Frequently asked questions
1. What is the cut-off date for zero deforestation/conversion? And zero illegal deforestation/conversion?
CRITERION 3.1: Deforestation and conversion of native vegetation follows the cut-off date (01/Aug/2008) for monitoring suppliers, to comply with the Forest Code (22/Jul/2008), after which rural properties cannot convert new areas of native vegetation unless they have an official Authorisation for the Suppression of Native Vegetation.
The cut-off date for blocking suppliers who are identified with a Prodes Cerrado polygon is 31/Dec/2020, to align with existing public commitments (EUDR).
Suppliers with a Prodes Cerrado polygon identified between 01/Aug/2008 and 31/12/2020 must draw up an action plan to support environmental regularisation and thus remain on the meatpacker's supplier list.
The meatpackers will be monitored by the Cerrado Protocol Deliberative Council to assess the implementation of the action plans and the support being given to rural producers for environmental regularisation.
2. What is the reintegration process for farmers/producers/suppliers?
There is a detailed description in the Protocol for each criterion, containing the rules for unlocking suspended properties.
3. What can happen if a property does not comply with a criterion of the Cerrado Protocol?
For companies that decide to adopt the protocol for monitoring their supply chains, properties that do not meet any specific criterion defined in the protocol will have commercial relations suspended at first and, to be unblocked, it must follow the unblocking rules defined for each criterion.
4. Are the Cerrado Protocol criteria verifiable?
Yes, the criteria and parameters included in the protocol use publicly available databases or define the evidence that should be analysed in monitoring and verification.
5. What are the databases used to verify compliance with the criteria established by the protocol?
For each criterion, we highlight the database(s) that should be used to carry out the monitoring (below the decision tree for each criterion).
6. are there any technical limitations to the databases used to check the criteria?
No. The criteria established by the protocol are those with publicly available databases for compliance analysis, and which allow operation by automated risk management systems, in order to offer favourable conditions for companies during the decision-making process.
7. which databases are used to evaluate deforestation in transitional areas between the Cerrado and Amazon biomes?
The Protocol will follow the limits of the Cerrado biome, as defined by IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). Data from Prodes Cerrado should be used in the area covered by the biome. This data records the conversion of native vegetation (woody and non-woody species), and deforestation in the transition areas is therefore detected, if it is located within the biome limits established by IBGE.
8. How will compliance with the protocol criteria be evaluated?
The validation of the companies' internal monitoring can be verified by a third-party audit, following the Audit Protocol. In addition, the monitoring of the implementation of the protocol by the Board of Directors will be defined during the third phase of the project, which will take place in 2024.
9. are there any technical difficulties in monitoring deforestation in the case of reduction of the deforestation polygon from 6.5 hectares to 1.0 hectare? Can this create false positives?
As described on the TerraBrasilis website, a platform developed by INPE for organising, accessing and using geographic data for environmental monitoring, the Prodes Cerrado mapping uses Landsat satellite images or similar, to record and quantify deforested areas larger than 1 hectare, considering deforestation as the suppression of native vegetation.
Therefore, the understanding is that there is no technical limitation for monitoring deforestation using ≥1 hectare polygons. In an article published in the journal “Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment”,[2] the authors identified an accuracy of 93.17% ± 0.89%, indicating the quality of the data.
However, in order to align with the Boi na Linha Protocol, already adopted by dozens of meatpackers, it was decided that Prodes Cerrado monitoring will now be based on polygons of 6.25 hectares or more.
10. What are the next steps to implement the Cerrado Protocol?
Understanding that this is only the beginning of a long journey to build a unified monitoring protocol for the Cerrado, Phase III is planned to begin in May 2024, with the aim of:
Holding workshops to train meatpackers to adopt supplier monitoring in accordance with the protocol;
Expanding communication and engagement with other organisations to participate in the protocol implementation process;
Developinh an audit protocol to evaluate the progress of companies that adopt the Protocol;
Updating the Cerrado Protocol platform, giving transparency to the implementation of the Protocol by companies in the chain;
Updating the terms of reference for the governance of the Cerrado Protocol.
11. How much time will be made available to companies and their suppliers to carry out the necessary internal adjustments to implement the Cerrado Protocol?
Each company will implement the protocol according to its strategies and the Board of Directors will monitor the implementation. No single date will be set for all companies to adopt the protocol.
12. Does the Cerrado Protocol cover indirect suppliers?
The Protocol was designed for direct suppliers, but it is a company decision to define whether it is feasible to monitor indirect suppliers following the same criteria and parameters of the protocol.
Our suggestion would be to start monitoring indirect suppliers, preferably following the good practices for monitoring indirect suppliers as defined by the Indirect Supplier Working Group (GTFI).
13. Is the Cerrado Protocol applicable to feedlots?
Yes.
14. Is the Cerrado Protocol applicable to smallholders?
The Protocol was designed for all direct cattle suppliers in the Cerrado biome, without distinguishing by size of property.
15. How can changes to the CAR (Environmental Rural Registry) boundaries influence the implementation of the Cerrado Protocol?
Changes to the limits of the CAR can be motivated by the ordinary correction and adjustment of the property's map in the CAR, either by demand from the environmental agency responsible for analysing the registration or by a change in ownership of the property, for example. However, it has already been observed that rural properties have had their boundaries altered as a way of "circumventing" the rural property monitoring systems implemented by companies in the sector by eliminating an existing non-compliance in the original map.
One of the objectives of the CAR criterion (Criterion 3.6) is precisely to verify any changes and prevent fraud.
Sources
1. Conservation of the Brazilian Cerrado. Klink, C.A. and Machado, R.B. 2005, Conservation Biology , pp. 19(3): 707-713 [Online].
2. Deforestation fronts: Drivers and responses in a changing world. Pacheco, P., Mo, K., Dudley, N., Shapiro, A., Aguilar- Amuchastegui, N., Ling, P.Y., Anderson, C. and Marx, A. 2021, WWF. [Online]
3. Situação e perspectivas sobre as águas do Cerrado. Lima, J.E.F.W. 2011, Ciencia e Cultura , p. 63(3) [Online].
4. Moment of truth for the Cerrado hotspot. Strassburg, B.B.N., Brooks, T., Feltran-Barbieri, R., Iribarrem, A., Crouzeilles, R., Loyola, R., ... Balmford, A. 2017, Nature Ecology & Evolution, p. 1(4): 0099 [Online].
5. Management of socioenvironmental factors of reputational risk in the beef supply chain in the Brazilian Amazon region. Galuch, T. P. D., Rosales, F. P. and Batalha, M. O.. 2019, International Food and Agribusiness Management Review. [Online]
6. Relatório da ‘Repórter Brasil’ sobre trabalho escravo na pecuária tem repercussão internacional. Repórter Brasil., 2021. [Online]