Almost 30 percent of the world’s land is used for grazing and planting food, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). To promote research on the impact of livestock farming on biodiversity, the UN agency and the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment held a workshop on the subject this week. Meeting met in Brasilia, experts from different parts of the country.
The secretary of Extractive and Sustainable Rural Development of the pulp, Juliana Simões, defended the importance of the agenda for Brazil, since the South American nation is the main meat producer in the world and also the largest in biodiversity. “For these two reasons, there would be no conditions for Brazil to stay out of this discussion of biodiversity indicators and, more than that: we need to lead this discussion,” he said during the opening of the event on Monday (21).
According to the manager, Brazil has adopted voluntary goals with the Paris Agreement that are related to the theme. Among the commitments are the objectives of regenerating 12 million hectares by 2030, expanding integrated farming systems by five million hectares and recovering 15 million degraded pastures. According to Juliana, the plan will contribute to protecting national biodiversity, especially through the creation of systems that link crops, forests and livestock activities.
Closed on Tuesday (22), the meeting was attended by FAO representative in Brazil, Alan Bojanic, who praised the country’s commitment to the Animal Husbandry Environmental Assessment and Performance (LEAP) project. Created in 2012 by the international organization, the program mobilizes governments, the private sector, NGOs and other actors, united by a commitment to environmental management and the sustainable development of the livestock sector.
“This international LEAP partnership aims to generate methodologies, contributions, contributions to obtain guidelines that can be references to other countries, mainly to harmonize these technologies, have the same parameters,” explained the national leader of the UN agency. “More than 17 countries are involved, with relevant leadership from Brazil.” Also present, FAO headquarters specialist in Rome Felix Teillard stressed that “there is a need for tools that consider all the diversity of ecosystems.”
The first phase of LEAP took place from 2012 to 2015, during which activities focused on the emission of greenhouse gases. For the second phase (2015-2018), the scope of the project has been expanded to address new themes such as water use and biodiversity and ecosystem services. Teillard also pointed out that Brazil is an active participant in the program, with researchers leading international groups. These entities are responsible for developing methodological guidelines for environmental assessment of livestock supply chains. In the UN agency expert’s assessment, LEAP is also critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (ODS), such as Objectives 2 (Zero Hunger), 14 (Life on Water) and 15 (Life on Earth).