“If capitalism is responsible for the climate crisis, I don’t think it will be able to solve it.”
By AFP
Anna PELEGRI
In the Brazilian Amazon, workers use metal tubes to sow 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 thrive in the Amazon, the Brazilian company Mombak hopes to restore credibility to a scandal-ridden carbon market at a crucial time for the warming planet.
“We identified a great opportunity in the market, which is the global goal of reducing emissions in the coming years”, said Mombak co-founder Gabriel Silva, at the Turmalina farm in the northern state of Para.
“The Amazon is the best place in the world to reforest,” he added, citing the loss of 60 million hectares since 2015.
– Tainted carbon credits –
The carbon market is based on the sale of credits to companies to offset their greenhouse gas emissions by financing reforestation or protecting existing carbon sinks that absorb CO2.
The idea behind carbon credits has, however, taken a major hit recently as scientific research has repeatedly shown claims of reduced emissions being hugely overestimated — or even entirely untrue.
The market has also been criticized as a tool for “greenwashing,” allowing companies to claim carbon neutrality while doing little to reduce their own emissions.
One reason reforestation projects have proven ineffective is that many focus on monocultures, such as eucalyptus, which weaken ecosystems over time.
Since its founding in 2021, Mombak has bought nine farms from landowners in the northern Brazilian state of Para to replant trees.
The first of these, Turmalina — a former cattle ranch — covers 3,000 hectares. It is located to the east of Belem, the capital of Para, which will host the UN COP30 climate conference in November.
– ‘Simulate nature’ –
In just 18 months, three million cuttings 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 sweltering Amazon sun. Then it will be the turn of more fragile species, which thrive in their 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. They include yellow ipe, a tree that is emblematic in Brazil.
Mombak aims to plant at least 30 million trees by 2032, across an area five times the size of New York’s Manhattan island.
The project is financed by private investors, as well as by organizations such as the World Bank.
The United States in November announced a $37.5 million loan to Mombak, during a visit by US President Joe Biden to the Amazon.
Contracts with companies include a precise tonnage of emissions to be offset over a specific period.
Microsoft’s contract aims to offset 1.5 million tonnes of carbon — one of the largest of its kind in the world, according to Mombak.
The amounts 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 yet to be validated by Verra, a US organization that is one of the main private certifiers of carbon credits.
Verra last year strengthened its methods after facing criticism that projects it had validated actually saved little or no carbon compared with their promises.
– Sensitive land question –
Professor Lise Vieira da Costa, an expert in carbon markets at the Federal University of Para, said she was “cautious” about newcomer Mombak, but saw encouraging signs in its project.
“The fact that it is betting on biodiverse reforestation is positive,” she said.
Da Costa also highlighted Mombak’s approach of buying land for reforestation, which “indicates a tendency to have fewer conflicts with the communities.”
Land ownership is a major challenge in the Amazon, where many lack titles for their land, creating a legal limbo that is exploited by farmers, ranchers and speculators.
Para courts have seen several cases of misappropriation of land related to carbon credit projects.
To reduce conflict with local communities, Mombak is currently only working on areas “acquired from private owners who have been established for decades, which makes it easier to verify documentation,” said Silva.
However, the company is interested in the Para government’s first tender for the reforestation of a 10,000-hectare public area.
“Brazil cannot achieve its emission reduction targets by simply reducing deforestation. We need to restore (deforested) areas by creating concessions” of land for the carbon market, said Para governor Helder Barbalho.
Forestry specialist Carlos Augusto Pantoja argues that funds allocated to reforestation should go to “the Amazonian people. They have the know-how and they need support.”
“If capitalism is responsible for the climate crisis, I don’t think it will be able to solve it.”
COP30
Anna PELEGRI
After serving a customer a bowl of acai with fried fish in Belem’s market, Sandra da Costa wipes her hands excitedly.
“Finally, the long-awaited renovation is going to happen,” she says.
With 200 workers laboring seven days a week, the largest open-air market in Latin America reflects the transformation underway in the Brazilian city, which is preparing to host in November the first UN climate conference in the Amazon, a meeting called COP30.
But the challenge is immense for this northern metropolis of 1.3 million people, crisscrossed by canals.
It faces severe social inequality and lacks sufficient infrastructure, including accommodations for the 60,000 delegates expected to attend.
Record public investment is restoring monuments, transforming the abandoned port warehouses into leisure zones, and dredging the river bay to anchor two cruise ships, which will expand lodging options alongside two new hotels.
– Turning point –
“The COP30 will be a turning point for the city and the Amazon,” says Igor Normando, the 37-year-old mayor, to AFP.
“The world will learn the challenges of the Amazonian people, and see that there is nothing fairer than helping us,” says Normando atop the historic Forte do Presepio, overlooking an acai market where tons of the Amazonian fruit arrive every dawn.
The world’s largest tropical rainforest is critical in the fight against climate change, but increasingly suffers its effects, with fires and droughts growing more severe each year.
Experts view the UN conference, set for November 10-21, as a crucial chance for humanity to reverse the warming trend with firm commitments to reduce global emissions and preserve the forest.
– ‘Canopy of a tree’ –
At the new Parque da Cidade, a former airfield where COP30 events will take place alongside the convention center for official negotiations, references to nature and Indigenous cultures abound.
Among the metal structures set to host culinary and craft hubs, native flora like rubber trees are being planted. Excavators are also working to prepare the site for a lake.
Replacing asphalt with green spaces in one of Brazil’s least forested cities — despite it being in the Amazon — is another goal for local authorities.
The initiative gained momentum after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared in 2023 that COP30 meetings might even take place “under the canopy of a tree.”
– ‘Invisible City’ –
Belem is “two cities: the one everyone will see, including heads of state; and another that is invisible,” says historian Michel Pinho.
Max Moraes, a 56-year-old boatman from Vila da Barca, a stilt neighborhood struggling without basic sanitation while luxury apartment towers loom nearby, expresses outrage.
“Where is the money for the COP30 going? To help the population?” he asks skeptically while sitting on a wooden walkway above garbage floating in yellowish water.
Yet, in Vila da Barca, founded a century ago by fishermen and now coveted by real estate speculators, resistance is key, according to community leaders.
– ‘Urban Amazon’ –
“Our daily struggle is real,” says Inez Medeiros, a 37-year-old teacher and social leader from the neighborhood. “We want the COP30 to consider us because we also live in the Amazon, even if it’s an urban Amazon.”
After more than two decades of delays, the city recently delivered 100 social housing units, finally providing some families with decent homes.
Each victory brings motivation, Medeiros says.
Her next challenge: launching a small floating hotel to host COP participants, offering them a firsthand view of Belem, “beyond the spotlight.”
By AFP
January 7, 2025
By planting native species that will thrive in the Amazon, Mombak hopes to restore credibility to a scandal-ridden carbon market - Copyright AFP STR
By planting native species that will thrive in the Amazon, Mombak hopes to restore credibility to a scandal-ridden carbon market - Copyright AFP STR
Anna PELEGRI
In the Brazilian Amazon, workers use metal tubes to sow 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 thrive in the Amazon, the Brazilian company Mombak hopes to restore credibility to a scandal-ridden carbon market at a crucial time for the warming planet.
“We identified a great opportunity in the market, which is the global goal of reducing emissions in the coming years”, said Mombak co-founder Gabriel Silva, at the Turmalina farm in the northern state of Para.
“The Amazon is the best place in the world to reforest,” he added, citing the loss of 60 million hectares since 2015.
– Tainted carbon credits –
The carbon market is based on the sale of credits to companies to offset their greenhouse gas emissions by financing reforestation or protecting existing carbon sinks that absorb CO2.
The idea behind carbon credits has, however, taken a major hit recently as scientific research has repeatedly shown claims of reduced emissions being hugely overestimated — or even entirely untrue.
The market has also been criticized as a tool for “greenwashing,” allowing companies to claim carbon neutrality while doing little to reduce their own emissions.
One reason reforestation projects have proven ineffective is that many focus on monocultures, such as eucalyptus, which weaken ecosystems over time.
Since its founding in 2021, Mombak has bought nine farms from landowners in the northern Brazilian state of Para to replant trees.
The first of these, Turmalina — a former cattle ranch — covers 3,000 hectares. It is located to the east of Belem, the capital of Para, which will host the UN COP30 climate conference in November.
– ‘Simulate nature’ –
In just 18 months, three million cuttings 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 sweltering Amazon sun. Then it will be the turn of more fragile species, which thrive in their 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. They include yellow ipe, a tree that is emblematic in Brazil.
Mombak aims to plant at least 30 million trees by 2032, across an area five times the size of New York’s Manhattan island.
The project is financed by private investors, as well as by organizations such as the World Bank.
The United States in November announced a $37.5 million loan to Mombak, during a visit by US President Joe Biden to the Amazon.
Contracts with companies include a precise tonnage of emissions to be offset over a specific period.
Microsoft’s contract aims to offset 1.5 million tonnes of carbon — one of the largest of its kind in the world, according to Mombak.
The amounts 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 yet to be validated by Verra, a US organization that is one of the main private certifiers of carbon credits.
Verra last year strengthened its methods after facing criticism that projects it had validated actually saved little or no carbon compared with their promises.
– Sensitive land question –
Professor Lise Vieira da Costa, an expert in carbon markets at the Federal University of Para, said she was “cautious” about newcomer Mombak, but saw encouraging signs in its project.
“The fact that it is betting on biodiverse reforestation is positive,” she said.
Da Costa also highlighted Mombak’s approach of buying land for reforestation, which “indicates a tendency to have fewer conflicts with the communities.”
Land ownership is a major challenge in the Amazon, where many lack titles for their land, creating a legal limbo that is exploited by farmers, ranchers and speculators.
Para courts have seen several cases of misappropriation of land related to carbon credit projects.
To reduce conflict with local communities, Mombak is currently only working on areas “acquired from private owners who have been established for decades, which makes it easier to verify documentation,” said Silva.
However, the company is interested in the Para government’s first tender for the reforestation of a 10,000-hectare public area.
“Brazil cannot achieve its emission reduction targets by simply reducing deforestation. We need to restore (deforested) areas by creating concessions” of land for the carbon market, said Para governor Helder Barbalho.
Forestry specialist Carlos Augusto Pantoja argues that funds allocated to reforestation should go to “the Amazonian people. They have the know-how and they need support.”
“If capitalism is responsible for the climate crisis, I don’t think it will be able to solve it.”
COP30
Brazil gears up for first climate conference in Amazon
By AFP
January 7, 2025
With 200 workers laboring seven days a week, the largest open-air market in Latin America reflects the transformation currently underway in the Brazilian city, which is preparing to host COP30 in November -- the first UN climate conference in the Amazon - Copyright AFP STR
By AFP
January 7, 2025
With 200 workers laboring seven days a week, the largest open-air market in Latin America reflects the transformation currently underway in the Brazilian city, which is preparing to host COP30 in November -- the first UN climate conference in the Amazon - Copyright AFP STR
Anna PELEGRI
After serving a customer a bowl of acai with fried fish in Belem’s market, Sandra da Costa wipes her hands excitedly.
“Finally, the long-awaited renovation is going to happen,” she says.
With 200 workers laboring seven days a week, the largest open-air market in Latin America reflects the transformation underway in the Brazilian city, which is preparing to host in November the first UN climate conference in the Amazon, a meeting called COP30.
But the challenge is immense for this northern metropolis of 1.3 million people, crisscrossed by canals.
It faces severe social inequality and lacks sufficient infrastructure, including accommodations for the 60,000 delegates expected to attend.
Record public investment is restoring monuments, transforming the abandoned port warehouses into leisure zones, and dredging the river bay to anchor two cruise ships, which will expand lodging options alongside two new hotels.
– Turning point –
“The COP30 will be a turning point for the city and the Amazon,” says Igor Normando, the 37-year-old mayor, to AFP.
“The world will learn the challenges of the Amazonian people, and see that there is nothing fairer than helping us,” says Normando atop the historic Forte do Presepio, overlooking an acai market where tons of the Amazonian fruit arrive every dawn.
The world’s largest tropical rainforest is critical in the fight against climate change, but increasingly suffers its effects, with fires and droughts growing more severe each year.
Experts view the UN conference, set for November 10-21, as a crucial chance for humanity to reverse the warming trend with firm commitments to reduce global emissions and preserve the forest.
– ‘Canopy of a tree’ –
At the new Parque da Cidade, a former airfield where COP30 events will take place alongside the convention center for official negotiations, references to nature and Indigenous cultures abound.
Among the metal structures set to host culinary and craft hubs, native flora like rubber trees are being planted. Excavators are also working to prepare the site for a lake.
Replacing asphalt with green spaces in one of Brazil’s least forested cities — despite it being in the Amazon — is another goal for local authorities.
The initiative gained momentum after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared in 2023 that COP30 meetings might even take place “under the canopy of a tree.”
– ‘Invisible City’ –
Belem is “two cities: the one everyone will see, including heads of state; and another that is invisible,” says historian Michel Pinho.
Max Moraes, a 56-year-old boatman from Vila da Barca, a stilt neighborhood struggling without basic sanitation while luxury apartment towers loom nearby, expresses outrage.
“Where is the money for the COP30 going? To help the population?” he asks skeptically while sitting on a wooden walkway above garbage floating in yellowish water.
Yet, in Vila da Barca, founded a century ago by fishermen and now coveted by real estate speculators, resistance is key, according to community leaders.
– ‘Urban Amazon’ –
“Our daily struggle is real,” says Inez Medeiros, a 37-year-old teacher and social leader from the neighborhood. “We want the COP30 to consider us because we also live in the Amazon, even if it’s an urban Amazon.”
After more than two decades of delays, the city recently delivered 100 social housing units, finally providing some families with decent homes.
Each victory brings motivation, Medeiros says.
Her next challenge: launching a small floating hotel to host COP participants, offering them a firsthand view of Belem, “beyond the spotlight.”
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