CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR CONSERVATION, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION, AND SOCIAL INCLUSION IN THE CERRADO BIOME An assessment developed for the Climate and Land Use Alliance by CEA Consulting August 2016 MAP 1: BRAZIL’S CERRADO BIOME AREA OF DETAIL Brazil Sources: Reference layers: http://www.naturalearthdata.com/ Matopiba: http://www.ibge.gov.br/english/geociencias/default_prod.shtm Cerrado Biome: http://maps.lapig.iesa.ufg.br/lapig.html Photo: CEA CONTENTS About this report 2 Executive summary 3 Introduction 13 Proposed priorities 18 PRIORITY 1 Strong implementation of the Forest Code 18 PRIORITY 2 Protection and management of community and conservation lands 26 PRIORITY 3 Incentives for conservation 36 PRIORITY 4 Improved sustainability and productivity of existing agricultural lands and pasturelands 40 PRIORITY 5 Cover photos: Building the case for biodiversity ponsulak/Shutterstock (soybeans) Bento Viana/ISPN (palm and cut fruit) and landscape conservation 46 Paulo Vilela/Shutterstock (soy plants) Peter Caton/ISPN (baskets) Research agenda 49 Alf Ribeiro/Shutterstock (tractors) Conclusion 51 ABOUT THIS REPORT This document outlines a set of opportunities that can contribute to conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems, growth in agricultural production, and support for social inclusion and traditional livelihoods in Brazil’s Cerrado biome for the future of the region. It was prepared by CEA Consulting at the request of the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA), a philanthropic collaborative of the ClimateWorks Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. It was supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the ClimateWorks Foundation. The intended audience for this report is the full range of stakeholders working in the Cerrado biome; the recommendations included here are not designed for any particular actor and in fact would necessarily need to be undertaken by many different actors. This report was developed through an extended This document is accompanied by several research and consultation process, lasting from supporting documents that the authors hope early 2015 to mid-2016. We reviewed dozens will provide a repository of information on the of publications, drew from a broad set of data Cerrado biome. These materials specifically sources, conducted roughly one hundred expert address and include: interviews, consulted with approximately fifty • Biodiversity stakeholders through three separate review workshops, and conducted site visits. The authors • Hydrology are solely responsible for the report’s content, • Trends in deforestation and associated carbon including any errors. However, the report would emissions not have been possible without the many people • Social and political contexts who contributed to this project, and we extend our • Trends in the agricultural sector warmest gratitude for their help. • Funding sources • Corporate deforestation commitments • Maps of the region These materials can be found at: www.climateandlandusealliance.org/reports/ cerrado/ Suggested Citation: Credits: Dickie, A., Magno, I., Giampietro, J., Dolginow, A. GreenInfo Network, maps 2016. “Challenges and Opportunities for Conservation, Imaginary Office, design Agricultural Production, and Social Inclusion in the Cerrado CEA and ISPN, photography Biome.” CEA Consulting. Authors: Amy Dickie Iran Magno James Giampietro Alex Dolginow Challenges and Opportunities for Conservation, Agricultural Production, and Social Inclusion in the Cerrado Biome 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Cerrado biome is a dynamic, mosaic landscape that spans the center of Brazil. It is one of the largest and most biologically diverse tropical savannas in the world, has a rich social and cultural history, is home to a wide variety of indigenous peoples and traditional communities, and is an important region for the provisioning of freshwater across Brazil. Since the 1970s, agribusiness has been steadily and livestock sectors in the region through the expanding across the Cerrado biome, contributing Agricultural Development Plan Matopiba (PDA- to Brazil’s emergence as a global leader in agri- MATOPIBA) (Decree 8447, May 2015). Although cultural commodity production. As a result, nearly the details of this plan have not yet been formal- half the biome has been deforested.1 Continued ized, it clearly aims to spur growth in large-scale agricultural productivity within the Cerrado that agriculture in the region, primarily through expan- supports economic development and also works sion of transportation infrastructure. It has been in harmony with thriving traditional livelihoods heavily criticized by civil society organizations for and conservation of native habitat is important for being formulated with limited consultation and the long-term health and prosperity of the biome. transparency and for not including social and envi- Achievement of these multiple objectives will be ronmental representation on its governing body.3 challenging and will require a significant increase (See callout box on next page.) in resources, attention, and political will devoted to the region; however, the tools and frameworks exist to achieve this vision. The health and pros- perity of the Cerrado biome is a matter of national importance. Given the central role that the Cerrado plays in food and water security and the region’s rich social diversity and cultural heritage, the Cerrado agenda cannot be separated from the national agenda. Today, Matopiba—the northern portion of the Cerrado where the majority of the biome’s intact native habitat is found—is one of the primary agricultural frontiers in Brazil.2 This landscape is the last great expanse of the Cerrado biome that has not been converted to large-scale mechanized Photo: CEA agriculture. The Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA) is actively supporting the growth of the agriculture 1. Rene Beuchle et al., “Land Cover Changes in the Brazilian 4. Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), “Ecosystem Cerrado and Caatinga Biomes from 1990 to 2010 Based on Profile: Cerrado Biodiversity Hotspot,” April 2016. a Systemic Remote Sensing Sampling Approach,” Applied 5. Agroecology is the integrative study of the ecology of the Geography 58 (2015): 116–127. entire food system, encompassing ecological, economic, and 2. Matopiba is named for the initial letters of the states that social dimensions. Charles Francis et al., “Agroecology: the compose the region: Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia. Ecology of Food Systems,” Journal of Sustainable Agriculture 3. Talise Rocha, “Plano para Desenvolvimento Agropecuário 22, no. 3 (2003): 99–118. no Matopiba e Questionado,” Observatorio ABC, October 2015. Challenges and Opportunities for Conservation, Agricultural Production, and Social Inclusion in the Cerrado Biome 3 PDA-MATOPIBA aims to boost the trend seen • compliance with existing environmental and over the last several years of large-scale agribusi- community rights laws; nesses advancing into the region to produce soy • reconciliation of long-standing land claims and other agricultural commodities for export. At and disputes; the same time, another vision for this landscape is • official recognition of traditional people’s being championed by the traditional cultures and and rural communities’ claims over lands and historical communities of the Matopiba region territories; (e.g., indigenous people, quilombolas, extractiv- ists, geraizeiros, ribeirinhos, and family farmers). • secure land tenure for both private owners This vision is for the continued development and and communities; economic flourishing of a wide diversity of agricul- • improved management of existing conserva- tural systems across the landscape. Most of these tion units (including sustainable use and full systems are small in scale, have been practiced in protection); the region for generations, operate in accordance • robust implementation of agribusiness with the principles of agroecological production,5 commitments to zero- or zero-net- and coexist well with natural habitat in complex deforestation supply chains; mosaics. These communities, their lands, and their • support for traditional agriculture and way of life are threatened by PDA-MATOPIBA agroecological practices and markets; and by the expansion of large-scale agriculture generally. • expansion of low-carbon agricultural practices and sustainable intensification of pasturelands; To build toward a future Cerrado that maintains and ecological integrity, biodiversity, carbon stores, • continuous improvements to monitoring and and a diversified set of agricultural systems, the mapping of natural resources in the Cerrado expansion of large-scale agricultural needs to be (including forests, native vegetation, soils, both constrained and guided to areas where it will biodiversity, and water). displace the least biologically and socially valuable resources. Careful planning for the region should Effective implementation of these strategies allow for large-scale agriculture to grow and con- depends upon leadership, collaboration, and tribute to rural economic development in a way commitment—across a range of government, that harmonizes with other uses of the landscape private sector, community, and civil society stake- and other economic development pathways. holders. It will not be easy, especially given the current instability in Brazil’s political and economic This report outlines five high-level strategies that, climate. Yet together, the strategies