How Brazil's sustainable cattle schemes could beef up to conserve forests and sustainable rural livelihoods

Cattle ranching is the largest driver of Brazilian deforestation, a relevant emitter of greenhouse gases, and an important source of local livelihoods. In response, many initiatives attempt to render Brazil’s beef production more environmentally and socially sustainable. Drawing on key informant int...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Maguire-Rajpaul, Victoria Alice, Galuchi, Tharic, Nery Alves Pinto, Helena, McDermott, Constance
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/78171
_version_ 1855518584830164992
author Maguire-Rajpaul, Victoria Alice
Galuchi, Tharic
Nery Alves Pinto, Helena
McDermott, Constance
author_browse Galuchi, Tharic
Maguire-Rajpaul, Victoria Alice
McDermott, Constance
Nery Alves Pinto, Helena
author_facet Maguire-Rajpaul, Victoria Alice
Galuchi, Tharic
Nery Alves Pinto, Helena
McDermott, Constance
author_sort Maguire-Rajpaul, Victoria Alice
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Cattle ranching is the largest driver of Brazilian deforestation, a relevant emitter of greenhouse gases, and an important source of local livelihoods. In response, many initiatives attempt to render Brazil’s beef production more environmentally and socially sustainable. Drawing on key informant interviews, this paper assesses the effectiveness of Brazil’s sustainable cattle schemes, with a particular focus on avoided deforestation in the Amazon biome; climate change mitigation; and improving the livelihoods of smallholder ranchers. We found that the sustainable cattle schemes have yet to reach scale and have yet to effectively halt forest loss, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or sustain rural livelihoods. Thus far, cattle moratoria have achieved the greatest scale in addressing deforestation, but only by targeting the largest and thus most resourced ranches. In order to achieve both socially and environmentally sustainable cattle production, Brazil’s sustainable cattle schemes must scale up, and all governance groups interviewed recommended bottom-up, technical assistance to ranchers to achieve this. Mixed governance schemes, involving both state and non-state actors, were also widely advocated. Impacts were difficult to compare due to a lack of uniform monitoring and thus comparability across the schemes; tools for common measurement are recommended to better compare schemes’ effectiveness. The greatest perceived barriers were market-based: namely the lack of a sustainable beef brand and the associated lack of consumer demand. Respondents also noted the need for improved agronomic and technical assistance for ranchers. Social considerations in the schemes were found to be vague, and in some schemes, neglected.
format Artículo preliminar
id CGSpace78171
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace781712025-12-02T10:59:51Z How Brazil's sustainable cattle schemes could beef up to conserve forests and sustainable rural livelihoods Maguire-Rajpaul, Victoria Alice Galuchi, Tharic Nery Alves Pinto, Helena McDermott, Constance climate change food security agriculture livestock conservation sustainability rural development Cattle ranching is the largest driver of Brazilian deforestation, a relevant emitter of greenhouse gases, and an important source of local livelihoods. In response, many initiatives attempt to render Brazil’s beef production more environmentally and socially sustainable. Drawing on key informant interviews, this paper assesses the effectiveness of Brazil’s sustainable cattle schemes, with a particular focus on avoided deforestation in the Amazon biome; climate change mitigation; and improving the livelihoods of smallholder ranchers. We found that the sustainable cattle schemes have yet to reach scale and have yet to effectively halt forest loss, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or sustain rural livelihoods. Thus far, cattle moratoria have achieved the greatest scale in addressing deforestation, but only by targeting the largest and thus most resourced ranches. In order to achieve both socially and environmentally sustainable cattle production, Brazil’s sustainable cattle schemes must scale up, and all governance groups interviewed recommended bottom-up, technical assistance to ranchers to achieve this. Mixed governance schemes, involving both state and non-state actors, were also widely advocated. Impacts were difficult to compare due to a lack of uniform monitoring and thus comparability across the schemes; tools for common measurement are recommended to better compare schemes’ effectiveness. The greatest perceived barriers were market-based: namely the lack of a sustainable beef brand and the associated lack of consumer demand. Respondents also noted the need for improved agronomic and technical assistance for ranchers. Social considerations in the schemes were found to be vague, and in some schemes, neglected. 2016-12-06 2016-12-06T15:46:12Z 2016-12-06T15:46:12Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/78171 en Open Access application/pdf Maguire-Rajpaul VA, Alves-Pinto HN, McDermott CL, Galuchi T. 2016. How Brazil’s sustainable cattle schemes could beef up to conserve forests, reduce emissions, and sustain rural livelihoods. CCAFS Working Paper no. 148. Copenhagen, Denmark: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).
spellingShingle climate change
food security
agriculture
livestock
conservation
sustainability
rural development
Maguire-Rajpaul, Victoria Alice
Galuchi, Tharic
Nery Alves Pinto, Helena
McDermott, Constance
How Brazil's sustainable cattle schemes could beef up to conserve forests and sustainable rural livelihoods
title How Brazil's sustainable cattle schemes could beef up to conserve forests and sustainable rural livelihoods
title_full How Brazil's sustainable cattle schemes could beef up to conserve forests and sustainable rural livelihoods
title_fullStr How Brazil's sustainable cattle schemes could beef up to conserve forests and sustainable rural livelihoods
title_full_unstemmed How Brazil's sustainable cattle schemes could beef up to conserve forests and sustainable rural livelihoods
title_short How Brazil's sustainable cattle schemes could beef up to conserve forests and sustainable rural livelihoods
title_sort how brazil s sustainable cattle schemes could beef up to conserve forests and sustainable rural livelihoods
topic climate change
food security
agriculture
livestock
conservation
sustainability
rural development
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/78171
work_keys_str_mv AT maguirerajpaulvictoriaalice howbrazilssustainablecattleschemescouldbeefuptoconserveforestsandsustainablerurallivelihoods
AT galuchitharic howbrazilssustainablecattleschemescouldbeefuptoconserveforestsandsustainablerurallivelihoods
AT neryalvespintohelena howbrazilssustainablecattleschemescouldbeefuptoconserveforestsandsustainablerurallivelihoods
AT mcdermottconstance howbrazilssustainablecattleschemescouldbeefuptoconserveforestsandsustainablerurallivelihoods