Project CONSERV in Brazil: Protecting Forests While Boosting Farmers’ Income

 

Project CONSERV in Brazil: Protecting Forests While Boosting Farmers’ Income

In South America, Brazil’s Amazon–Cerrado region—covering about 2 million km² (roughly 20% of Brazil’s land area)—forms a transition zone between the Amazon rainforest and the Cerrado savanna, a grassland region. It is a biodiversity hotspot, a vast carbon store, and the source of major rivers that feed the Amazon River basin. 

But this region is continuously threatened by deforestation for soybean production, cattle ranching, and agricultural expansion. As more forests are cleared to make way for crop cultivation, the region has begun to experience rising local temperatures, increasing water stress, and declining agricultural yields.

Between 1985 and 2022, more than 13 percent of the Amazon–Cerrado Region was cleared for agriculture. Soybean production, an important crop of Brazil’s economy, drove much of this change. 

In the short term, profits increased, but deforestation soon triggered higher temperatures, reduced rainfall stability, and weakened the resilience of crops. The final outcome was clear: expanding farmland was no longer a guarantee of higher production.

The situation created a twofold problem. Farmers lacked reliable evidence of how forests supported agriculture, and existing financial incentives were not strong enough to keep forests standing. This created an urgent need to demonstrate the role of forests in stabilizing climate and sustaining crop yields.

In response, the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), in collaboration with FAO, the Woodwell Climate Research Center, and the Brazilian government, designed the CONSERV strategy to:

1. Generate digital evidence linking forest cover with agricultural productivity.

2. Translate this knowledge into financial incentives for landowners.

3. Strengthen the ability of governments and institutions to monitor compliance with environmental laws.

They then introduced advanced data tools to better understand the role of forests in agriculture and climate regulation:

·        MODIS – satellite-based data to track land surface temperature and evapotranspiration.

·        TerraClimate – provides monthly climate water balance data to assess water availability and stress.

·        MapBiomas – a land-use and land-cover monitoring platform to track deforestation and land changes.

·        Google Earth Engine and R packages – used for processing and analyzing large datasets efficiently.

 These tools provided compelling insights—for example, Indigenous territories with intact forests were found to be 2°C cooler than nearby deforested areas. With this evidence, the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) initiated the project “CONSERV” in late 2021.

A project focused on conserving Brazilian forests through private land agreements. It uses a simple contract between private parties to lease a farmer's land for conservation, providing payment for them to keep forests intact. 

Ground-Level Actions through the CONSERV Project:

·        Mapping: Identified “native vegetation surplus” on private properties.

·        Incentivizing: Offered financial rewards to landowners for conserving forests instead of clearing them.

·        Monitoring: Used advanced satellite tools to ensure compliance and transparency.

The project “CONSERV” created a new model where conservation was not a burden for farmers but an opportunity for income.

What the project Achieved:

• ·        21,000 hectares of forest protected across 23 private properties.
• ·        Avoided 2.2 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions.
• ·        Better enforcement of national laws such as the Environmental Reserve Quotas and the Native Vegetation Protection Law.
• ·        A proof of concept: forests can be economically valuable for agriculture, not just for carbon storage.

Now the question is: Why the agrarian people from the Cerrado region accepted the CONSERV project and implemented its instructions?

The answer is:

Fair financial reward: CONSERV payments were designed to match or even exceed what farmers could earn by cutting forests and growing soybeans or raising cattle.

Stable income: Farming in deforested areas was becoming less reliable due to higher temperatures, water shortages, and lower yields. CONSERV gave landowners a steady, guaranteed income, reducing financial risks.

Linked benefits: CONSERV was connected with other mechanisms like Brazil’s ecological VAT (ICMS), REDD+ payments, and environmental laws.

Market access: By joining CONSERV, farmers could continue selling to premium markets and avoid penalties or being excluded by major buyers.

 

Source: case study 02, page no.43. FAO. 2024. The State of the World’s Forests 2024 – Forest-sector innovations towards a more sustainable future. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cd1211en