Citizens of the Amazon

“The project is unique as it falls in a State Conservation Unit classified as an ‘Extractive Reserve’. This classification enables sustainable exploitation of natural resources in the area while guaranteeing the rights of the local community with respect to access to resources and the ability to stay in the territory.

Unlike many other rubber plantation forests, the existing rubber trees and other indigenous species in the Jacunda reserve are safeguarded against lumbering/deforestation, thereby preserving the livelihoods of traditional rubber tappers and also guaranteeing carbon sequestration for several decades.”

Project Type: Nature Based Avoidance/Reduction

Carbon Standard: Verra

Vintage: 2014-15

Additionality: Without the sale of carbon offsets, there would be no funding for strengthening the ability of the population living in Resex to respond to the continued threats of deforestation.

Permanence: This project has an assessed risk factor of 10% and is required to set aside 11% of its credits in a buffer pool to cover potential reversals (such as from illegal deforestation). The project takes several measures to guard against non-permanence including defined field patrols (supported by the sale of carbon credits), regular review of satellite imaging, and improved physical presence.

Site Visit: Q3 2021

The main goal of the Resex Rio Preto project is to provide support for a sustainable lifestyle for the local extractive community (rubber tappers) by reducing forest degradation, unplanned and illegal deforestation, ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources and reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases.

The Reservas Extrativistas (Extractive Reserves) are territorial spaces destined for sustainable use and conservation of renewable natural resources that aim for a balance between the ecological interests of environmental conservation and the social interests of improving the lives of the local population. They are areas used by traditional extractive populations (rubber tappers), whose livelihood is based on extraction in addition to subsistence agriculture and animal husbandry. The objective is to protect the culture and livelihoods of these people and ensure the sustainable use of the area’s natural resources.

The local extractive community faces many challenges to remain on its land and continue local traditions. By reducing forest degradation and working with the local government to monitor and prevent unplanned and illegal deforestation, ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources, and reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases, the project preserves these areas and provides a continued livelihood for this local community. The project zone includes a site of high conservation priority that meets the vulnerability criteria due to the presence of threatened species and will avoid the deforestation of 35,398 hectares.

The project is community-led and implemented on a specific Brazilian category of Protected Area in which traditional communities own the right to manage the resources. Resex Rio Preto-Jacundá REDD+ Project is a partnership between Biofílica and the Neighborhood Association of The Extractive Reserve Rio Preto-Jacundá and Ribeirinhos do Rio Machado (ASMOREX). Specific areas have been marked for fishing, hunting and forest management.

• The project has created a regular monthly program of workshops related to the management and finance of timber forests in accord with the principles of the Forest Stewardship Council.
• The project has formed residents into committees to manage health, education, infrastructure, and land tenure security.
• Established an educational center for youth and adults and facilitates access to distance learning courses for residents.  It is also teaching agroecology, waste disposal, and composting
• Training for at least one health worker per community and classes on hygiene and family planning for 20 families.
• Improvement in local welfare with housing construction to add bathrooms to homes and provide standard housing to those living in unsanitary conditions.
• Job creation, including production of cassava flour and fruit pulp, monitoring biodiversity, maintenance of roads, and managing satellite data reports
• Income generation by establishing a center for copal, acai, and brazil nut processing.
• Biodiversity including the protection of habitats, natural resources, and ecosystem services.

• Even with the best monitoring plan, regulation of forest areas can be difficult and dangerous.  The project monitors and report illegal forest activity but relies on the local government and military to manage incursions. The local government at times is both ineffective and unresponsive. Carbon offsets are purchased ex-post so there is no payment made for areas that have been illegally logged.
• The forest could be subject to invasion and timber theft
• Continuation of the project may prove difficult due to uncertainty within the carbon markets

Ensures the sustainability and socioeconomic development of the rural poor extractivists population while managing natural resources by following REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) guidelines.

• With courses, computers and communication available in the reserve I don’t need the city any more. – Resident 18 years of age
• Thanks to the project I have a new home. – Resident family of 4
• Monitoring and inspection of the Extractive Unit Rio Preto Jacundá is guaranteed with the transfer of an acquired tool for satellite monitoring capable of providing images weekly with a range of up to 3 meters. – SEDAM, Brazil