Emas-Taquari

Biodiversity Corridor Carbon Project

The Emas-Taquari Biodiversity Corridor Carbon Grouped Project is an initiative aimed at recovering degraded areas on private properties in the Brazilian Cerrado. Undertaken in partnership with Oréades, this is an Afforestation, Reforestation and Rehabilitation (ARR) project, registered on the Verra platform under ID 738.

Performed

Projection

*Projection based on areas in progress, under development and organic growth.

Located in the

Cerrado Biome

Status

Ongoing

The birthplace of waters

The second largest biome in South America, the Cerrado covers an area of 2 million km², around 22% of the national territory. It is home to the headwaters of the three largest hydrographic basins in South America, which results in a high aquifer potential and favors its biodiversity.

The Brazilian Cerrado is recognized as the savannah with the greatest biological diversity in the world. Many populations survive on its natural resources, including indigenous ethnic groups, Quilombolas (Maroons) and river dwellers. Nonetheless, it is the Brazilian biome with the lowest percentage of areas under full protection: 8.21% of its territory is legally protected by conservation units.

After the Atlantic Forest, the Cerrado is the Brazilian biome that has been most affected by human occupation. Due to the growing pressure to open up new areas to produce meat and grains for export, the region’s natural resources have been progressively depleted over the last three decades.

Reclaiming and conserving the Cerrado’s forest cover is crucial for preserving biodiversity and maintaining ecosystem services, especially water supply and energy generation for most of the country’s population.

The Emas-Taquari project is currently taking place on private properties located on the border of the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, in the Taquari and Araguaia river basins, a biodiversity corridor that links the Nascentes do Taquari State Park to the Emas National Park. Accounting for 10% of all Cerrado areas that have been rehabilitated, the project promotes the protection of springs, native fauna and flora, besides rendering rural properties compliant with current environmental legislation.

Before and After

Project Background

HIGHLIGHTS AND TIMELINE

2010

Start of the project by Oréades

2021

brCarbon becomes a co-proponent

2022

The project is upgraded to “grouped” level

EMAS-TAQUARI REDD+APD PROJECT PHOTO GALLERY

Impact

Climate

670+ thousand tCO₂e removed in a 35-year project*

*Amount of carbon removed from the atmosphere through reforestation equivalent to almost 1 year of emissions by the city of Natal/RN (SEEG 2023)

*Projection based on areas in progress, under development and organic growth.

Community

51 families with access to water
Roughly 50 people trained

Biodiversity

190 species being monitored (3 groups)

12 endangered species (IUCN Red List)
524 hectares reforested

Contribution to the SDGs

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Emas-Taquari

Grouped Project

The Emas-Taquari project is validated to the Verified Carbon Standard – VCS and Climate, Community and Biodiversity - CCB (Biodiversity Gold Level) standards, audited annually by an independent Verra-accredited institution. It is the world's first VCS and CCB ARR project in a savannah.

Become a brCarbon partner and profit from the standing forest.

The Emas-Taquari project provides rural landowners with additional benefits, such as the environmental compliance of their land, which adds more value to their products and more productive security, in addition to generating new sources of income. One of the strategies is to introduce species that are native to the Cerrado, especially those that are more interrelated with the fauna and/or have sustainable economic uses, while securing the involvement and benefits of local communities. That is the case with baru nuts, for example, which are used in large concentrations in the reforestation of an 80-hectare area. Six years later, the landowners began to produce baru nuts and their derivatives, thus consolidating their position as an important supplementary source of income.

Check out what some landowners have been saying

“The partnership has been very good for me. Today the Pratigi Project is like the flagship of our company: protecting the environment. We depend on big companies to buy our products, and they're very connected. When they get here, they ask how we're preserving the springs, how the PPAs have been maintained... So, we're ahead of the game.”

“We have to worry about the forest, it plays a very noble role, such as being responsible for rain corridors, for example. Furthermore, another advantage for landowners in participating in projects like the Emas-Taquari is that they can regularize land with environmental liabilities.”