The first trees to be planted are those that grow best under the Amazon's scorching sun (Pablo PORCIUNCULA/AFP/AFP)
By AFP - Agence France Presse
In Brazil, a reforestation project in the Amazon seeks to rescue the carbon markets.
Anna PELEGRI
In the Brazilian Amazon, workers use metal pipes to plant seedlings in rapid succession, as part of an effort to reforest the jungle with millions of trees.
The project has financial backing from the United States and lucrative contracts with companies such as Google, Microsoft, and the McLaren F1 team, who want to use the reforested area to offset millions of tons of carbon emissions.
By planting native species that will grow in the Amazon, the Brazilian company Mombak hopes to restore credibility to a scandal-ridden carbon market at a crucial time for global warming.
“We have identified a great opportunity in the market, which is the global goal of reducing emissions over the next few years,” said Mombak co-founder Gabriel Silva at the Turmalina farm in the north of the state of Pará.
“The Amazon is the best place in the world to reforest,” he added, citing the loss of 60 million hectares since 2015.
- Contaminated carbon credits -
The carbon market is based on selling credits to companies to offset their greenhouse gas emissions, financing reforestation, or protecting existing carbon sinks that absorb CO2.
The idea behind carbon credits, however, has been hit by a major blow recently, as scientific research has repeatedly shown that the claims of emission reductions are extremely overestimated or even completely false.
The market has also been criticized as a “greenwashing” tool, allowing companies to claim carbon neutrality while doing little to reduce their emissions.
One of the reasons reforestation projects have proven ineffective is that many of them focus on monocultures, such as eucalyptus, which weaken ecosystems over time.
Since its foundation in 2021, Mombak has bought nine farms from landowners in the state of Pará, in northern Brazil, to replant trees.
The first of these, Turmalina - a former cattle ranch - covers 3,000 hectares. It is located east of Belém, the capital of Pará, which will host the UN COP30 climate conference in November.
- Simulating nature
In just 18 months, three million seedlings of 120 different indigenous species have been planted.
“We want to simulate nature,” to build a ‘resilient’ forest, explained biologist Severino Ribeiro.
The first trees to be planted are those that grow best under the scorching Amazonian sun. Then it will be the turn of the more fragile species, which grow well in the shade.
Some of the newly planted trees are already several meters tall.
Among them are 300,000 specimens of six species threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List. Among them is the yellow ipê, an emblematic tree of Brazil.
Mombak aims to plant at least 30 million trees by 2032, in an area five times the size of Manhattan Island in New York.
The project is funded by private investors as well as organizations such as the World Bank.
In November, the United States announced a $37.5 million loan for Mombak, during a visit by US President Joe Biden to the Amazon.
The contracts with the companies include a precise tonnage of emissions to be offset over a specific period.
Microsoft's contract aims to offset 1.5 million tons of CO2 - one of the largest of its kind in the world, according to Mombak.
The values of the contracts are being kept secret, but Mombak says they need to be “high” as these projects need “intensive capital” to be viable.
The Mombak project has not yet been validated by Verra, a US organization that is one of the main private certifiers of carbon credits.
Last year, Verra strengthened its methods after facing criticism that the projects it had validated saved little or no carbon compared to its promises.
- Delicate land issue -
Professor Lise Vieira da Costa, a specialist in carbon markets at the Federal University of Pará, said she was “wary” of newcomer Mombak, but saw encouraging signs in its project.
“The fact that she is betting on biodiverse reforestation is positive,” she said.
Da Costa also highlighted Mombak's approach to buying land for reforestation, which “indicates a tendency to have fewer conflicts with communities”.
Land ownership is a major challenge in the Amazon, where many don't have titles to their land, creating a legal limbo that is exploited by farmers, ranchers, and speculators.
Pará's courts have already seen several cases of misappropriation of land related to carbon credit projects.
To reduce conflict with local communities, Mombak is currently only working in areas “acquired from private owners established decades ago, which makes it easier to verify documentation”, said Silva.
However, the company is interested in the Pará government's first tender for the reforestation of a 10,000-hectare public area.
“Brazil cannot achieve its emissions reduction targets simply by reducing deforestation. We need to restore (deforested) areas by creating concessions” of land for the carbon market, said the governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho.
Forestry expert Carlos Augusto Pantoja argues that the funds allocated for reforestation should go to “the Amazonian people. They have the know-how and need support”.
“If capitalism is responsible for the climate crisis, I don't think it will be able to solve it.”
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