Green Climate Fund approves climate change mitigation project with cocoa from the Atlantic Forest and Amazon biomes

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa), through the Executive Committee of the Cocoa Farming Plan (Ceplac), of the Secretariat of Innovation, Sustainable Development, Innovation and Cooperativism (SDI), approved the preliminary project for mitigation and adaptation to climate change , with cocoa grown in agroforestry systems in the main producing regions in the Amazon and Atlantic Forest. This is a partnership with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) approved by the Green Climate Fund (GFC).

The formalization was received last Thursday (20) and implementation is scheduled for next year, following complete approval. The financing amount is US$570 thousand.

The objective is to implement agroforestry systems initiatives with cocoa to recover degraded areas in the Amazon region and Atlantic forest. Internally, at Mapa, the project continues to coordinate and mobilize the departments involved, which will promote training and workshops, in addition to planning the next steps for the execution of the main actions that will possibly take place in several Brazilian states from 2024 onwards.

In Brazil, agroforestry systems contribute, in this sense, due to the combination of the production of different crops within the same production unit, associating different plant species in a planned way, promoting carbon sequestration and biodiversity.

The SAF model is very positive for the environment, social development and production processes. Agroforestry systems improve soil use and management, help restore degraded environments, increase the diversity of the nature of the production system, in addition to promoting the continuity and permanent harvest of crops, which guarantee income and labor during the 12 months of the year.