The project is located within the Amazon, the largest remaining rainforest on our planet. The Amazon is known for its amazing biodiversity; home to10% of all species, including some endangered species that rely on it for their survival.

This Portel-Pará REDD project is working to prevent unplanned deforestation in native forests, which has occurred due to logging, squattering and attempts to implement pastures. The project is expected to avoid over 22 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions over a 40 year period. This will be achieved by managing the land in the form of a “private conservation reserve”, through a rigorous monitoring and enforcement. From 2012 the project has scaled-up its monitoring activities by employing and properly training local villagers for monitoring and enforcement activities.

The Project Area comprises 177,899.5 Ha in 17 privately owned parcels or “Glebas” adding up to a total of 194,402.8 Ha in the Portel municipality, located in the Portel micro region. Local population is comprised mainly of settlers known as “Ribeirinhos”, who live along the rivers and along the igarapés (small streams). There are no indigenous communities located either in the Project Area.

The project is in an area of extreme importance for biodiversity conservation.

According to the Brazilian Ministry of Environment, this area holds a great diversity and abundance of species, not only important for the maintenance of ecological relationships, but also of socio-economic importance such as Brazil nut trees and other noble tree species.

Pará REDD project zone also holds innumerous species of animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. In the Primates group, Cebus kaapori (Ka’apor Capuchin) and Chiropotes satanas (Black Bearded Saki) are critically endangered both by IUCN and IBAMA. In the Carnivores, Leopardus tigrinus (oncilla) is considered vulnerable and Pteronura brasiliensis (giant otter) endangered. Other threatened mammals are: Mymecophaga tridactyla (giant anteater) and Priodontes maximus (giant armadillo), both considered vulnerable and endangered.

Approved to CCB Standards Second Edition, Climate Adaptation & Biodiversity Gold Level

VCS guarantees the transparency and accuracy of carbon accounting and CCB guarantees positive social and environmental benefits. The Gold Level Award is an additional guarantee of the exceptional social and environmental co-benefits of the project.

The key project activities include:

• Providing training on forest and biodiversity monitoring and management and opportunities to work as a monitoring/enforcement staff.
• Enhancing community’s organizational capabilities.
• Providing legal land-ownership rights versus results for conservation.
• Providing capacity building on steps to gain land use rights over Government owned forests.
• Providing capacity building in agroforestry techniques and implement agroforestry pilots.
• Providing capacity building on improved efficiency cook stoves and implement cook stove pilots.
• Providing capacity building to develop small sustainable business.
• Providing capacity building to cattle ranchers that move inside the Project Boundary.

Social and Sustainability Benefits

The project is contributing to sustainable development:

• Stimulate the creation of jobs linked to forest management.
• Training in forest management.
• Supports critical biodiversity habitats.