A collaborative consortium plans to promote positive impact at the landscape level in Brazil

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1 A collaborative consortium plans to promote positive impact at the landscape level in Brazil A collaborative platform, called Cerrado das Águas ( Waters of the Cerrado ) Consortium, has been formally launched, and the Consortium has agreed to take action for positive conservation and socio economic impacts at a landscape level. These are two major outcomes of the collaboration between IUCN and Nespresso in Brazil, which began by analysing ecosystem services in coffee landscapes in Minas Gerais State in early On 15 December 2015, the city of Patrocínio in Minas Gerais State, Brazil, hosted the opening event of the Consortium Cerrado das Águas, a collaborative platform focused on advancing sustainable landscapes for environmental and socioeconomic benefits. The Consortium s vision statement reads: The water of today is an outcome of the landscapes we build. The event started with three discussion panels about agricultural productivity and biodiversity conservation, building sustainable productive landscapes, and an overview of the Consortium s actions to date and key objectives moving forward. The discussions reflected on the crucially important and supportive relationship between the environment and agriculture in the region, reinforcing the importance of engaging private sector, local governments, NGOs, local farmers and communities to ensure productivity, conservation and maintenance of water and other natural resources. One of the key moments of the event was the signature of the Constitutive Agreement, formalising a process that started in 2013, when the idea for the creation of the platform was first discussed between local stakeholders interested in promoting positive impact for biodiversity and ecosystem services at the landscape level. At that time, analysis conducted by IUCN Member IPÊ (Institute of Ecological Research) identified the following important ecosystem services for agricultural production at high to medium risk of negative impacts: water regulation and quality, soil erosion, habitat loss, pollination, pest control, and climate regulation. In 2014, in discussion with Nespresso and other stakeholders, IUCN and IPE identified several potential opportunities to address these risks: i) increasing landscape connectivity through restoration and conservation; ii) capacity building for good agricultural practices esp. for water and soil ecosystem services management and enhancement; and, iii) promoting and actively supporting a participative cross sector consortium to develop a regional sustainable land use and restoration plan. The third option was chosen to be realized, as it is the most comprehensive approach (and also integrates the first two options). Now, IUCN, Nespresso, IPÊ, IMAFLORA, the Federation of coffee producers of the Cerrado Mineiro and COOXUPÉ are the first members of this consortium, which is actively seeking new members, particularly from other sectors beyond coffee. During the recent event, the Institute of Agricultural and Forest Management and Certification IMAFLORA presented a technical analysis that evaluated key conservation and ecosystem service values, and their current status and trends, in the regional interest of Minas Gerais State, and proposed several sustainable landscape impact targets (incl. threatened species and

2 ecosystems) for the Consortium to work on together to realize defined conservation and socio the economic impact at the landscape level. IMAFLORA s analytical approachh is applying methodology of IUCN s recent exploration of No Net Loss and Net Positive Impact Approaches for Biodiversity in the commercial agriculture and forestry sectors (see here for more details). IMAFLORA s detailed analysiss has resulted in proposed specific targets t for the Consortium to achieve through collaboration on landscape level action, building on existing and future f sustainability efforts by all members. (Figure 1 shows the full listt of targets with descriptions.) The Consortium collectively agreed to design an action plan, starting in 2016, for achieving thesee targets over the near to long term. Figure 1: IDENTIFICATION OF SPECIFICC CONSERVATION VALUES AND TARGETS FOR THE CONSORTIUM

3 Following the public launch of the platform on 16 December, the foundingg members of the Consortium gathered to define an action plan and financing strategy for the next two years. All of the members were present, as well as some invited institutions which are interested in becoming partners to the initiative: the standards organisation UTZ U Certified, the State Forest Institute (IEF), and the National Center of Flora Conservation from the Botanic Garden of Rio de Janeiro (CNCFlora/JBRJ). For more information about the Consortium, please contact: Deviah.Aiama@iucn.org Miguel.Moraes@iucn.org or For more information about the December event, click on the links below. Media TV Story: / Media radio story: hoje rural dia historico criado em patrocinio o consorcio aguas do cerrado primeiro da america latina Signature of the Constitutive Agreement on 15 December From left to right: Edson Guerrero (COOXUPÉ), Eduardo Trevisan (IMAFLORA), Andrea Peçanha (IPÊ), Miguel Moraes (IUCN), Guilherme G Amado (NESPRESSO) and Juliano Tarabal (Cerrado Mineiro).

4 Signature of the Constitutive Agreement on 15 December From left to right: Eduardo Trevisan (IMAFLORA), Andrea Peçanha (IPÊ), Edson Guerrero (COOXUPÉ), Guilherme Amado (NESPRESSO), Miguel Moraes (IUCN) and Juliano Tarabal (Cerrado Mineiro). Participants attend the public event of the Cerrado das Águas Consortium on 151 December 2015.

5 On 16 December 2015, the founding members of the Consortium gathered to discuss the action plan and financing strategy for the next two years.