Big REDD Week For Two Brazilian States

Chad Phillips

The Brazilian state of Mato Grosso this week enacted the law implementing its State System of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD +), while the state of Acre was awarded $25 million for REDD+, partly in recognition of its two-year-old ecosystem services regime.

11 January 2013 | The Brazilian state of Mato Grosso has become the second Brazilian state after Acre to create a regulatory framework for rewarding those who combat climate change by saving endangered rainforest. Acre, meanwhile, will receive 50 million Real ($24.2 million) for REDD+ from KfW, the German development bank, with up to that 70% of that going to providers of environmental services, including rubber-tappers and indigenous groups, according to Brazilian media.

On Monday, Mato Grosso Governor Silval da Cunha Barbosa signed Law No. 9878, creating the State System of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). The new law includes provisions for sustainable forest management and the increase of forest carbon stocks, which means the new framework will also accommodate REDD+.

Mato Grosso has the second-highest rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, behind Parí¡, and is home to several emerging REDD projects, including part of the Surui Carbon Project. The state will now create a 12-member REDD+ Management Board to oversee REDD activities.

For Acre, the award represents international recognition of its System of Incentives for Environmental Services (Sistema de Incentivo a Serviços Ambientais, or “SISA”), a ground-breaking framework for ecosystem services laws implemented just over two years ago.