Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon Could Be Halved by Zero Deforestation Commitments

22 Pages Posted: 19 Jan 2022

See all articles by Samuel A. Levy

Samuel A. Levy

ETH Zürich

Federico Cammelli

ETH Zürich

Jacob Munger

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Holly Gibbs

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Rachael D. Garrett

University of Cambridge

Abstract

Deforestation for agriculture is the primary threat to global aboveground carbon stocks. In the absence of strong territorial-governance, zero-deforestation commitments (ZDCs), corporate policies to decouple food production from deforestation, remain a central tool to combat this issue.  Yet evidence on their effectiveness remains mixed. To advance understanding of ZDCs potential at reducing deforestation, we developed the first spatially explicit estimates of farmers exposure to ZDC companies in the Brazilian Amazon cattle sector in terms of market share and evaluated how variation in this exposure influenced deforestation. We find the G4 Agreement, the most widespread and strongly implemented cattle ZDC, reduced deforestation by 7,000±4,000 km2 (15±8%) and had all firms adopted an effective ZDC, deforestation could have dropped by 24,000±13,000 km2  (50±28%). These results for the world’s principal deforestation hotspot suggests supply chain policies can substantially reduce deforestation, but their effectiveness is contingent on increasing adoption and implementation through import regulations

Keywords: deforestation, Cattle, Supply chain, Amazon, Brazil, Policy

Suggested Citation

Levy, Samuel A. and CAMMELLI, FEDERICO and Munger, Jacob and Gibbs, Holly and Garrett, Rachael D., Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon Could Be Halved by Zero Deforestation Commitments. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3988688 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3988688

Samuel A. Levy (Contact Author)

ETH Zürich ( email )

Zürichbergstrasse 18
8092 Zurich, CH-1015
Switzerland

FEDERICO CAMMELLI

ETH Zürich ( email )

Zürichbergstrasse 18
8092 Zurich, CH-1015
Switzerland

Jacob Munger

University of Wisconsin - Madison ( email )

Holly Gibbs

University of Wisconsin - Madison ( email )

716 Langdon Street
Madison, WI 53706-1481
United States

Rachael D. Garrett

University of Cambridge

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