junho, 30 2023

By Daniely Lima, WWF-Brazil

The alarming increase in deforestation and native vegetation conversion in Brazil in recent years has generated a series of concerning impacts on nature and people's lives, and the corporate sector plays a crucial role in effectively implementing commitments and policies to change this situation. That's why, on April 25th, WWF-Brazil brought together companies and financial institutions in São Paulo for the event "Zero Deforestation and Conversion: Impacts and Solutions for the Private Sector."

During the meeting, experts from WWF-Brazil and representatives from the private sector emphasized the importance of everyone's commitment to deforestation-free and conversion-free supply chains. This not only protects biodiversity and ecosystem services but can also result in improvements in productivity efficiency, product quality, and business resilience in the future. It also represents strategic, reputational, and economic advantages for companies.

"WWF-Brazil's work is to connect the various links in the chain, as well as to provide technical and scientific guidance so that companies can organize themselves and transform their day-to-day business management," explains Daniela Teston, Corporate Relations Director of the organization.

"Eliminating deforestation and conversion in Brazil is urgent. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary for companies to act to definitively clean up their supply chains," highlights Daniela.
   

Impacts and solutions for the private sector

According to a technical note from WWF-Brazil, published in September 2022, deforestation increases the cost of climate change for agribusiness. This study showed that between 1985 and 2012, deforestation and conversion caused an average reduction of 12% in soybean cultivation productivity in the Amazon and 6% in the Cerrado, with a decrease of over 20% in some regions of both biomes.

Another publication from WWF, delivered to climate negotiators at the United Nations (UN) COP27 conference held in Egypt in November 2022, also demonstrated that the food production chain contributes at least one-third of the total greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change on the planet. Three commodities, namely livestock, palm oil, and soy, account for most of the deforestation and conversion of natural ecosystems, together representing one-fourth of the emissions from the global food sector.

The impact is evident in the alarming data on biome losses. According to information from the Real-Time Deforestation Detection System (DETER) of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), the Cerrado, for example, lost 2,133 km² of native vegetation in the first four months of 2023, representing an increase of 17% compared to the same period last year and 48% above the historical average of deforestation. In May, deforestation in the biome remained high, with 1,326 km² devastated, an 83% increase compared to May 2022.
"The increasing deforestation and conversion is causing a series of impacts, whether in terms of climate change, loss of biodiversity, or violation of the rights of indigenous people and traditional communities," says Mariana Napolitano, Science Manager of WWF-Brazil.

Therefore, the involvement of the various links in the supply chain, through the adoption of more sustainable practices, is essential. "As a retail company that already makes this connection between consumers and clients, we believe that the involvement of all links in the chain is indeed crucial for building the common future that we all want," emphasizes Renata Amaral, Sustainability Manager of GPA, the group that owns brands such as Pão de Açúcar, Mercado Extra and Compre Bem.

Several companies are already following the trends and making adjustments to zero deforestation and conversion commitments in their supply chains. However, there is still a challenge to engage more stakeholders in the productive sector. 

"Having a zero deforestation and conversion commitment is challenging because it needs to be 100% present in our chain. The difficulty lies in achieving visibility and transparency with indirect suppliers," says Patrícia Campos Sugui, responsible for the ESG Department at CJ Selecta. "Today, we have satellite-based geolocation tools for properties, but it is very important to engage indirect suppliers in our policy for a more sustainable production system."

Patrícia adds that market and industry changes can occur through laws implemented in other countries or even through pressure from consumers themselves, who increasingly want to know the origin of products and whether companies are socially and environmentally responsible.

The role of the financial sector

The financial sector also plays an important role in the path to this necessary change. Therefore, WWF-Brazil is working on the creation of green financial instruments and collaborating with stakeholders for the conservation of ecosystems, biodiversity, and the rights of indigenous and traditional people.

"Financial institutions and investors can avoid the risk of deforestation and conversion in their investment portfolios and encourage producers who can still legally deforest not to do so by creating financial instruments that promote good practices," explains Fabrício Campos, Finance Specialist at WWF-Brazil.