REDD – Rio Anapu-Pacaja, Para, Brazil

Project area is over 165,700 hectares of highly critical eastern Amazon biome and is the forested land within 36 individual titled properties spread across more than 182,000 ha

Portel and its neighbouring municipality are Brazil’s poorest regions with an average daily income of $3 USD per person; in the project’s vicinity it is less than $2 USD a day

About 50% of Portel’s population is rural and its main income sources are wood extraction and subsistence agriculture, specifically cassava agriculture

The project’s goal is to prove the economic feasibility of preserving forest in regions highly hostile to preservation efforts, where illegal logging is extreme and it is socially acceptable to convert forest to agriculture

The baseline scenario was for deforestation driven by population growth, unplanned timber logging and slash-and-burn clearing for farmland and grazing activities, reflecting high levels of land grabbing, land conflict and instability

To improve forest protection, the project focuses on bringing stability to surrounding areas by paying for and helping the local Riverine people to gain land tenure documents and eventually full freehold title deeds

Forest regeneration is achieved by reducing the area of cassava, by focusing on alternative, smaller footprint, higher value crops

Providing land tenure security to identified communities, it is also building the capacity of communities living outside the Project Boundary to take the steps required to get land title

Strengthened governance and forest management frameworks are aligned with traditional land management techniques and customs

It is building the communities’ capacity and skills to undertake additional economic activities

It has provided one-on-one training and increased access to education, with equal opportunities for women’s participation

Sustainable land use practices like agroforestry are improving lives

Local economy is built up by focusing on non-timber forest products like Jatai medical grade honey, a high value product that does not require deforestation

Providing cookstoves to families reduces fuelwood use during farinha production

New employment includes forest monitoring, community surveys and demonstrations

Local communities have increased access to health care

Protecting the habitat of 2 Critically Endangered, 4 Endangered and 21 Vulnerable species, it is creating of animal corridors, maintaining forest cover and reducing habitat fragmentation, helping ensure threatened animal & plant species conservation