Joyce Maria Guimarães Monteiro

Promoting Sustainable Agriculture, Boosting Productivity, and Enhancing Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Through the RIO RURAL Program, Brazil

The Brazilian agricultural sector is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, but climate-smart practices combined with degraded land restoration can result in a more resilient landscape contributing to integrated climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. The Sustainable Rural Development Program of Rio de Janeiro (RIO RURAL) has been supporting the transition of degraded rural areas to sustainable productive systems by providing technical assistance and incentives to small-scale family farmers. RIO RURAL promotes reforestation and sustainable agriculture practices, which can boost productivity as well as carbon stocks in the agricultural landscape. Using estimates of carbon mitigation potential for such practices, we identified methodologies eligible for certification in the voluntary markets. We estimated transaction, implementation, and certification costs and calculated potential revenues associated with RIO RURAL’s activities. This did not only allow us to discuss the constraints and identify opportunities and co-benefits from RIO RURAL’s contribution to climate mitigation, adaptation, and environmental integrity but also to food security as it targets family farms. We propose a bundling approach to carbon, where multiple benefits are measured and certified including water, food systems, as well as social and cultural benefits. This would allow accessing resources from both mitigation and adaptation programs in addition to markets that value ecosystem integrity as well as water and food security.

Soil and Water Management for Ecosystem Services Provision in Agricultural Landscapes: The Challenge of Monitoring

Soil and water conservation management includes practices that help to preserve the quality of soil, water, and biodiversity, to promote sustainable agriculture and to provide ecosystem services (ES). In the state of Rio de Janeiro, some agriculture conservation practices such as minimal tillage, crop rotation, agroforestry systems, rotational grazing, and fallow can contribute to value and provide ES and also increase productivity and income of the family farmers. However, it is necessary to identify the impacts of these practices on the provision of ES, and monitoring is an important means of analysis. This chapter presents a review of studies on the conservation management practices in the state of Rio de Janeiro and their impacts on ES. Moreover, it highlights aspects to be considered in monitoring of ecosystem service indicators. The main challenges of the monitoring approach include participatory efforts and multidisciplinary criteria used at appropriate scales in order to provide adequate and useful answers to society.

Adaptation Strategies to Face the Effects of Extreme Hydrometeorological Events on Agricultural Systems

Some climate models indicate an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme hydrometeorological events (EHEs) in global warming scenarios. In Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, three EHEs have been recorded recently. The purpose of the study was to identify how decision makers deal with situations of extreme weather and what are the aspects that reduce or increase the vulnerability of local farmers in the face of such impacts. A case study was developed in the municipality of Nova Friburgo, in the mountain region of the State of Rio de Janeiro, where we identified how the farmers have dealt with the EHE occurred in 2011. The national and local governance also were analyzed. This study indicates a need of greater emphasis on the adoption of prevention-related adaptation strategies. The adaptation measures to EHE should find synergies with local development policies.