The Government of the State of Mato Grosso, through the Secretariat of State for the Environment (SEMA), and IDH the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) signed a Memorandum of Understanding yesterday in Cuiabá to accelerate the process of sustainable production and forest protection in the state.
Under the umbrella of Mato Grosso’s green growth strategy Produce, Conserve and Include (PCI), the partnership between IDH and SEMA aims to increase and encourage rural producers to comply with the Brazilian Forest Code, the country’s legal requirements for landowners on forest conservation on their private properties.
The partnership will strengthen the promotion and development of the Mato Grosso Rural Environmental Registry System – SIMCAR; the strategic management of the Environmental Licensing System – SISNAMA, and the implementation of the Geoinformation and Environmental Transparency Strategic Unit.
Land registration will allow producers to become legally compliant and sell their traceable products at the international markets.
The Secretary of State for the Environment and Vice Governor Carlos Fávaro points out that the partnership with IDH is essential for Mato Grosso to advance with its goals and promote environmental regulation that includes numerous bold actions, among them, the inclusion and analysis of 150 thousand rural properties to the new Mato Grosso Rural Environmental Registry System (Simcar), launched on June 2 of this year, which has the mission of lifting the embargo of nearly about 10 thousand properties, opening the door of the state environmental agency to legality.
“Simcar is a fundamental and strategic instrument from the point of view of public management, as it will show an ‘X-ray’ of the properties, with their environmental liabilities and assets, and it is by means of such data that we will advance in partnerships to value the standing forest, such as SojaPlus, which promotes sustainable development, combining environmental conservation, economic growth and social inclusion”, says Fávaro.
According to Daan Wensing, Director Global Landscapes & Deforestation Commodities, the agreement reinforces the importance of investments for the development of sustainable agriculture in Brazil and the support for the necessary adjustments for the productive sector to adapt more quickly to the environmental laws of Brazil and Mato Grosso.
The Government of Norway supports the IDH in its contributions to the PCI strategy. “The state’s commitment to zeroing illegal deforestation by 2020 is an example for other countries and states around the world. Norway supports the state and considers PCI an important and inclusive strategy through which farmers give their contribution, as well as NGOs, universities, civil society and business”, says Nils Martin Gunneng, Norwegian Ambassador to Brazil.
In the coming months the Memorandum of Technical Cooperation will be signed amongst the institutions to establish the beginning of the actions that will be carried out via SEMA, with the support of IDH.