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BR

Brazil

140,433 ha

Pacajá Pará

Avoided Unplanned Deforestation

Support riverside communities and preserve key jaguar habitat from conversion to commodity crops in the Amazon Rainforest

Overview

Pacajá Pará

BR

Brazil

140,433 ha

Developer: Ecológica Assessoria

Avoided Unplanned Deforestation

The “Fazenda Pacajá” is located on private property in the Northeast Amazon. Started in 2017, this project protects the native vegetation from deforestation and degradation through sustainable forest management, reduced impact logging, and regulated minimum cutting cycles. In doing so, it serves as an ecological corridor, helps fund community services, and provides alternative income opportunities through the sustainable use of natural resources and forest by-products.

Registry

Verra Logo

Registry ID: 2558

Certifications

Certification - Social Carbon Logo

Methodology

VM0015v1.1

Pachama's project evaluation criteriaPachama rigorously evaluates every project listed on our marketplace to ensure that we're surfacing only the highest quality projects. Our Evaluation Criteria includes a series of checks that every project must pass as well as a number of informative insights on project quality. You can see a preview of these checks below.

01

Additional

Does the project have a net additional climate benefit?

  • Net additional climate benefit

    Emissions reductions are calculated based on the difference between baseline, project, and leakage emissions. Pachama analyzes emissions claims to confirm that the project has a net additional climate benefit, and each credit represents at least one metric ton of carbon.

02

Conservative

Is the climate benefit based on sound and conservative claims?

  • Baseline claims

    Pachama analyzes baseline emissions accounting to confirm that the reported baseline emissions are less than what Pachama observes with remote sensing.

  • Project claims

    Pachama assesses the project boundary, project emissions accounting, carbon inventory, and financial and legal additionality.

  • Leakage claims

    Pachama summarizes the project's reported leakage emissions accounting.

03

Durable

Is the climate benefit long-lasting?

  • Ongoing monitoring

    Pachama quantifies emissions since the last verification to ensure the project continues to deliver a climate benefit.

  • Project risks

    Pachama characterizes fire and other natural risks and summarizes buffer pool contributions.

04

Beyond Carbon

Does the project deliver benefits beyond carbon?

  • Social impacts

    If a project occurs on community-owned land, Pachama confirms the community is fully informed of the project activity and impact, consent is given without coercion, and a grievance and redress mechanism is in place.

  • Ecological impacts

    For ARR projects, Pachama analyzes native species planting, species diversity, regional suitability, and reforestation practices.

  • Certifications

    Pachama provides a summary of the project's awarded certifications.

1/4

Tech-verified evaluationEvery forest project listed on the Pachama Marketplace must align with our Evaluation Criteria to ensure we're surfacing only the highest quality projects. To assess a forest project, Pachama uses remote sensing to review a variety of factors including forest cover loss in and around the project area. This project passes our emissions quality checks because the reported emissions are in line with what Pachama observed.

Contains modified data from Hansen Global Forest Change v1.9 (2001-2021).

Visual Description

The figure above shows the project area outlined in white, and observed forest loss in red. The project has been active since 2017. Pachama analyzes forest loss data and removes false positives during our project evaluation process.

Project story
Supporting sustainable forest management in an extremely remote area

Prior to the project’s start, Pacajá’s Sustainable Forest Management Plan was causing financial losses to the farm. However, the owner, who has held the land since 1979, felt a personal drive to safeguard it from cattle ranching and illegal logging regardless of those challenges. After creating a new and more stringent environmental plan to mitigate damage and protect old growth, a specialized internal team was formed to monitor the farm, and local communities were consulted to initiate alternative revenue streams. By 2020, the farm had received the Cerflor certification (Brazilian Forest Certification Program) signifying commitment to responsible operation.

Production and transport planning now ensures the least possible impact and each tree is tagged to facilitate inventory flow and chain of custody all the way to the consumer. Revenue from carbon credits is essential to pay for the increased costs of the new SFMP operations and community activities as well as to compete with profitable, alternative land use scenarios.

This project is laser-focused on alternative revenue streams. Pacajá Furniture, started in 2019, uses forest waste (branches, treetop pieces, hollow trunks) to create rustic furniture that keeps its original shape. Ultimately, this will generate employment for the local community and alternative revenue for both the project and local stakeholders.

40.2M

tons of CO2e reductions over the 30-year project lifetime.

~10%

of entire planet’s biodiversity is found in the project region.

The project supports the economic development of local communities through the sustainable use of natural resources.

The project supports the economic development of local communities through the sustainable use of natural resources.

Impacts beyond carbon

Involving communities directly in project design for a holistic approach to local development

The project currently serves five local communities, but plans to gradually expand to include thirteen. Many live on the banks of rivers, isolated from outside cultural influences and even other community members (distance between residences can be over 1.2 miles). The project celebrates and encourages the traditional livelihoods of these communities, reconnecting them with habits for fishing, preparing manioc flour, and selling chestnuts. They promote benefit sharing with local stakeholders so that owners are invested in pursuing long-term sustainable development. Future planned community activities include training for female audiences, formal health monitoring, and construction of a library. The project aligns with a number of the UN Sustainable Development Goals:
No Poverty image

01

No Poverty

Introducing new forms of income and food to the community, such as raising chicken and fish, biscuit production, and furniture manufacturing to promote the independence of communities from illegal logging.

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Quality Education image

04

Quality Education

Developing educational programs around agroforestry, sustainability, crafts, and finances. These are all topics directly advocated for by local community members so the project can be confident it is providing services that are most important to those who live there.

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Decent work and economic growth image

08

Decent work and economic growth

Generating employment for the local community through forest surveillance work and training in reduced impact extraction, occupational health and safety, first aid, and firefighting.

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Life on land image

15

Life on land

Conducting Fauna monitoring reports to provide a clear picture of the area’s rich biodiversity. The project is also constructing a nursery for seedling production and supporting the implementation of several local aviaries for protection of exotic and endemic species.

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biodiversity
An extremely at-risk part of the Amazon

The area is rich in rivers and includes many threatened and endemic species. The Brazilian Ministry for the Environment classified the project as a priority area for conservation with neighboring municipalities having the highest deforestation rate within the Amazon in recent years, partly due to lack of economic alternatives. The project conducted a fauna monitoring report to evaluate and understand subsequent changes and the project’s impact on local biodiversity, The project recently received a certificate from the Instituto Onça Pintada (IOP) for rural producers whose sustainable practices contribute to the conservation of the Jaguar (onça pintada). The flora also features exotic species, such as the water lily and dozens of species of bromeliads.

biodiversity image
  • 2,000

    Fish species in Pará

  • 950

    Bird species in Pará

  • 300

    Mammal species in Pará

Cacao image
tree spotlight
Cacao

The cacao tree is native to the Amazon rainforests and produces the main ingredient in chocolate. When intercropped with other useful crops, cacao can create agroforestry systems that provide alternative economic returns to farmers and diversify their livelihood options.

how this project helps

Cacao has been planted on 14 hectares of degraded pasture as a pilot project to see if it can renew the soil while generating an alternative revenue stream.

Tamarin Monkey image
animal spotlight
Tamarin Monkey

Tamarins are squirrel-sized monkeys native to the Southwest Amazon basin. They live in a variety of wooded habitats generally in extended family groups of two to eight and are at risk of losing their habitats to deforestation.

how this project helps

The project monitors an extensive amount of fauna to keep track of animals that live in adjacent biological communities. This allows them to evaluate and understand changes and put plans into practice to minimize and reduce environmental disturbances.

Public registry documentsApplicable calculation methods are referenced in the reports below. Note that registries do not publicly provide all pertinent data required to reproduce emissions calculations. However, Independent Validation and Verification Bodies have access to the data needed to reproduce and verify emissions calculations.

  • Validation Report 2023

    pdf

  • Project Description Document

    pdf

  • Verification Report 2017-2020

    pdf

  • Monitoring Report 2017-2020

    pdf

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