Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) indicate that soil degradation has a negative impact on more than 3.2 billion people in the world, or 40% of the world's population. Next Wednesday (17) is Forest Protection Day, a date that aims to reinforce the importance of preserving life in the forest. The discussion is increasingly in vogue in the face of the climate emergency and the proximity of the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference, the COP 30to be held in Bethlehem next year.
In the northern region of Brazil, the Grupo BBF (Brasil BioFuels)BBF, which is responsible for developingthe sustainable cultivation of oil palm - the plant that gives rise to the most consumed vegetable oil in the world - includes the recovery of degraded areas in its activities, as well as generating jobs, income and contributing to the energy transition. BBF is currently considered the largest oil palm producer in Latin America. Latin Americawith more than 75,000 hectares under cultivation in Pará and Roraima.
"The FAO stresses that reversing soil degradation is vital if we want to feed an ever-growing world population, protect biodiversity and tackle the climate crisis. And that's exactly what we're doing in the Amazon region. Areas that had been totally degraded in the past now have life," says Milton Steagall, CEO of Grupo BBF.
In Brazil, it is forbidden to clear native forests in order to grow oil palm, according to Federal Government Decree 7.172/2010. Also according to the legislation, the activity in the Amazon is only allowed in areas destroyed before 2007 . To date, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) has identified around 31 million hectares in the region that are suitable for oil palm cultivation.
"Sustainable oil palm cultivation is synonymous with the bioeconomy. With oil palm, we have been able to recover degraded areas and generate jobs and income for people in remote parts of the Amazon, which helps to keep the forest standing. In addition, the palm generates valuable oil for the production of biofuel, which supplies power plants in more isolated regions, and can be used for the production of so-called second-generation biofuels, such as SAF and Green Diesel," says the CEO.
O Grupo BBF maintains 25 thermoelectric plants in the North region, through which it serves locations supplied by Isolated Systems. The plants use biofuels (biodiesel and vegetable oil) and biomass from oil palm, which contributes to decarbonizing the region. According to the organization, more than 140,000 residents of isolated locations in the Amazon are reached by the energy generated from oil palm.
Ranked 5th among the nations that produce the most carbon, Brazil is trying to reduce emissions by 53% by 2030 compared to 2005. In six years, the country wants to reach 1.2 gigatonnes of carbon emitted.
Steagall says that the palm cultivation carried out by the company captures around 800,000 tons of carbon annually, of which 729,000 tons in Pará and 71,000 tons in Roraima. "We also protect more than 60,000 hectares of Legal Reserve Areas (RL) and Permanent Preservation Areas (APP), which annually store around 26.6 million tons of carbon in Pará and 3.1 million tons of carbon in Roraima," he says.
Experts have already made around 5,000 records and identified more than 400 species of wild animals - some of them threatened with extinction - in monitoring campaigns in the areas cultivated by the company. According to data from Grupo BBF's sustainability team, more than 85 species of reptiles and amphibians, 270 birds, 25 mammals and 40 fish have been observed.
"We believe that this figure could be much higher, considering the richness of Brazil's biomes and the benefits generated by our activities. Bioindicator species of good environmental quality were found, which attests to the effectiveness of environmental preservation actions in the company's region of influence," says Milton Steagall.
In the vicinity of Grupo BBF in São João da Baliza (RR), 85% fewer deforestation alerts were registered than in more remote locations in the same region, according to data from the "MapBiomas Alerta" monitoring platform.
According to the survey, carried out in November last year, more than 21,000 hectares with deforestation alerts were identified within a radius of 50 km from the company's area of activity. At a distance of 15 km from the BBF, there is a decrease of approximately 85% in the number of alerts. According to the company, the survey reinforces that "where there is employment and income, there is a reduction in deforestation and protection to keep the forest standing".
