Ricardo Felix Santana:
Environment Services and Livelihoods in Forest Areas in the Pan-Amazonian: A Comparative Study Between Brazil and Peru

RICARDO FELIX SANTANA
Universidade Federal do Pará, Campus Universitário do Guamá, Brazil

The deforestation in the Pan-Amazonian is probably the most important problem among the multiple environmental problems that the Amazon abutter countries face. The forests provide two important services of global importance: The carbon sink function of standing vegetation and the sequestration of atmospheric carbon during secondary forest growth.

Payments for environmental services (PES) are frequently being proposed as a means to climate change mitigation, but little is known about its effectiveness and feasibility in practice. Integrated Evaluation (IE) is an interdisciplinary approach that could provide important information to policy makers and support decision processes. The basic idea of IE is to combine, interpret, and communicate knowledge of different scientific disciplines. Here we propose the following analytical steps for an IE of PES in the Amazon:

1. A qualitative analysis of promising areas for the payment for environmental services in Peru and Brazil with the use of the social carbon methodology.

2. Generation of scenarios for PES in the Pan-Amazonian, with a vision of integration of the Amazonian countries;

A market for carbon from avoided deforestation still depends on international negotiations in progress. However, it is necessary to develop standard baseline methodologies as well as monitoring and verification procedures. Some of these are currently being implemented in incipient experiences linked to voluntary carbon markets. The results of this study are interpreted in this context in order to provide an evaluation of the potential for PES in the Pan-Amazonian.

Keywords: Carbon market, deforestation, integrated evaluation

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Contact Address: Ricardo Felix Santana, Universidade Federal do Pará, Campus Universitário do GuamáBelém, Pará, Brazil, e-mail: Rsantanaufpa.br