The manifesto brings important and priority points for sustainable development addressed to the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro
Resume the controlling deforestation and combating illegalities, to position Brazil as an agro-environmental leader, were proposed as premises for the federal government in document published by the Brazil Climate, Forests and Agriculture Coalition last Wednesday, August 28. The Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) is one of the more than 200 members of the Brazil Climate, Forests and Agriculture Coalition, which brings together representatives from agribusiness, environmental protection organizations, the financial sector and academia, reiterating the need for immediate and systemic actions by the government.
As described in the CEBDS' official position on the Amazon: “controlling deforestation is the lowest cost option (private and social) for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil. Combining financial instruments, including carbon pricing and international financial compensation mechanisms, is essential for the viability of such strategies”.
The Brazil Coalition is emphatic in saying that “we have already experienced periods in which a significant drop in deforestation occurred amid a cycle of leaps in productivity in agriculture”, making it clear that “this history shows that it is not necessary to deforest to increase agricultural production”.
The burning of development
The manifesto also reports that fires and deforestation have shown a strong relationship in 2019, and although fire is regularly used in some agricultural practices, it is also used as a way to illegally deforest protected forest areas. “Combating illegal deforestation also involves preventing invasions of indigenous lands or protected areas, including for illegal mining purposes.”
The preservation of standing forests is synonymous with development in the country. “Brazil has a great opportunity to attract new resources from national and international investors if it is able to monetize its environmental assets. In addition to paying for the maintenance of standing forests, these resources can have direct repercussions on our economy, for example, by incorporating the value of Brazilian environmental assets into the country’s GDP,” explains the manifesto.
Finally, it is necessary to emphasize once again that there is no controversy between producing and preserving. Vanguard companies in all productive sectors, especially in Brazilian agribusiness, already recognize the path to sustainable development and the good business opportunities generated from best practices in the social and environmental sphere.
