Carbon-neutral agricultural production could become possible in 20 years, says study

Agricultural production in the Atlantic Forest can become carbon neutral within 20 years from forest restoration, zero deforestation and low-carbon practices, is the view of the study carried out by the SOS Mata Atlântica Foundation, Imaflora and the SEEG/Observatory of the Climate.

According to the researchers, the goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions are feasible and can be achieved with the restoration of 15 million hectares of forests, high food production and job creation.

However, for this to happen, zero deforestation needs to be achieved by 2030, along with low carbon emission practices in agricultural and livestock production.

The survey indicates that the Atlantic Forest land use sector has the potential to reduce the biome’s total emissions by up to 6.28 GtCO2e between 2005 and 2050. This value reaches the emissions of India (3.346) and Russia (1.992) in 2018, the third and fourth largest emitters on the planet, and can still offset a third of France’s emissions (0.361) for a period of 45 years.

SOS Mata Atlântica’s Director of Knowledge, Luis Fernando Guedes Pinto, explains that the goals are possible, however, they depend on governance measures and the adoption of best practices by decision makers from the public and private sectors.

“The actions needed to achieve this scenario combine known command and control and incentive policies that need to be fully implemented or improved, such as the Forest Code, the National System of Conservation Units (SNUC), the National Plan for the Recovery of Native Vegetation (Planaveg) and Plano Safra, which, in turn, must be complemented with international, national and subnational political will, in addition to private sector investments. There are no technological barriers to its implementation and we have already made advances in this regard in recent years”, he ponders.

According to the study, the states, mainly those that concentrate 91% of the total biome, such as Minas Gerais, Bahia, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Mato Grosso do Sul, should prioritize the replacement of fossil fuel use by renewable ones in transport in the metropolises, treatment of waste (sewage and garbage) in cities, associated with the recovery of methane, and energy generation from its combustion.

Other goals are combating deforestation, adopting low-carbon agriculture with the recovery of degraded pastures and soils, and more efficient cattle raising; and forest restoration and creation of protected areas.

The study also shows that although it houses 72% of the population and 80% of the national GDP, emissions per capita and per unit of GDP in the Atlantic Forest were three to five times lower than the average for Brazil between 2000 and 2018. This reveals a lower per capita carbon emission of the biome in relation to the population and economy of the country.

The biome also had one of the lowest emission growth rates when compared to the other biomes (9%), with greater production efficiency per emission, especially from livestock.

It is considered the second most important biome in relation to the removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, mainly due to the increase in removals by regeneration of secondary vegetation, rotating between 10% and 15% of gross annual emissions.