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The World Resources Institute has released Version 1.0 of the Carbon Opportunity Cost Calculation Tool, a Microsoft Excel-based resource designed to help companies and entities calculate land occupation (LO) and carbon opportunity cost (COC) for agricultural products.

A research paper by the Stockholm Environment Institute finds that conservation policies in the Brazilian Amazon that successfully reduced deforestation have generally failed to reduce anthropogenic forest degradation, leaving carbon stocks, biodiversity, and ecosystem services at risk.

This working paper, updated in November 2019, examines the implementation of REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) over the last decade, focusing on lessons learned from national, subnational, and project-level initiatives to inform future forest-based climate change mitigation.

This policy brief by the Climate Policy Initiative describes the 2012 Brazilian Forest Code, detailing its mechanisms for protecting native vegetation on private lands, the creation of the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), and the special legal regime for regularizing properties with environmental liabilities prior to July 22, 2008.

This research paper details a large-scale field study on the impact of selective logging and forest fires on carbon stocks in the Amazon, concluding that forest degradation can result in carbon losses equivalent to 40% of those caused by deforestation.

This discussion brief by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the complexities of governing sustainability in tropical agricultural-forest frontiers, using the Brazilian Amazon as a primary case study. It argues that the high diversity of actors—ranging from subsistence smallholders to large-scale commercial farms—requires tailored, actor-specific policy approaches rather than 'one-size-fits-all' models to effectively reduce deforestation and alleviate poverty.

This executive summary from the Climate Policy Initiative outlines a 'Production and Protection' (P&P) strategy for Brazil to integrate economic growth in the agricultural sector with the preservation of natural resources. It identifies key barriers to productivity—such as deficient infrastructure, limited credit access for family farmers, and underdeveloped land leasing markets—while emphasizing the need to combat deforestation in private lands and non-Amazonian biomes like the Cerrado.

This executive summary outlines a 'Production and Protection' (P&P) framework for Brazil, aiming to balance economic growth in agriculture with the conservation of natural resources. The document identifies opportunities to increase agricultural productivity through improvements in finance, technology, land rental markets, cooperatives, and infrastructure, while simultaneously strengthening environmental protections through better monitoring and market-based incentives.

The Suitability Mapper is a public online application developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and Sekala to help users identify potentially suitable sites for sustainable palm oil production in Kalimantan, Indonesia. The tool uses a binary GIS methodology based on 11 environmental and crop indicators to classify land as either 'potential' or 'not suitable', specifically targeting the identification of degraded land to support low-carbon expansion.

This 2012 report summarizes a task force meeting in Durban, South Africa, aimed at identifying lessons learned for REDD+ policy capacity in developing countries. The discussions prioritized three 'pillars'—Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV), safeguards, and financing—as the primary areas for research and policy development. The report emphasizes the need for country-driven processes, effective communication with local communities, and the integration of national experiences (such as those from Brazil, Kenya, and Indonesia) to inform international negotiations and national implementation.

This submission, made on behalf of the Ecosystems Climate Alliance and various partner organizations, provides recommendations to the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) on the methodological guidance and modalities for the measuring, reporting, and verifying (MRV) of REDD+ activities.

This guide by the Climate Bonds Initiative provides a framework for issuing certified green bonds in the forestry sector, with a specific focus on the Brazilian market. It outlines the Climate Bonds Standard, the certification process, and the scientific criteria required to ensure investments align with the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5ºC.

This report analyzes the role of protected areas (APs) in reducing fire occurrence in the MAP region (the tri-border area of Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia) between 2000 and 2020. It finds that while protected areas are significantly more effective at limiting fire and deforestation than non-protected areas, they remain vulnerable to extreme climate events and increasing human pressure from surrounding agro-pastoral activities.

This World Resources Institute working paper, the eighth in a series, reviews Readiness Preparation Proposals (R-PPs) and National Programme Documents (NPDs) submitted to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and the UN-REDD Programme. The analysis focuses on how REDD+ Country Participants address forest governance, transparency, accountability, participation, and coordination during the readiness phase.

This research paper by the World Resources Institute proposes greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and reporting procedures for the agricultural sector, building upon the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard.

The document discusses the increasing demand for credible forest monitoring data to meet international and national goals for climate change and conservation, noting a gap between research capabilities and practical application in tropical forest countries.

This case study examines the response of the state of Acre, Brazil, to severe droughts and wildfires in 2005 and 2010. It details the implementation of a centralized 'situation room' to coordinate fire-fighting efforts using satellite data and technical expertise, while analyzing the environmental impacts, policy interventions, and systemic barriers to fire control in the western Amazon.