Environmental benefits provided by native forests offer great contribution to curbing the effects of climate change on the planet. Therefore, the conservation of these places is considered strategic and constitutes the set of proposals for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an agenda of commitments presented by the United Nations (UN) which aims to combat the main global challenges regarding social, economic, educational and environmental issues by 2030.
In line with these goals, governments and companies have implemented their own initiatives to address these issues. Vale is one of these examples. It maintains projects for the conservation and preservation of biodiversity in threatened areas, along with the promotion of the productive and social development of the communities involved.
Currently, the mining company helps to protect one million hectares in the Amazon and Atlantic Forest and has established a forest goal of over 500 thousand hectares by 2030. Of this total, 400 thousand hectares will be enabled by way of partnerships with federal, state or municipal conservation units or with the Vale Fund support to projects for Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), which focus on the generation of carbon credits and positive socio-environmental impact, aiming at reducing deforestation rates, for example.
The protection of the other 100,000 hectares must be carried out by encouraging regenerative businesses. For this purpose, the company carried out an agroforestry businesses mapping in Brazil in search of solutions with a positive impact, which reveals the growth potential of sustainable production chains, the expansion of opportunities for generating employment and income and contributing to the recovery of biomes.
In total, 69 projects were registered and three proposals were pre-selected to be integrated into the Meta Florestal Vale portfolio. Namely: Cooperativa Agrícola Mista de Tomé-Açu (CAMTA) [Joint Agricultural Cooperative of Tomé-Açu], an enterprise for the commercialization of regional fruit pulp and derivatives; Futuro Florestal, a company that operates in the implementation, management, consultancy and assistance of reforestation for the production of noble wood in a sustainable way; and Radix, a Greentech enterprise focused on offering green investment options.
“CAMTA, for example, presented great potential for social impact, Radix for being a model combining technology and forest management for the restoration of degraded areas and Futuro Florestal for focusing on silviculture with a greater variety of species for reforestation, including native ones”, comments Juliana Vilhena, leader at Fundo Vale for impact management and socio-environmental innovation.
The manager points out that, after the pre-selection, the growth potential and expansion capacity of reforestation areas will be analyzed in a new stage, which must define the amount to be invested according to the operational capacity of each business. “The idea is to carry out a model test stage with an expansion between 30 and 100 hectares, which we call Prova de Conceito [Proof of Concept]. The evaluation process of the new business is composed of several stages – from compliance to financial analysis, passing through technical and business management issues. It is carried out by a committee composed of professionals from Vale and Fundo Vale partners”, adds Juliana Vilhena.
In the municipality of Tomé-Açu, northeast of Pará, agroforestry systems (AFS) have already been adopted by local farmers. In this process, agricultural species can be intercropped with trees of both logging and nutritional interest, offering an efficient strategy for food production, soil protection and environmental recovery.
“We have mastered this technology for about 30 years. We have, for example, a seedling nursery, where we are about to reach our production capacity of 500,000 seedlings. They bet on the restoration of degraded areas and have a very interesting and robust proposal. We intend to advance with the AFS in 100 hectares and increase year by year, initially serving 10 producers”, says Vicente Moraes, agronomist at CAMTA.
In his view, the opportunity to integrate the list of selected projects points to good prospects for strengthening an experience with proven success in economic, social and environmental spheres. “In every five hectares with AFS, one person is employed, so there is a very meaningful social gain. We also have a processing industry which sends a pre-processed product to the market and this also generates more job opportunities in the city. Besides and concerning the environmental aspect, there is the additional benefit that trees can stay for 30 to 40 years sequestering carbon”, highlights Moraes on the advantages of the procedure.
The three pre-selected projects in the mapping of agroforestry businesses can be added to the other five already sponsored via Meta Florestal Vale 2030. The company ended the year 2021 with 6,178 hectares of planting area by means of the support provided to Inocas, Belterra, Caaporã, ReGenera and Bioenergia. And, this year, new investments are being made with the aim of accelerating, maturing and growing based on the specific needs of each project.
“In the long term, we seek to articulate new investment arrangements with investors, such as blended finance to reduce investment risk, and also with off takers to enable the arrangement of strategic agreements based on the value chain, such as guaranteeing the purchase of products, the anticipation of income, among other benefits”, emphasizes Juliana Vilhena.
