Increased agricultural production while maintaining product quality, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in agriculture and preserving the highest biodiversity of the planet: this promising panorama of Brazil was presented by the minister of Agriculture, Blairo Maggi, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP22) held this week in Marrakech, Morocco, which gathers politicians, scientists, NGOs and companies to debate the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Embrapa's president Maurício Antonio Lopes is also part of the Brazilian delegation for the Conference. Based the current good environmental performance of the agricultural sector, Maggi believes that the country is capable of responding to major world challenges presented by the UN, such as increasing food production for a growing world population, adapting production systems, and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (Mapa) estimates that the national agricultural sector will cut emissions by 0.9 gigatons CO2 equivalent in the period from 2005 to 2030. The environmental results from the national agricultural sector are mainly due to the "Sector Plan for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation for the Consolidation of a Low Carbon Economy in Agriculture" (ABC Plan, from the acronym in Portuguese). Coordinated by Mapa, the Plan establishes sustainable practices that promote a reduction in emissions and carbon retention, such as the recovery of degraded pastures, no-till farming, planted forests, and integrated crop-livestock-forestry systems (ICLFS). Production areas under ICLFS have already reached the extension of 11.5 million hectares in Brazil, according to research sponsored by the ICLFS Fostering Network, elaborated by the Kleffmann Group with technical support from Embrapa Environment. Another important aspect emphasized by Brazil's representatives in Marrakech was the potential for in-farm conservation of native vegetation, as stipulated in the country's Forest Code. In the event, the Brazilian delegation stressed that the total preservation area kept within Brazilian rural properties corresponds to the territories of France and Norway combined. In view of such efforts, the minister of Agriculture advocated that Brazilian agricultural products should be given preference in the global market, due to their compliance with strict environmental legislation. Among the commitments that Brazil took on at COP21 to be fulfilled by the year 2030, the agricultural sector is set to contribute with the recovery of 15 million hectares of pastures, an increase in ICLFS area in five million hectares, and the supply of raw material for biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, which will account for 18% of the national energy consumption in 2030, in accordance with government forecasts. For these reasons, the country is deemed a key player in sustainable food production and in the production of environmental services in the Conference. "Adding the prior voluntary commitments to the commitment the country ratified throught the NDC, Brazil pledged to work on 55.5 million hectares and another 12 million for the recovery and reestablishment of forests, which represents more than a quarter of the lands used for agriculture. No other country put such an audacious proposition forward", asserts the researcher from Embrapa Environment Celso Manzatto, coordinator of the ABC Platform, a multi-institutional initiative to monitor the adoption of low-carbon technologies in agriculture nationwide. For Manzatto, the Platform will be a valuable initiative to validate the results Brazil has reached, and further on it can generate both reliable data for certification of sustainable agricultural products, and a tool to disseminate the adoption of such technologies in different production conditions in the country."The idea is a multi-institucional platform with active participation from the private sector, which is interested in opening and consolidating markets and in the certification of sustainable production", the researcher reports. For the president of the Embrapa, Brazil has what it takes to become a world leader in intensification based on resource-saving, low-carbon and productivity-increasing technologies. According to Maurício Lopes, the country is one of the few in the world with large portions of land that are suited for sustainable use. History The world debate on climate change reached a landmark in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, in 1995, also known as ECO92, when the international treaty known as United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was elaborated. The fundamental principles that would establish the guidelines to be followed by different countries around the world to mitigate the effects of climate change were thence laid down and started to be annually debated and negotiated in international forum meetings called Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP). Brazil has been involved in the meetings of the Parties from the beginning.From the many different aspects discussed every year, agriculture is doubtlessly one of the most important segments to mitigate the effects of climate change.In governmental terms, this segment is officially addressed at COP by Mapa, which relies on support from Embrapa, in the form of research and technological solutions for the sector. In the context of the commitments made at the COPs and with Embrapa's technical support, Mapa has been implementing significant national policies so that the country can reach the targets defined by the Convention. An example of that is the ABC Plan (in the scope of COP15) and, more recently, the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change, approved in May 2016. Based on the Paris Agreement, which was signed at COP21, the Brazilian contribution commitments, called intended Nationally Determined Contribution (iNDC), have been institutionalized. After the signature, the agreement started to be called NDC Brazil, and includes, among other contributions, actions on mitigation, adaptation and implementation to achieve the goals the country established. The researcher from Embrapa's Secretariat for International Affairs (SRI), Gustavo Mozzer, who has previously integrated several of Mapa's missions at COP meetings, explains that the Paris Agreement considers the urgency of the environmental debate and the importance of investment in strutucturing agendas, prioritizing the adaptation to the negative effects of climate change. In the Agreement, according to Mozzer, the contributions for the agricultural sector particularly aim at conciliating the need to scale up agricultural production with reducing the sector's carbon emission intensity. The National Adaptation Plan is going to complement ongoing activities within the scope of the National Plan on Climate Change, which has shown effective results through the ABC Plan, such as the dissemination of economically attractive and environmentally sustainable technologies. Technologies that resulted from Embrapa's research and that promote gains in production systems in terms of resilience to extreme weather events and reduce the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector. The discussions The first commitment that gave the foundations to establish actions for the mitigation of the effects of climate change was defined at COP3, in 1997, in Japan, in the form of the Kyoto Protocol. In the treaty, with over 170 signatory countries, they proposed a schedule in which such countries would have the obligation to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 5.2% in comparison with the 1990 baseline levels, in the period from 2008 to 2012. Since COP 15, held in 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark, Embrapa's participation has been growing, through its support to Mapa in the development of actions in agriculture to be used in Brazil. The discussions gave rise to the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAS), Brazilian commitments voluntarily pledged by the country during the COP 15. The NAMAs preceded the commitments further agreed upon in the NDC. For Mozzer, at that moment the country was a pioneer in dealing with the importance of climate change adaptation actions for the agricultural sector in international negotiations"During the elaboration of the ABC Plan, between 2009 and 2010, there was a chapter dedicated to adaptation, hence the Brazilian Plan is the only sector plan that comprises the subject", he reports. Embrapa's participation in COP debates and parallel forums has allowed the corporation to contribute to the national and international discussion on how agriculture will respond to the climate change challenge. At COP 22, which started on last November 7, continuous discussion has attempted to define actions that aim at "measuring impacts, promoting public policy, and the advancement of knowledge to foresee and mitigate risks. Learn more The Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international summit, formed by representatives of over 190 countries, which discuss the bases for negotiations for the establishment of an international agreement. The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty with commitments for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. It was effectively implemented in 1997, when emission reduction targets were established. Follow Embrapa at #COP22 Translation: Mariana de Lima Medeiros