Nature Positive Production Resource Library

ID	Year	Language	Region	Citation	Key points
1	n.d.	English	‘Brazil ‘Amazon	GTPS. (n.d.). Mechanisms for control and mitigation of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon Biome [White paper].	Presents recent advances and new tools related to more environmentally-friendly ranching and farming in Brazil as well as the role of the Brazilian Roundtable on Sustainable Livestock (GTPS) and its members in both tackling deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon Biome and increasing efficiency in cattle raising activities.
2	2013	English	‘Global	Report of the Conference of the Parties on its nineteenth session, held in Warsaw from 11 to 23 November 2013 Addendum: Part two: Action taken by the Conference of the Parties at its nineteenth session	Cutting Emissions from Deforestation – “The Warsaw Framework for REDD+” : “Governments agreed on a set of decisions on ways to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. The decisions are the culmination of 7 years of work, and their agreement comes as a clear breakthrough for action on climate change. Global deforestation accounts for some 20 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions. The set of decisions bolsters forest preservation and sustainable use of forests with direct benefits for people who live in and around forests. The package provides a foundation for the transparency and integrity of actions and clarifies the coordination of support. It establishes the means for results-based payments if developing countries can demonstrate the protection of forests. For this purpose, the package is backed by initial pledges of USD 280 million.”
3	2013	English Português do Brasil	‘Brazil	Assunção, J., Gandour, C., Hemsley, P., Rocha, R., & Szerman, D. (2013). Production and protection: A first look at key challenges in Brazil. Rio de Janeiro.	This report applies a Production and Protection framework to Brazil to understand where land can be used more efficiently across important sectors within the country. They find that there is ample scope for enhanced protection of natural resources and growth of agricultural production in Brazil within a Production and Protection framework. From a protection standpoint, the country would benefit from developing mechanisms that significantly drive up the private cost of clearing native vegetation, as well as through the advancement of market-based incentives that promote sustainable practices. From a production standpoint, there is room to increase Brazilian agricultural production via productivity gains, at no apparent cost to environmental conservation.
4	2014	English	‘Global	Havlík, P., Valin, H., Herrero, M., Obersteiner, M., Schmid, E., Rufino, M. C., … & Notenbaert, A. (2014). Climate change mitigation through livestock system transitions. proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(10), 3709-3714.Brazil’s Three Largest Meatpackers are working to Reduce Deforestation	Projections show that by 2030, autonomous transitions toward more efficient systems would decrease emissions by 736 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year (MtCO₂e⋅y⁻¹), mainly through avoided emissions from the conversion of 162 Mha of natural land. A moderate mitigation policy targeting emissions from both the agricultural and land-use change sectors with a carbon price of US$10 per tCO₂e could lead to an abatement of 3,223 MtCO₂e⋅y⁻¹. Livestock system transitions would contribute 21% of the total abatement, intra- and interregional relocation of livestock production another 40%, and all other mechanisms would add 39%. A comparable abatement of 3,068 MtCO₂e⋅y⁻¹ could be achieved also with a policy targeting only emissions from land-use change. Stringent climate policies might lead to reductions in food availability of up to 200 kcal per capita per day globally. Mitigation policies targeting emissions from land-use change are 5 to 10 times more efficient—measured in “total abatement calorie cost”—than policies targeting emissions from livestock only.
5	2014	English	‘Brazil	Cohn, A. S., Mosnier, A., Havlík, P., Valin, H., Herrero, M., Schmid, E., … & Obersteiner, M. (2014). Cattle ranching intensification in Brazil can reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by sparing land from deforestation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(20), 7236-7241.	This study examines whether policies to encourage cattle ranching intensification in Brazil can abate global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by sparing land from deforestation. Using an economic model of global land use to investigate, from 2010 to 2030, the global agricultural outcomes, land use changes, and GHG abatement resulting from two potential Brazilian policies: a tax on cattle from conventional pasture and a subsidy for cattle from semi-intensive pasture, the authors find that under either policy, Brazil could achieve considerable sparing of forests and abatement of GHGs, in line with its national policy targets.
6	2014	English	‘Brazil ‘Amazon	Strassburg, B. B., Latawiec, A. E., Barioni, L. G., Nobre, C. A., Da Silva, V. P., Valentim, J. F., … & Assad, E. D. (2014). When enough should be enough: Improving the use of current agricultural lands could meet production demands and spare natural habitats in Brazil. Global Environmental Change, 28, 84-97.	The current productivity of Brazilian cultivated pasturelands is 32–34% of its potential and increasing productivity to 49–52% of the potential would suffice to meet demands for meat, crops, wood products and biofuels until at least 2040, without further conversion of natural ecosystems. As a result up to 14.3 Gt CO2 Eq could be mitigated.
7	2015	English	‘Brazil ‘Amazon	Hall, Simon; Sarsfield, Ryan; and Walker, Nathalie (2015). GRSB-GTPS Joint Working Group on Forests (JWG) Workshop Report: Investing in Smart Production. National Wildlife Federation. Washington, D.C.	On November 5, 2014, the GRSB-GTPS Joint Working Group on Forests (JWG), in collaboration with the Tropical Forest Alliance 2020 (TFA 2020), held a technical workshop titled Investing in Smart Production during the Global Conference on Sustainable Beef in São Paulo, Brazil. The workshop sought to address the challenges involved with integrating the benefits of deforestation-free cattle production and moderate intensification, and fostering investment conditions to facilitate productive and sustainable ranching practices.
8	2015	English	‘Global	Climate Focus. (2015). Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests–An Assessment Framework and Initial Report. Prepared by Climate Focus, in collaboration with Environmental Defense Fund, Forest Trends, The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, and The Global Canopy Program.	In September 2014, a broad coalition of governments, corporations, indigenous peoples’ organizations, and nongovernmental organizations signed the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF), thereby endorsing its 10 goals — ranging from reducing deforestation and forest restoration, international agreements and finance, to better governance. The NYDF is supported by an action agenda, but lacks a process or methodology that would allow monitoring progress towards achieving its goals. “Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests: An Assessment Framework and Initial Report” seeks to fill that gap by proposing a framework of indicators that could provide an initial assessment and monitor progress over time. This report, prepared by Climate Focus in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund, Forest Trends, The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, and The Global Canopy Program, is the first analysis of a multi-year effort to track progress towards meeting the NYDF goals. The report is supported by the website www.forestdeclaration.org with supplementary material, including a detailed assessment of the status of each goal.
9	2016	English	‘US ‘Amazon ‘Cerrado ‘Gran Chaco	Union of Concerned Scientists. (2016). Cattle, Cleared Forests, and Climate Change: Scoring America’s Top Brands on Their Deforestation-Free Beef Commitments and Practices.	The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) evaluated 13 consumer goods companies in the fast food, retail, and food manufacturing sectors that have the power to help stop this destruction. They each source beef from South America and should work with their South American suppliers to help change practices in order to ensure that the beef in their products is not causing deforestation. UCS has found that even companies taking action on this issue have major gaps in their policies and practices that mean they may be profiting from selling “deforestation-risk beef,” or beef produced without safeguards that would prevent deforestation.
10	2016	English	‘Brazil ‘Amazon	Gibbs, H. K., Munger, J., L’Roe, J., Barreto, P., Pereira, R., Christie, M., … & Walker, N. F. (2016). Did ranchers and slaughterhouses respond to zero‐deforestation agreements in the Brazilian Amazon?. Conservation Letters, 9(1), 32-42.	A panel analysis of daily purchases by slaughterhouses before and after the zero-deforestation cattle agreements demonstrates that they now avoid purchasing from properties with deforestation, which was not the case prior to the agreements. Supplying ranchers registered their properties in a public environmental registry nearly 2 years before surrounding non-supplying properties, and 85% of surveyed ranchers indicated that the agreements were the driving force. In addition, supplying properties had significantly reduced deforestation rates following the agreements
11	2016	English	‘Global	CDP. (2016). Revenue at risk: Why addressing deforestation is critical to business success.	Reducing deforestation and restoring the world’s degraded forests is critical to meeting the targets under the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. By acting on deforestation, companies will not only increase the resilience of their supply chains but also play a key part in the solution. CDP data shows that up to U$906 billion in revenue is at risk because of deforestation. This means there is a lot at stake. Companies’ deforestation risk management activities and engagement across their supply chains is essential to meet their future business needs and protect long-term value. Here we will set out the risk of deforestation to companies, explore the opportunities available and see how engaging with supply chains can ensure future growth.
12	2017	English	‘Global	Girling, A., & Bauch, S. (2017). Incentives to Save the Forest: Financial Instruments to Drive Sustainable Land Use. The Global Canopy Programme: Oxford, UK.	Unsustainable farming and logging is behind most tropical deforestation. There are more sustainable methods that address this by using the land more efficiently, reducing deforestation, but farmers, producers and others will not make this switch automatically. This briefing describes how governments and companies can use basic financial instruments to channel greater investment in this area. There is a lot of discussion of financial instruments and ‘innovative financial mechanisms’ in conservation circles, but many people working in this area are not experts in finance. This document aims to bridge this gap, helping conservation and development experts understand some of the opportunities for financing sustainable land use.
13	2017	English	‘Brazil ‘Amazon	Azevedo, A. A., Rajão, R., Costa, M. A., Stabile, M. C., Macedo, M. N., Dos Reis, T. N., … & Pacheco, R. (2017). Limits of Brazil’s Forest Code as a means to end illegal deforestation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(29), 7653-7658.	This study suggests that Brazil’s new Forest Code fall short of its promise. Although landowners in eastern Amazonia have been motivated to join state land registries, many continue to deforest and few have restored their illegally cleared areas. Results indicate that the economic benefits of full compliance with the Forest Code remain scant. To end deforestation, Brazil must realign its financial and policy incentives to encourage this outcome.
14	2017	English	‘Brazil ‘Amazon	Garrett, R. D., Gardner, T. A., Morello, T. F., Marchand, S., Barlow, J., de Blas, D. E., … & Parry, L. (2017). Explaining the persistence of low income and environmentally degrading land uses in the Brazilian Amazon. Ecology and Society, 22(3).	Livestock production, which yields the lowest per hectare incomes, remains the most prevalent land use in remote areas, but many examples of high income fruit, horticulture, and staple crop production exist on small properties, particularly in peri-urban areas. The transition to more profitable land uses is limited by lagging supply chain infrastructure, social preferences, and the fact that income associated with land use activities is not a primary source of perceived life quality. Instead subjective well-being is more heavily influenced by the nonmonetary attributes of a rural lifestyle (safety, tranquility, community relations, etc.). Transitions away from low-income land uses in agricultural-forest frontiers of the Brazilian Amazon will require policies and programs that identify and discriminate households based on a broader set of household assets, cultural attributes, and aspirations than are traditionally applied. At a broader scale, access to distant markets for high value crops must be improved via investments in processing, storage, and marketing infrastructure.
15	2017	English	‘Brazil ‘Amazon	de Moura Oliveira, J., Madari, B. E., de Melo Carvalho, M. T., Assis, P. C. R., Silveira, A. L. R., de Leles Lima, M., … & de Almeida Machado, P. L. O. (2018). Integrated farming systems for improving soil carbon balance in the southern Amazon of Brazil. Regional Environmental Change, 18(1), 105-116.	Within 3 years, integrated crop-livestock-forestry systems in north Mato Grosso State, Brazil, increased soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, compared to pasture.
16	2017	English	‘Brazil	Garcia, E., Ramos Filho, F. S. V., Mallmann, G. M., & Fonseca, F. (2017). Costs, benefits and challenges of sustainable livestock intensification in a major deforestation frontier in the Brazilian Amazon. Sustainability, 9(1), 158.	To move to sustainable intensification practices, ranchers in the São Félix do Xingu municipality need a mean total annual investment of US$1335/ha ± US$619/ha, varying from US$750 to US$2595/ha. Sustainable livestock intensification is estimated to be profitable for farms with more than 400 hectares of pastureland, but not for those with pasture areas smaller than 150 hectares. Livestock sustainable intensification also had the potential to promote social and environmental benefits, including a 54% increase in the number of contract workers, improvement of landowners’ managerial skills, and workers’ training, in addition to avoiding emission of 1.9 Mt CO₂eq and sequestration of 0.36 Mt CO₂eq.
17	2017	English	‘Colombia	Lerner, A. M., Zuluaga, A. F., Chará, J., Etter, A., & Searchinger, T. (2017). Sustainable cattle ranching in practice: moving from theory to planning in Colombia’s livestock sector. Environmental management, 60(2), 176-184.	This article reviews how food production and conservation can be reconciled with regards to cattle production in Colombia, and discuss the potential for landscape planning for sustainable cattle production, by outlining a national planning approach, which includes disaggregating the diverse cattle sector and production types, identifying biophysical, and economic opportunities and barriers for sustainable intensification in cattle ranching, and analyzing areas suitable for habitat restoration and conservation.
18	2018	English	‘Brazil ‘Amazon	Chain Reaction Research. (2018). Cattle-driven Deforestation: A Major Risk to Brazilian Retailers.	This report describes the economic role of the cattle sector in Brazil, key supply chain actors, their role in deforestation, and potential solutions to improve sustainability performance. The supply chain relationships of the top five retailers and meatpackers with Amazon plants expose the Brazilian retail sector to material risk from sourcing unsustainable beef.
19	2018	English	‘Brazil	Pereira, C. H., Patino, H. O., Hoshide, A. K., Abreu, D. C., Rotz, C. A., & Nabinger, C. (2018). Grazing supplementation and crop diversification benefits for southern Brazil beef: A case study. Agricultural Systems, 162, 1-9.	Profitability and environmental impact of three common pastured beef grazing systems in southern Brazil (natural pasture, pasture with low levels of grain supplementation, and integrated supplemented pasture-soybean systems) were evaluated. Net animal weight produced increased 7.9% for supplemented pasture systems and integrated systems. While costs were highest for integrated systems, they had the lowest carbon footprint, and saw 44% and 47% greater net returns per hectare than natural pasture and supplemented pasture. However, integrated systems showed higher energy and water footprints and increased soil erosion.
20	2018	English	‘Brazil	Gil, J. D., Garrett, R. D., Rotz, A., Daioglou, V., Valentim, J., Pires, G. F., … & Reis, J. C. (2018). Tradeoffs in the quest for climate smart agricultural intensification in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Environmental Research Letters, 13(6), 064025.	A whole-farm model calibrated for the Brazilian agricultural frontier state of Mato Grosso is used to compare the costs and benefits of a typical extensive, continuously grazed cattle system, a specialized soybean production system, and two improved cattle management strategies: rotational grazing and integrated soybean-cattle under different climate scenarios. Relative to continuously grazed or rotationally grazed cattle systems, the integrated system showed higher food production and lower GHG emissions per unit of human digestible protein, as well as increased resilience under climate change (both in terms of productivity and financial returns). However, there were tradeoffs between GHG and nitrogen emissions, climate resilience, and water and energy use across all systems.
21	2018	English	‘Brazil ‘Amazon	Erasmus K.H.J., Zu Ermgassen, E. K., Alcântara, M. P. D., Balmford, A., Barioni, L., Neto, F. B., Bettarello, M. M., … & Latawiec, A. (2018). Results from on-the-ground efforts to promote sustainable cattle ranching in the Brazilian Amazon. Sustainability, 10(4), 1301.	Results from six initiatives in the Brazilian Amazon show that participating farms have improved productivity by 30–490%. High-productivity cattle ranching requires some initial investment (R$1300–6900/ha or US$410–2180/ha), with average pay-back times of 2.5–8.5 years.
22	2018	English	‘Global	Elevitch, C. R., Mazaroli, D. N., & Ragone, D. (2018). Agroforestry standards for regenerative agriculture. Sustainability, 10(9), 3337.	Presents a list of standards for how agroforestry practices can advance regenerative agriculture’s five core environmental concerns: soil fertility and health, water quality, biodiversity, ecosystem health, and carbon sequestration.
23	2018	English	‘Brazil	Arantes, A. E., Couto, V. R. D. M., Sano, E. E., & Ferreira, L. G. (2018). Livestock intensification potential in Brazil based on agricultural census and satellite data analysis. Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira, 53(9), 1053-1060.	Remote sensing data was used to estimate potential cattle stocking rates throughout Brazil. Cattle stocking rate for Brazil, in 2014/2015, was 0.97 AU ha-1, and the carrying capacity was 3.60 AU ha-1; therefore, there is an average livestock intensification potential of 2.63 AU ha-1. The highest average intensification potential was observed for the Southern region (3.62 AU ha-1), and the lowest for the Northern (2.13 AU ha-1) and Northeastern regions (2.22 AU ha-1).
24	2018	English	‘Brazil	Fedrigo, J. K., Ataide, P. F., Filho, J. A., Oliveira, L. V., Jaurena, M., Laca, E. A., … & Nabinger, C. (2018). Temporary grazing exclusion promotes rapid recovery of species richness and productivity in a long‐term overgrazed Campos grassland. Restoration Ecology, 26(4), 677-685.	Long term field experiments in Southern Brazil show that moderate grazing intensities increase biodiversity, and spring grazing exclusions of long-term overgrazed grasslands can jumpstart recovery of the grass species richness, primary productivity, and species composition similar to well-managed grasslands.
25	2019	English	‘Brazil ‘Paraguay ‘Argentina	VAN DAM, J. I. N. K. E., VAN DEN HOMBERGH, H. E. L. E. E. N., & HILDERS, M. (2019). AN ANALYSIS OF EXISTING LAWS ON FOREST PROTECTION IN THE MAIN SOY PRODUCING COUNTRIES IN LATIN AMERICA.	This report belongs to series of three related reports. This report investigates what legal compliance means for protecting forests and ecosystems in the main Latin American countries of origin for European soy: Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. It is meant provide valuable input to companies, financial institutions, government representatives and NGOs who seek to step up their efforts in Europe and elsewhere.
26	2019	English	‘Amazon ‘Brazil ‘Bolivia ‘Paraguay ‘Uruguay ‘Argentina	de Waroux, Y. L. P., Garrett, R. D., Graesser, J., Nolte, C., White, C., & Lambin, E. F. (2019). The restructuring of South American soy and beef production and trade under changing environmental regulations. World Development, 121, 188-202.	No evidence is found of a change in soy or pasture area expansion patterns due to changes in regulations, except within the Amazon biome where pasture expansion slowed in response to more stringent regulations and coincided with pasture intensification. However, there was a decrease in beef imports from biomes with more stringent deforestation regulations.
27	2019	English	‘Brazil	Nunes, P. A. D. A., Bredemeier, C., Bremm, C., Caetano, L. A. M., de Almeida, G. M., de Souza Filho, W., … & Carvalho, P. C. D. F. (2019). Grazing intensity determines pasture spatial heterogeneity and productivity in an integrated crop‐livestock system. Grassland science, 65(1), 49-59.	Long term field studies show that cattle grazing at moderate to light intensities increase pasture spatial heterogeneity and total aboveground primary productivity, while intensive grazing leads to homogeneous overgrazed canopies with frequent bare soil patches. Integrating summer crop rotations can buffer the contrasts created by grazing at different intensities.
28	2020	English	‘Global	FAO. 2020. Biodiversity and the livestock sector – Guidelines for quantitative assessment – Version 1. Rome, Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance Partnership (FAO LEAP).	These guidelines are a product of the Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance (LEAP) Partnership, a multi-stakeholder initiative whose goal is to improve the environmental sustainability of livestock supply chains through better methods, metrics and data. The aim of the methodology developed in these guidelines is to introduce a harmonized international approach for assessing the impacts of livestock on biodiversity.
29	2020	English	‘Paraguay ‘Gran Chaco	Mighty Earth. (2020). Rapid Response: Special Report Paraguay (Report 15).	This Rapid Response Special Report highlights 8,932 ha of recent, potentially illegal deforestation in the Paraguayan Chaco in twelve selected cases. Twelve cases were ultimately selected (Table 1 ), showing 12,007 ha of deforestation between June 2019 and May 2020. Of these, 8,932 ha may have been illegal, i.e. deforestation occurred a) without a license/environmental authorization, b) in breach with the required environmental impact mitigation measures, or c) in a natural forest conservation area or protected area. Deforestation in the Chaco is largely driven by expanding cattle and soy operations, compounded by absent deforestation commitments from key operating stakeholders and loose law enforcement.
30	2020	English	‘Brazil	Brazilian Beef Exporters Association. (2020). BeefREPORT: Brazilian Livestock Profile 2020.	An abiec publication with the main data showing the Brazilian livestock profile.
31	2020	English	‘Global	Science Based Targets Network. (2020). SCIENCE-BASED TARGETS for NATURE: Initial Guidance for Business.	SBTN is publicly issuing this initial guidance on science-based targets (SBTs) for nature, as a first step toward integrated SBTs for all aspects of nature: biodiversity, climate, freshwater, land, and ocean (expected in 2022). This is draft content and is open for public consultation as of September 2020. This guidance covers the following questions: What is an SBT? Why are SBTs important? How will they work? This guidance also identifies steps companies can take immediately and enables “no regrets” actions consistent with the urgency of the challenges we face. In reading this guidance, you will be introduced to the the concepts and definitions at the core of SBTs for nature as well as the business case for setting SBTs for nature, our proposed step-by-step process of setting SBTs for nature, and the next steps for companies and SBTN.
32	2020	English	‘Brazil ‘Amazon	Carvalho, R., de Aguiar, A. P. D., & Amaral, S. (2020). Diversity of cattle raising systems and its effects over forest regrowth in a core region of cattle production in the Brazilian Amazon. Regional Environmental Change, 20(2), 1-15.	Spatial data and semi-structured interviews were used to characterize cattle raising systems and secondary vegetation between 2004 and 2014 in Pará. High-impact systems were found in regions with consolidated infrastructure and high accumulated deforestation, and expanded over time. Low-impact systems were more widespread near forest frontiers, and shrunk over time. Access to infrastructure and markets seemed to drive intensification.
33	2020	English	‘Brazil	Peterson, C. A., Bell, L. W., Carvalho, P. C. D. F., & Gaudin, A. (2020). Resilience of an integrated crop–livestock system to climate change: a simulation analysis of cover crop grazing in southern Brazil. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 4, 222.	Long-term simulations of the productivity dynamics of integrated cover crop grazing agroecosystems typical of southern Brazil showed that the integrated systems resulted in greater system-wide productivity than a specialized control system in 77% of simulated years. Under simulated future climate conditions (RCP8.5 scenario from 2020 to 2060), integrated system productivity exceeded specialized system productivity in 95% of years, demonstrating that integrated systems can provide a buffer against chronic climate stress.
34	2020	English	‘Brazil	Pereira, J. M., Rezende, C. D. P., Ferreira Borges, A. M., Homem, B. G. C., Casagrande, D. R., Macedo, T. M., … & Boddey, R. M. (2020). Production of beef cattle grazing on Brachiaria brizantha (Marandu grass)—Arachis pintoi (forage peanut cv. Belomonte) mixtures exceeded that on grass monocultures fertilized with 120 kg N/ha. Grass and Forage Science, 75(1), 28-36.	Mixed Marandu grass/forage peanut pastures were compared to N-fertilized Marandu monocultures in northeastern Brazil. Stocking rate, average daily gain and liveweight gain per ha were 16.4%, 20.0% and 28.7% greater in the mixed system than the monoculture, and the mixed system sustained significantly greater beef cattle production (789 kg ha⁻¹ y⁻¹) compared to the monoculture (655 kg ha⁻¹ y⁻¹).
35	2020	English	‘Brazil	do Nascimento Lampert, V., Canozzi, M. E. A., McManus, C. M., Dill, M. D., de Oliveira, T. E., Mercio, T. Z., … & Barcellos, J. O. J. (2020). Modelling beef cattle production systems from the Pampas in Brazil to assess intensification options. Scientia Agricola, 77(4), e20180263-e20180263.	Under most simulated scenarios scenarios, a reduction in mating age had a greater impact on the productivity indexes compared to a reduction in slaughter age.
36	2020	English	‘Brazil	Pereira, R., Rausch, L. L., Carrara, A., & Gibbs, H. K. (2020). Extensive production practices and incomplete implementation hinder Brazil’s zero-deforestation cattle agreements in Para. Tropical Conservation Science, 13, 1940082920942014.	Using field surveys of ranchers, slaughterhouse managers, and key industry personnel, this article presents the loopholes that weaken the cattle agreements and enable ranchers to evade full compliance, the strategies and challenges for ranchers seeking to intensify production, and why efforts to reduce Amazon deforestation may require both support for improved efficiency in the cattle sector and the tightening of several loopholes currently utilized by ranchers to avoid detection of ongoing deforestation.
37	2020	English	‘South Africa	Visser, C., Van Marle-Köster, E., Myburgh, H. C., & De Freitas, A. (2020). Phenomics for sustainable production in the South African dairy and beef cattle industry. Animal Frontiers, 10(2), 12-18.	Phenotypic and pedigree recording of livestock remains a challenge in developing countries with informal agricultural sectors. Automated technologies would assist commercial farmers to become more efficient and productive, improve animal welfare, and achieve economic sustainability in resource-poor areas.
38	2021	English	‘Global	CDP. (2021). Global Forest Report 2020: THE COLLECTIVE EFFORT TO END DEFORESTATION: A PATHWAY FOR COMPANIES TO RAISE THEIR AMBITION.	In 2020, 687 companies reported through CDP on the steps they are taking to eliminate deforestation from their operations and supply chains. This report looks at data disclosed by 553 companies using or producing seven commodities responsible for the majority of agriculture-related deforestation: palm oil, timber products, cattle products, soy, natural rubber, cocoa and coffee. These companies’ current governance, strategies and implementation measures are assessed against a series of industry-accepted measures to reduce deforestation, broken down into 15 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and split into six categories. Based on their adoption of the KPIs, companies are also mapped onto a pathway towards deforestation-free markets and a forestpositive future, allowing companies to benchmark against peers and follow in the footsteps of pioneers.
39	2021	English	‘Colombia ‘Amazon	Polanía-Hincapié, K. L., Olaya-Montes, A., Cherubin, M. R., Herrera-Valencia, W., Ortiz-Morea, F. A., & Silva-Olaya, A. M. (2021). Soil physical quality responses to silvopastoral implementation in Colombian Amazon. Geoderma, 386, 114900.	When pastures in the Colombian Amazon were replaced by silvopastoral systems, where trees, forage, and cattle are combined in an integrated and intensively managed system, there was an observed recovery in the physical soil attributes, which could be associated with increases in soil C.
40	2021	English	‘Brazil	Piao, R. S., Silva, V. L., Navarro del Aguila, I., & de Burgos Jiménez, J. (2021). Green Growth and Agriculture in Brazil. Sustainability, 13(3), 1162.	The National Plan for Low Carbon Emission in Agriculture has been moderately successful in terms of the adoption of sustainable technologies, such as integrated crop-livestock-forest, tillage-system, and has positively contributed to the reduction of greenhouse emissions and land degradation. However, it has been limited by a lack of support from state agencies, and a limited number of technicians capable of training farmers and cattle producers in low-carbon technologies, especially in the North and Northeast regions.
41	2021	English	‘Spain ‘Brazil ‘Paraguay ‘Argentina	Martínez-Valderrama, J., Sanjuán, M. E., del Barrio, G., Guirado, E., Ruiz, A., & Maestre, F. T. (2021). Mediterranean Landscape Re-Greening at the Expense of South American Agricultural Expansion. Land, 10(2), 204.	As a result of intensifying livestock production, roughly 7000 kha of secondary forest was regenerated in Spain between 2000 and 2010. However, the soy imported from Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina to support Spain’s livestock in that time period was linked to 1220 kha of deforestation in high value South American ecosystems.
42	2021	English	‘Global	Beyer, R., & Manica, A. (2021). Global and country-level data of the biodiversity footprints of 175 crops and pasture. Data in Brief, 106982.	This paper provides a dataset of the biodiversity footprints of pasture and 175 crops at global and national levels. For example, the average biodiversity footprint of pasture and soybean farms in Brazil, defined as the difference between the potential natural biodiversity and biodiversity under pasture, is 225 species/10 km2.
43	2021	English	‘Brazil ‘Cerrado	Silva, T. R., Pena, J. C., Martello, F., Bettiol, G. M., Sano, E. E., & Vieira, D. L. M. (2021). Not only exotic grasslands: The scattered trees in cultivated pastures of the Brazilian Cerrado. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 314, 107422.	This study shows that there are productive pastures in the Cerrado with high tree density and species richness, which could be used as models for sustainable intensification strategies in different ecoregions of the Cerrado.
44	2021	English	‘Global	Cusack, D. F., Kazanski, C. E., Hedgpeth, A., Chow, K., Cordeiro, A. L., Karpman, J., & Ryals, R. (2021). Reducing climate impacts of beef production: A synthesis of life cycle assessments across management systems and global regions. Global Change Biology.	Analyzing 292 local comparisons of “improved” versus “conventional” beef production systems across global regions indicates that net beef GHG emissions could be reduced substantially via changes in management. Among regions, studies from Brazil had the greatest improvement, with management strategies for C sequestration and efficiency reducing beef GHG emissions by 57%.
45	2021	English	‘Brazil ‘Amazon	Skidmore, M. E., Moffette, F., Rausch, L., Christie, M., Munger, J., & Gibbs, H. K. (2021). Cattle ranchers and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: Production, location, and policies. Global Environmental Change, 68, 102280.	Using animal transit and property boundary data to examine 113,000 properties in the three major cattle-producing states in the Brazilian Amazon shows that deforestation is most likely to occur on properties that sell fewer cattle, are earlier in the supply chain, are located in remote locations, and have a high percent of remaining forest.
46	2021	English	‘Colombia ‘Amazon	Tebbutt, C. A., Devisscher, T., Obando‐Cabrera, L., Gutiérrez García, G. A., Meza Elizalde, M. C., Armenteras, D., & Oliveras Menor, I. (2021). Participatory mapping reveals socioeconomic drivers of forest fires in protected areas of the post‐conflict Colombian Amazon. People and Nature.	Local stakeholders and key informants widely agreed on the roles of extensive cattle ranching and land grabbing as key drivers of wildfires in protected areas within Colombia. Lack of governance and untitled land, poor access to basic public services, and unsustainable ranching methods are all seen as possible contributing factors.
47	2021	English	‘Brazil ‘Cerrado	de Souza Oliveira, N., Schiavo, J. A., Lima, M. F., Laranjeira, L. T., Nunes, G. P., & da Cruz, S. C. (2021). Isotopic variations of carbon and nitrogen and their implications on the conversion of Cerrado vegetation into pasture. Brazilian Journal of Environmental Sciences (Online), 56(2), 266-273.	Conversion of Cerrado into pasture and the resulting fragmentation leads to decreased negative C and N sequestration ability and storage capacity, both in pasture and natural vegetation.
48	2021	English	‘Brazil ‘Amazon	Damian, J. M., Durigan, M. R., Cherubin, M. R., Maia, S. M. F., Ogle, S. M., de Camargo, P. B., … & Cerri, C. E. P. (2021). Deforestation and land use change mediate soil carbon changes in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. Regional Environmental Change, 21(3), 1-12.	Land use change from forest to pasture or agriculture in Paragominas and Santarém, Pará between 1990 and 2010 resulted in the loss of 1.51 Tg in soil C per year, evidencing that land use change contributes to C emissions not only from the loss of forest biomass, but also from the loss of soil C.
49	2021	English	‘Brazil	Feltran-Barbieri, R., & Féres, J. G. (2021). Degraded pastures in Brazil: improving livestock production and forest restoration. Royal Society Open Science, 8(7), 201854.	Only 1% of Brazilian municipalities contain 25% of degraded pastures. The recovery of 12 million ha of degraded pastures in Brazil could generate an additional production of 17.7 million bovines, and more efficient allocation of degraded and native pastures for meat production and forest restoration could provide land enough to fully comply with Forest Code requirements, while adding an additional 9 million heads to the cattle inventory.
50	2021	English	‘Global	Lee, M. R. F., Domingues, J. P., McAuliffe, G. A., Tichit, M., Accatino, F., & Takahashi, T. (2021). Nutrient provision capacity of alternative livestock farming systems per area of arable farmland required. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 1-8.	Per unit of overall nutrient value supplied by a given commodity, the demand for land suitable for human-edible crop production is considerably smaller under ruminant systems than monogastric systems, and consistently so at both farm and regional scales.
51	2021	English	‘Brazil ‘Cerrado	da Cunha, J. R., de Freitas, R. D. C. A., Souza, D. J. D. A. T., Gualberto, A. V. S., de Souza, H. A., & Leite, L. F. C. (2021). Soil biological attributes in monoculture and integrated systems in the Cerrado region of Piauí State, Brazil. Acta Scientiarum. Agronomy, 43, e51814-e51814.	Integrated livestock-forest systems in the Cerrado region of Piauí, Brazil were shown to lead to improvements in soil attributes, including increases in organic carbon and microbial biomass. However, soil microbiological indicators remained changed years after the conversion from native Cerrado vegetation to agriculture, and did not recover even after the adoption of conservation measures.
52	2017	English	‘Brazil	Florindo, T. J., de Medeiros Florindo, G. I. B., Talamini, E., da Costa, J. S., & Ruviaro, C. F. (2017). Carbon footprint and Life Cycle Costing of beef cattle in the Brazilian midwest. Journal of Cleaner Production, 147, 119-129.	Slaughtering animals at 20 months of age and 510 kg body weight was able to reduce emissions per kg of live weight by 45% and increasing profitability per hectare by 38%, compared to the systems typical of the southern region of Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil.
53	2019	English	‘Brazil ‘Amazon	Müller-Hansen, F., Heitzig, J., Donges, J. F., Cardoso, M. F., Dalla-Nora, E. L., Andrade, P., … & Thonicke, K. (2019). Can intensification of cattle ranching reduce deforestation in the Amazon? Insights from an agent-based social-ecological model. Ecological Economics, 159, 198-211.	Using a stylized agent-based model that combines social learning and ecological processes with market dynamics shows that under many environmental and economic conditions, intensification of cattle ranching in the Brazilian Amazon does not reduce deforestation rates and sometimes even has a detrimental effect on deforestation.
54	2020	English	‘Brazil	Szymczak, L. S., de Faccio Carvalho, P. C., Lurette, A., De Moraes, A., de Albuquerque Nunes, P. A., Martins, A. P., & Moulin, C. H. (2020). System diversification and grazing management as resilience-enhancing agricultural practices: The case of crop-livestock integration. Agricultural Systems, 184, 102904.	Specialized soybean systems and integrated soybean-beef cattle systems were assessed for robustness and adaptive capacity when facing climate hazards and price volatility. Co-located integrated crop-livestock were more resilient than the specialized soybean system over the 5 year period and had improved nutrient cycling and resource-use efficiency.
55	2021	English	‘Global	Crippa, M., Solazzo, E., Guizzardi, D., Monforti-Ferrario, F., Tubiello, F. N., & Leip, A. (2021). Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Nature Food, 1-12.	In 2015, food-system emissions amounted to 18 Gt CO2eq per year globally, representing 34% of total GHG emissions. The largest contribution came from agriculture and land use/land-use change activities, which represented 71% of total food system emissions.
56	2021	English	‘Brazil	Golub, A., Herrera, D., Leslie, G., Pietracci, B., & Lubowski, R. (2021). A real options framework for reducing emissions from deforestation: Reconciling short-term incentives with long-term benefits from conservation and agricultural intensification. Ecosystem Services, 49, 101275.	Using a real options framework to analyze a representative farmer’s land-use decisions in Mato Grosso, Brazil, demonstrates that, while forest conservation coupled with cattle ranching intensification is competitive with the predominant practice of extensive cattle production, it is hindered by landholders’ perceptions of the relative option values of different land uses. However, bonds and call and put options that allow for early monetization of potential future carbon revenues, can help address the financial needs of farmers on the ground, increasing the option value of delaying deforestation.
57	2021	English	‘Brazil	Schettini, B. L. S., Jacovine, L. A. G., Oliveira Neto, S. N. D., Torres, C. M. M. E., Rocha, S. J. S. S. D., Villanova, P. H., … & Rufino, M. P. M. X. (2021). Silvipastoral systems: how to use them for carbon neutral milk production?. Carbon Management, 1-8.	Adopting silvopastoral systems for semi-intensive dairy farming in Visconde do Rio Branco, Minas Gerais state, Brazil was successful at reducing the GHG emissions per unit milk produced
58	2021	English	‘Brazil	Maia, A. G., dos Santos Eusebio, G., Fasiaben, M. D. C. R., Moraes, A. S., Assad, E. D., & Pugliero, V. S. (2021). The economic impacts of the diffusion of agroforestry in Brazil. Land use policy, 108, 105489.	Reviewing municipal-level information from the Agricultural Censuses 2006 and 2017 revealed that the diffusion of agroforestry systems had positive and relevant impacts on stocking rates (heads/pasture area). Agroforestry may have also stimulated the shift from cattle raising to other activities with higher gross added value, such as growing soybeans.
	2013	English Deutsch	‘Brazil	Gucci Goes Sustainable: New Handbag Line Made with Leather from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ Ranches	The world’s first products made from Rainforest Alliance certified leather are launched by Gucci at Paris Fashion Week. The leather comes from ranches in Mato Grosso, Brazil, processed by Marfrig and turned into purses sold in Gucci stores around the world.
	2013	English	‘Brazil ‘Amazon	Walmart and Marfrig work to improve environmental compliance in the Brazilian Amazon	Walmart, Marfrig and conservation NGO The Nature Conservancy launched a project in the Brazilian Amazon to provide support for ranchers for improving productivity, complying with environmental legislation and accessing finance.
	2021	Português do Brasil	‘Brazil	Grupo de Trabalho dos Fornecedores Indirectos	The GTFI is the main discussion forum on the monitoring of indirect suppliers in the beef supply chain in Brazil. We brought together several stakeholders in the chain to discuss solutions for traceability, monitoring and transparency with a focus on controlling deforestation in indirect suppliers.
	2021	English Español Français Português do Brasil	‘Global	Accountability Framework	The Accountability Framework supports the global effort to produce agricultural and forestry commodities while protecting forests, other ecosystems, and human rights.
	2021	English	‘Brazil ‘Amazon	Website – A Path Towards Zero-Deforestation Cattle	This website was developed as a collaborative project between the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and the Gibbs Land Use and Environment Lab (GLUE). The site aims to showcase how supply chain initiatives are supporting effective solutions for verified zero-deforestation beef, leather, and tallow production in the Brazilian Amazon. The site also highlights ways for supply chain actors to support continuous improvement and ensure that cattle products sourced from this region do not contribute to the loss of tropical forests. This website is intended to be a resource for procurement and sustainability professionals, and will continue to evolve as new research, data, and analysis becomes available.