Global coffee brands support the Conscious Producer Investment Program

The PIPC - Conscious Producer Investment Program is endorsed by global brands as an innovative program of the Cerrado das Águas Consortium.

Source: IEB - Instituto Internacional de Educação do Brasil

via Agricultural News / Source: Consórcio Cerrado das Águas

Global coffee brands and organizations endorse the innovative program led by the Cerrado das Águas Consortium

An innovative program of climate-smart investments aimed at preserving biodiversity and water supply in the Cerrado Mineiro Region, the only Designation of Origin for coffee in Brazil and an important supplier of high-quality coffee, responsible for 12% of the national coffee production, will begin this month.

The initiative comes from the Consórcio Cerrado das Águas, a platform of different actors (producers, coffee brands, local and global environmental NGOs) whose efforts resulted in the founding of a legally independent organization with a highly specialized team to promote environmental development through restoration, climate-smart agriculture, and efficient water resource management. Based on initial support from the IUCN – International Union for Conservation of Nature and Nespresso, leading coffee brands Nestlé and Lavazza, and the Expocaccer cooperative have joined forces to establish a five-year commitment to support the Conscious Producer Investment Program, which brings together these three areas of work in a coordinated manner, aiming to improve the supply and provision of ecosystem services (water health, soil, carbon stock, among others) in order to achieve climate resilience or protection of a landscape or territory.

In the pilot area, the Córrego Feio in Patrocínio (MG), the Consortium plans to invest in the protection of natural ecosystems found on approximately 124 properties along the basin, the only one supplying the largest coffee-producing municipality in Brazil and a serious case of water scarcity and conflict. “The new investment program will provide financial incentives and expertise so that all landowners can make their environmental assets increasingly healthy and productive in this important watershed,” said Giulia Carbone, Director of the IUCN Business and Biodiversity Program.

“Landowners will literally and practically be the managers of environmental assets, and their decisions to protect key ecosystem services – such as forests and rivers – will directly contribute to the recovery of the Cerrado landscape.”

This year, companies have committed to investing US$100,000 to fund the consortium team. Furthermore, in 2019, the Consortium received a US$400,000 grant from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) to implement the program. This was the largest grant ever awarded by CEPF, which has demanding donors such as the French Development Agency (AFD), the European Union, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Government of Japan, and the World Bank.

“The Cerrado das Águas Consortium has demonstrated why companies need to adopt a long-term approach and contribute to the broader landscape where we work. Similarly, the public sector must commit to ensuring that these innovative solutions are scaled up and able to deliver lasting benefits to the region's population,” according to Mario Cerruti, Global Director of Institutional Relations and Sustainability at Lavazza. Read the full article on Notícias Agrícolas!

The project “Award Program for Conscious Producers – Restoring Ecosystem Services in the Cerrado” is executed by the Cerrado Mineiro Development Foundation (FUNDACCER). The central objective of the project is to establish and implement a strategy to restore the provision of ecosystem services in the Córrego Feio basin in the long term, through a process of engagement with producers and local stakeholders.

FUNDACCER is a non-profit organization created by the Coffee Growers Federation to promote research, training, and social cohesion in 55 municipalities of the Cerrado region of Minas Gerais. These coffee producers recognized the need to act to ensure long-term climate security in the region.

Therefore, the Cerrado Waters Consortium works collaboratively to build transformative scenarios that result in productive and sustainable landscapes with the objective of:

1. Improving soil and water management practices.

2. Promoting the restoration of native vegetation and conservation of ecological corridors at the regional level.

3. Facilitating the exchange of information through technical extension services for farmers, in order to improve environmental practices.

4. To encourage and facilitate the legal regularization process for farms, seeking compliance with the Forest Code.

The project has the support of Fundo de Parceria para  Ecossistemas Críticos (CEPF, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund) e Instituto Internacional de Educação do Brasil (IEB).

___ The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is a joint initiative of the French Development Agency, Conservation International, the European Union, Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, and the World Bank. A key goal is to ensure that civil society is involved in biodiversity conservation.