On June 22, good news showed that the efforts of civil society, including iCS grantees such as Agroicone, the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) and the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, are always important: the 2021/22 Safra Plan increased the resources for the ABC+ Program (Sectoral Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change and Low Carbon Emission in Agriculture and Cattle Breeding) by 101 %. In all, R$ 5 billion will be allocated to the Program; although high, it is still small in comparison with the R$ 251.2 billion of the entire Safra Plan.

In a report by Revista Globo Rural , Marina Piatto, executive secretary of the Institute of Forestry and Agricultural Management and Certification (Imaflora), says that doubling the resources is a positive sign of the government, but reminds us that society will have the information with respect to the emission of greenhouse gases is in only 2% of the Safra Plan, and not the remaining 98%.

Regarding the ABC+ Plan, Rodrigo Lima, director of Agroicone, says the following in an article: “The first aspect that deserves to be considered is the scope based on adaptation, such as the definition of practices that encourage the resilience and the capability to reduce risks in the face of the impacts of the increase of the temperature, extreme rainfall and incidence of pests, among others. Furthermore, it includes the adoption of technologies and practices that allow the reduction of the intensity of the GHG emissions. This approach of adaptation and mitigation will be strategic for the ABC+.”

The progress established by the Ministry of Agriculture in the Safra Plan deserves to be celebrated. It is also necessary to monitor the ABC+ 2021-2030 Plan, announced in April by Minister Tereza Cristina, and that outlines the bases for the composition of the next phase of the policy to encourage low intensity GHG emissions in agriculture and cattle breeding.

Learn more here about the improvements and focuses for the new 10 year period.