THE FARMERS

• When pressure mounts on governments and commodities traders to make ambitious zero-deforestation commitments, there’s a danger that it alienates farmers on the ground. Tracts of primary forests in many tropical countries are legally owned by small-scale farmers. In Brazil, farmers are allowed to clear 20 per cent of their land under the Forest Code. ‘Despite movements for zero deforestation, there is no law that prohibits deforestation. We have a law that prohibits illegal deforestation. So there’s been this mismatch between a market exuberance for zero and the farmers and law-enforcement officials on the ground,’ says Daniel Nepstad, director of the Earth Innovation Institute. Farmers ‘feel like they’ve been vilified’. He points out that a typical Brazilian farmer in the Amazon has to fill out renewal applications for around 25 licences in order to legally cut trees, which can discourage them from going above and beyond when it comes to the wider deforestation effort. ‘This pivot towards market-based solutions for tropical forests is very important, but if we don’t set up coalitions that incorporate farmers on the ground, we’re missing a big piece of the solution,’ adds Nepstad. ‘That’s a big thing coming into COP26: we need to get recognition and incentives to the farmers who are choosing to hold on to forests for us, which should be the basis of all international trade in Amazonian products. If you’re a forest-conserving farmer, that should give you greater market access, price premiums and direct payments. It should streamline bureaucracy and environmental licensing; it should make it easier to do business.’