Production and international trade: challenges for achieving targets 6 and 11 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation in Brazil

Abstract

Abstract Target 6 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity states that by 2020 at least 75% of production lands in each sector will be managed sustainably, consistent with the conservation of plant diversity. Target 11 stipulates that by 2020 no species of the wild flora will be threatened by international trade. Both targets, therefore, are related to production, consumption and trade, which must be sustainable if the targets are to be achieved. Here we examine Brazil's progress in achieving these two targets. We focus on the three economic sectors of agriculture, cattle raising and forestry, which are historically responsible for most of the native-ecosystem conversion in the country and in South America. Brazil has set a number of innovative policies for moving these sectors towards a sustainable path. However, the country needs to put these policies into action to generate tangible results. The results of all efforts so far are mixed. Whereas ecosystem conversion due to the expansion of rural production and the volume of illegal international logging trade have been reduced significantly, the absolute number of hectares of native ecosystems converted into cropland, pastureland or planted forests remains high, especially in Amazonia and the Cerrado. In addition, the number of species threatened by illegal timber exploration remains high mainly in Amazonia and the Atlantic forest.