The program, launched in October 2019, is aligned with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is based on the concept of agrobiodiversity, which is associated with the relationships between humans, cultivated plants and the environment, with a positive impact on the conservation of natural resources, food security and sustainable development. The initiative involves carrying out a broad socio-environmental diagnosis of the tobacco-producing properties covered by the program, defining sustainability indicators to be monitored, providing training and an intervention and action plan aimed at recovering degraded areas and protecting biodiversity (fauna and flora) within the scope of family farming.
Agrobiodiversity in five pillars
The program's actions are being implemented based on five pillars:
1) identification and characterization of opportunities for maintaining and strengthening agrobiodiversity;
2) generation of databases, information and knowledge on the sustainability of rural properties;
3) contribution to the food and nutritional security of tobacco-producing families;
4) promoting the sustainability of properties, supported by the concept of environmental management; and
5) generation of a sustainable production model for family farming.
Environmental certification
Throughout the development of the program, indicators of environmental quality, phytotechnical aspects and ecosystem services will be characterized and quantified, generating a database and information that may be used for future certification or environmental seal processes.
“Working collaboratively with partner producers to preserve the environment is a key aspect of how we work on sustainability. Working alongside an institution like Embrapa Clima Temperado gives us the certainty that we are on the right path towards increasingly sustainable tobacco production, which values small properties and the work carried out by thousands of families in the Southern Region of Brazil,” emphasizes Guatimozin Santos, Institutional Relations Manager at Philip Morris Brazil.
Organic Fruit Gardens Project is renewed for 2020
Another partnership between PMB and Embrapa Clima Temperado, the Organic Fruit Gardens Project, was renewed for 2020, ensuring the planting of at least 100 more gardens this year. The initiative, which in 2019 had already benefited another 100 families of rural producers in the Southern Region, prioritizes the principles of ecologically based agricultural production, addressing cultural, ethnic, environmental, food, economic and medicinal issues.
With the support of PMB, in 2019, properties in 25 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná were included in the program, through the distribution of fruit and vegetable seedlings, which are chosen based on their nutritional and medicinal characteristics, as well as their adaptation to the region's soil and climate.
About Philip Morris Brazil
Affiliate of Philip Morris International (PMI) that is leading the transformation in the tobacco industry to create a smoke-free future and replace cigarettes with smoke-free products, for the benefit of adults who would otherwise smoke, society, the company and investors. A leader in the tobacco market, dedicated to the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, tobacco heating products, electronic devices and accessories, Philip Morris Brazil has been operating in the country for 45 years.
PMI’s new portfolio includes heated tobacco and nicotine-containing products. By the end of 2019, PMI estimated that approximately 9.7 million adult smokers worldwide would quit smoking and switch to its heated tobacco product, IQOS, currently available for sale in more than 50 markets. For more information, visit PMI’s websites, PMIScience and www.pmi.com/mar kets/brazil/pt/science-and-
