The UN Biodiversity Convention is convening two meetings in Montreal this week, to lay the groundwork for negotiations to achieve an ambitious and effective post-2020 global biodiversity framework at next years’ UN Biodiversity Conference2 in Kunming, China. Some 500 delegates representing 118 countries are expected to convene in Montreal for the twenty-third meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-23), being held from 25-29 November. Amongst other agenda items, the SBSTTA-23 will inform the scientific and technical evidence base for the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Bernardo Strassburg, CSRio coordinator is one of the Brazilian representantives, and will be speaking at two side events: “NatureMap: a new global effort to make biodiversity and ecosystem services hotspots visible”, on the 25th; and “One or a small number of overarching objectives (‘apex goal’) – proposals from science”, on the 26th. The Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) is one of the CBD’s two subsidiary bodies and meets annually. SBSTTA’s mandate is, among other things, to provide assessments on biodiversity, assessments on the efficiency of measures taken under the CBD, and support for the implementation of the programmes of work of the Conference of the Parties and the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.

Large environmental impacts can directly influence the economy. Studies show increasing deforestation in Brazil in the first half of 2019 compared to the same period last year, while agricultural research has been a central theme in the debate on economic development. In this context, it is necessary to understand the relationship between deforestation reduction, agricultural sector and Brazilian economy. At the next CSRio seminar, on 11th november, at 6pm, we will be pleased to welcome Juliano Assunção, who will address the determinants of deforestation in Brazil, showing how policies to combat deforestation have worked and their effects on economic activity, as well as the relationship between increased agricultural studies and reducing deforestation pressures. Juliano J. Assunção is executive director of CPI’s Rio Office, Associate Professor of the Department of Economics at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) and associate Editor of Revista Brasileira de Economia and Environment and Development Economics. He is a member of the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty at the University of Chicago and works as a consultant for firms, governments, and multi-lateral organizations. Juliano’s research focuses on different aspects of development economics, including agricultural economics, institutions, and financial intermediation.

An unprecedented study in Brazil showed that the use of biochar, a product resulting from pyrolysis (controlled burning of organic waste) may be the solution for the restoration of degraded soils, in addition to promoting a nearly 30% increase in agricultural and pasture production and help the environment. The result of the research, coordinated by Agnieszka Latawiec,  Professor of the Department of Geography and Environment of PUC-RIO and director of the International Institute for Sustainability (IIS) was featured in scientific journal Scientific Reports, published by Nature Research today (19/08/2019). According to the study, the application of biochar in degraded pastures increased by 27% the productivity of grasses (brachiaria), increased the amount of macronutrients, decreased soil pH and sequestered carbon, thus contributing to climate regulation. For the researcher, who is also coordinator of PUC-Rio’s Centre for Conservation and Sustainability Sciences (CSRio), the use of biochar brings numerous environmental and potentially economic benefits to farmers. “Brazil is the second largest meat producer in the world and projects to increase its agricultural production to reach the first position in the world ranking. But most of the deforested land in Brazil is occupied by low productivity cattle ranches, where more than 70% of Brazilian pasturelands are considered degraded, with less than one animal per hectare. This is one of the main reasons for deforestation, biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions, which occur when farmers are looking for new land for agricultural and cattle ranch expansion, with better quality soils. Large-scale biochar production would be a good solution to meet this demand for pasture and other crop production and could be achieved by industrial processes, as is the case in many countries in Europe, the United States and Australia. The production of biochar in these places is even the result of the way they treat their organic waste, producing energy and thus reconciling economic development with the conservation of the environment,” she explains.   Carbon sequestration According to Professor Latawiec, in addition to increased food production, the study evaluated another ecosystem service provided by biochar-treated soils: carbon sequestration. Research has shown that  each hectare amended with biochar saved 91 tons of Carbon Equivalent (CO2eq) through land sparing effect, 13 tonnes of CO2eq sequestered in the soil, equating to U$455 in carbon payments. “With investments in efficient biochar production techniques, such as the creation of waste processing plants, or if farmers adopting biochar are rewarded in schemes such as Payments for Environmental Services (PSA) or Low Carbon Agriculture (such as Plan ABC), they will be preserving the environment while obtaining resources to maintain and increase their productivity. Thus, biochar is a promising tool to improve the productivity of pastures, crops and conserve the environment,” says Latawiec, who cites the example of Poland, where there are already plants that produce energy in pyrolysis ovens to supply the population and provide biochar as a second product, at a very competitive price compared to other soil amending alternatives. The experiment The biochar used in the experiment was produced at Embrapa Agrobiologia, in Seropédica (RJ) and applied in “Fazendinha” an experimental area located in the Atlantic Forest biome in various types of crops: pastures, corn, beans and native seedlings ,. What is biochar Biochar it is the product obtained through the controlled burning of organic waste (by pyrolysis), such as coconut shell or pruned tree branches. It is mixed with the soil to improve its composition and texture, water holding capacity and  carbon sequestration, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and in many cases enhancing productivity. Watch below a video about on-farm biochar production and its practical application in Brazil.

Researchers pinpoint restoration hotspots in 15 countries, including Brazil, Indonesia, India and Colombia, across four continents where reviving forests would deliver the biggest carbon, water and wildlife benefits for the buck In a peer-reviewed report released today, researchers identified more than 100 million hectares of lost lowland tropical rain forests—restoration hotspots— spread out across Central and South America, Africa and Southeast Asia that present the most compelling opportunities for restoration to overcome rising global temperatures, water pollution and shortages, and the extinction of plant and animal life. Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar, India and Colombia have the largest accumulated area of restoration hotspots; six African countries–Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Togo, South Sudan, and Madagascar–are home to the areas presenting the best restoration opportunities on average. “Restoring tropical forests is fundamental to the planet’s health, now and for generations to come,” said lead author Pedro Brancalion, from the University of São Paulo, Brazil. “For the first time, our study helps governments, investors and others seeking to restore global tropical moist forests to determine precise locations where restoring forests is most viable, enduring and beneficial. Restoring forests is a must do–and it’s doable.” The 12 authors of the Science Advances study, Global restoration opportunities in tropical rainforest landscapes, used high-resolution satellite imagery and the latest peer-reviewed research on four forest benefits (biodiversity, climate change mitigation and adaptation and water security) and three aspects of restoration effort (cost, investment risk and the likelihood of restored forests surviving into the future) to assess and “score” all tropical lands worldwide in 1 kilometer square blocks that retained less than 90 percent of their forest cover. Restoration hotspots are those lands that scored in the top 10 percent, meaning that restoring them would be the most beneficial and the least costly and risky. The top 15 countries with the largest restoration hotspots were found across the all tropical forest biomes, or zones: three in the Neotropics, five in the Afrotropics, and seven in Indo-Malaysia and Australasia. The five countries with the largest restoration hotspot by area are Brazil, Indonesia, India, Madagascar, and Colombia. The six countries with the highest mean score were found in Africa: Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Togo, South Sudan, and Madagascar. “We were surprised to find such a concentration of highly ranked countries in a single continent,” co-author Robin Chazdon said. “The study really highlights the high potential for successful rainforest restoration outcomes in these African countries.” Nearly 87 percent of the restoration hotspots were found within biodiversity conservation hotspots, areas that hold high concentrations of species found nowhere else, but are at high risk for deforestation. The Atlantic Forest was the global hotspot for biodiversity conservation with the largest hotspot area for restoration, highlighting the great opportunity that this biome presents to receive international restoration investments; Seventy-three percent of the restoration hotspots were found in countries that have made restoration commitments as part of the Bonn Challenge, a global effort to bring 150 million hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded land into restoration by 2020, and 350 million hectares by 2030. “It’s encouraging that so many hotspots are located in countries where restoring forests and landscapes is already a priority,” said Brancalion. In most cases, restoration hotspots overlap with fields and pastures currently in use by farmers. As a result, the study shows, restoring forests is most feasible on lands of low value for agricultural production. Alternatively, the researchers argue, restoration could be coupled with income-generating forms of production through, for example, enriching pastures with trees, harvesting forest-based products like rattan and growing coffee or cocoa beneath a forest canopy. Any decisions about changing land use must fully engage local communities, as restoration should complement rather than compete with food security and land rights. In other cases, these hotspots include abandoned, degraded farmlands or government lands. “Identify restoration hotspots is a critical approach to inform policies and actions related with forest landscape restoration at large scale,” said Renato Crouzeilles, CSRio´s associate professor and one of the authors of the study. “It is a big opportunity to combine restoration and conservation actions in a same place as there is more than 85% overlap between areas that fall within both biodiversity conservation and restoration hotspots”