Returning Pastures to Forest
In Brazil for Offsetting Climate Change
Governments around the world struggle to reduce GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions. At the current pace we will reach 1.5°C by 2030 and more than 3°C by 2100.
Reforestation is critical to mitigate climate collapse. It captures CO2 and brings additional benefits in safeguarding biodiversity and recharging groundwater.
Brazil is one of the few land reserves in the world where massive undertaking of reforestation is still possible. In particular, large cattle farms (up to 10,000 ha) have grown in places that were once covered with forest. By converting them back to forest we're sequestering large amounts of CO2 and avoiding methane emissions.
​
Brazil has the experience and skills required: it ranks 4th worldwide in planted forests with 10 million ha (the size of South Korea); and 6th in FSC certified planted forests with 5 million ha.
The country’s companies, universities, suppliers, consultants and NGOs are among the world most knowledgeable actors in tropical forest management
A structured, highly-technological and competitive sector
Brazil has extensive and innovative experience with successional agriculture, combining short-, medium- and long-term cycles to create regenerative and lucrative agroforestry systems
Brazil is key for achieving environment challenges
Cattle farming occupies 170 M ha in Brazil, making it the world's largest beef producer. Extensive livestock production is a common practice, large-sized pastures (5,000 to 10,000 ha) are for sale as they often lose competitiveness
Our goal is to convert pastures into A+ sustainable agroforestry systems.
From Pastures to Forest:
a model with financial, scientific and social benefits.
According to the UN IPCC panel, strong investment in reforestation is imperative in the coming years if we are to mitigate climate collapse
​
• The Bonn Challenge stipulated the urgency of planting
350 M ha of forest by 2030.
• Brazil is one of the few land reserves in the world where such massive undertaking is still possible.
One of today’s most pressing environmental
challenges consists in establishing models capable of offsetting producer’s cost of opportunity when opting for reforestation
​
The very long-term nature of this investment means many farmers won’t naturally opt for reforestation as a viable activity
In a context of surprisingly fast climate changes, there are also many unresolved scientific uncertainties, which still need to be researched across different biomes.
​
Food’n Wood is building a partnership with CIRAD, the world-leading French research center for tropical agriculture. CIRAD will help set scientific measurements aimed at understanding
and offsetting these uncertainties.
In Brazil, CIRAD is already working with the world class USP-Esalq University.
Research Topics
Here are a couple of guideline inquiries which we will work with CIRAD in small one-hectare test plots, from the get-go of implementing the farm.
How to counter biological attacks in polycultures and in monocultures?
Does agroforestry increase sequestration? Does it enhance fruit quality?
Under what conditions is planted reforestation more efficient than passive reforestation?
How to combat the challenge of weeding in the early stages?
What locally tested hypothesis can be systematically reproduced?
How to give small-scale reforestation socioeconomic relevance?
