Challenge
There is a large mismatch between current climate ambition and climate policy implementation in Brazil, driven by a failure to curb the conversion of carbon rich biodiverse native ecosystems (the single largest source of emissions in the country) mainly for agriculture. Not only is this undermining the health and resilience of the Brazilian economy (for example, because ecosystem conversion compromises biodiversity, climate regulation, water supply and food security), it threatens the country’s international credibility (because it will prevent Brazil from meeting its climate and biodiversity pledges). Moreover, given that Brazil harbours >20% of the world’s species, ongoing ecosystem conversion threatens the integrity of the entire biosphere.
Solution
Protect and restore Brazil’s ecosystems by strengthening, applying and going beyond existing laws to eliminate illegal and legal deforestation, and enshrining it in an enhanced Nationally Determined Contribution.
