The Program

Dozens of small farmers from São Paulo are “keepers” of the remaining Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica in Portuguese) is a region of tropical and subtropical moist forest, tropical dry forest, tropical savannas, and mangrove forests which extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil. These farmers have been invited by the Brazilian “Iniciativa Verde” to join the program “Safe Carbon”, the first in the world to create Carbon reservations in areas previously destined to dairy farming. Dairy farming is responsible for most of the deforestation in that area. The objective of the program is reversing this situation, by transforming farmers into allies of the environment.

The program main objective is to provide small farmers with the possibility of renting their land for the preservation of the forest, thus preventing its use as grazing land and therefore avoiding carbon emissions. The land owner will be paid according to the carbon stored in the forest boundary. In many cases, these financial incomes will surpass what the land owner would receive in case he or she opted to clear the land to rent it out in the form of a grazing land. The amount will depend on the size of the area to be preserved (and, of course, the amount of carbon stored) and will be paid for a period of 30 years, thus providing peace of mind to the owner and his/her family. This money will be kept in a specific fund.

In its first phase, the Carbon Safe program will also be a subsidy for the compensation of deforestation reduction through the voluntary market for carbon (which, in the short term, includes donations). Later, after 2012, its compensation will be included into the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), as long as the emission reductions are made in addition to those obligations in the reduction of greenhouse gases that countries of Annex I already have agreed to.

In a first moment, seventeen hectares of forest – the equivalent of 34 soccer fields – will be preserved. “Iniciativa Verde” has the objective of making such social-environmental technology more standardized and, through other partnerships, of increasing the number of dairy farmers benefited and the size of conserved forests.

Biodiversity

Not only will the program funds help in reducing the impacts of Global Warming, but these funds will also foster the adoption of a sustainable development model for the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The preservation of wild fauna and flora in the areas benefited from the program will contribute to the maintenance of the corresponding watersheds.

Caixa Capitalização

The first partner of Safe Carbon program will be the company Caixa Capitalização. The company investment will come through the donation of part of the funds accrued with the sale of the investment title “Capitalização Sonho Azul” (Blue Dream Investment Title). The Group Caixa Seguro, to which Caixa Capitalização belongs, believes that the best way of taking care of the planet future is investing in forest preservation.