REDD+ Resources Implementation Plan
Text adapted from the official website of State Plan Amazônia Agora (Plano Estadual Amazônia Agora – PEAA, in Portuguese)
The Amazônia Agora State Plan (PEAA, acronym in Portuguese) is the main platform for actions aimed at sustainably reducing deforestation in Pará. Launched in August 2020, the PEAA aims to promote a reduction of at least 37% in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from forest conversion and land use by 2030 – compared to the average between 2014 and 2018 – and, from then on, with additional support, increase this performance to a 43% reduction by December 2035.
The PEAA is equivalent to the new version (2020-2036) of the Prevention, Control, and Alternatives to Deforestation Plan in the State of Pará (PPCAD – in Portuguese), a public policy launched by the subnational Government in 2009, which, with its federal equivalent, the Prevention and Combating Deforestation Plan for the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm, acronym in Portuguese), has established itself as the main platform for actions in the area of environment and development.
While seeking to reduce deforestation progressively and without leaps, the PEAA also aims to intensify vegetation regeneration, reaching a mark of 5.65 million hectares (ha) by the year 2030, and, with voluntary support, increase performance to 7.41 million ha by December 2035. For comparative purposes, Brazil committed to restoring 12 million ha by 2030 under the Paris Agreement (UNFCCC).
Pará is the 2nd largest Federative Unit in Brazil, with a territorial extension of 125 million hectares, equivalent to the territories of the United Kingdom, Portugal, Netherlands, and Belgium combined. Additionally, it is the top-ranked state in Brazil in terms of GHG emissions, which in turn is the 7th largest emitter country on the planet (WRI, 2020). Aware of the extraordinary challenges, the PEAA has established as its central objective to elevate Pará, from 2036 onwards, to the status of Net Zero Emitter. That is, to eliminate the state’s “contribution” to the intensification of Climate Change on the planet, through an integration of efforts aimed at redesigning the economic model historically reproduced in the Amazon.
Structures
• Environmental Inspection, Licensing, and Monitoring (usually known by the term “Command & Control”);
• Territorial, Land, and Environmental Planning;
• Socioeconomic Development with Low Greenhouse Gas Emissions;
• Long-Range Environmental Financing.
Cross-cutting
• Communication, Data Transparency, and Participatory Management;
• Infrastructure and Logistics for Sustainable Development; and
• Information Technology, Innovation, and Scientific Research.
Each of these components has tools that are based on a sense of urgency – which is the reason for the use of the term “Now” (“Agora“, in Portuguese) – and integrated action, which occurs not only between various state agencies but in the coordination between the state entity, civil society, and the private sector. The Plan – which focuses on the “Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry” sector (LULUCF), responsible alone for 81% of Pará’s GHG emissions (SEEG, 2020) – is directly linked to the State Policy on Climate Change (PEMC, acronym in Portuguese), a state legal framework that establishes the principles, guidelines, and instruments to be prioritized by Pará in the pursuit of a new model of social, economic, and environmental development compatible with the state’s vocations and potentials, while also attentive to the limitations and needs of our people.
“The Government of Pará understands that it is not possible to think about environmental policy without agreeing on the integration of government agencies, guiding an orchestrated mode of action. The conception of the PEAA had as its premise to think in a plural way, centering efforts on a macro-strategy capable of combining the fight against environmental crimes with the guarantee of opportunities for occupation, income, and dignity for the people of Pará, especially the most vulnerable, and listening to the social actors involved in this process. With the PEAA, we have a regionalized, local vision, but with the real possibility of contributions on a global scale,” explains the Secretary of Environment and Sustainability, Mauro O’de Almeida.
“At the same time that the Government demands compliance with obligations, it also needs to bring opportunities, services, and benefits. This is what we are doing today with the Amazônia Agora State Plan, showing rural producers that we are not here just to inspect, but to help directly and indirectly, through strategic investments and our capacity for coordination and partnerships. This way, we will be able to effectively promote a development model that respects environmental limits and is compatible with our vocations,” highlights the State Governor, Helder Barbalho.
The Amazônia Agora State Plan was officially launched by State Decree No. 941, of August 4, 2020. Coordinated by the State Secretariat of Environment and Sustainability (SEMAS), the PEAA brings in its first package of actions (2020-2023) a list of 24 themes, which together aim to fulfill 52 targets, which unfold into 85 actions, distributed among 12 state agencies, in addition to an Institutional Partnership Network, which tends to be expanded as the Plan progresses in its implementation.
Currently, the implementing institutions of PEAA are:
