the amount is destined to the Suruí Carbon Fund. Chief Almir Suruí, one of the most important indigenous leaders in the country, is leading the work.

The Suruí project will be an example in the workshop of the National Council of Extractive Populations and partners.

“As they have always done, throughout their histories of more than 40 years of work, the CNS, the IEA and EDF seek to reconcile the wisdom of the forest peoples with the technical and scientific knowledge of experts to formulate projects and public policies that generate lasting impacts for the Extractive Reserves. This is an excellent opportunity to join forces to reduce the impacts of climate change, generating income and opportunities for future generations”, says the entity.

See here the entire program of the event.