Technicians from the binational project for the development of the Putumayo and Purus River Basin (Pedicp) and the Pichis-Palcazú Special Project (PEPP), Peru, participated in a course on “Carbon sequestration methods”. The event, which took place from May 23 to May 25 at Embrapa Acre's training center, was funded by Brazil's and Peru's Ministries of Foreign Affairs. The course taught by the researcher Falberni de Souza Costa showed the advantages and disadvantages of the methods used to estimate carbon sequestration in forest soils, agriculture, and cattle farming. In his opinion, it is important to introduce different methods to verify soil carbon quantities at this first stage. “Learning about the methods to know how to deal with different carbon estimation scales is fundamental to obtain more precise data on the carbon sequestered by forest soils”, he observes. According to the researcher, in the traditional method, measurements are made through soil samples that are collected from fields and analyzed in labs. “Even though it is broadly used, there are limitations to it, just like for those that use mathematical modeling, or whether it is coupled with geographical information systems and/or with satellite data,” he adds. For Pedicp's director of Natural Resources and Environment, Mauro Vazquez Ramirez, one of the course participants, getting to know Embrapa Acre's experience with carbon sequestration was a learning opportunity. “We are interested in including the sale of carbin stocks as an alternative to secure international funds for Peru. The course could be a starting point”, he comments. At the second stage of capacity-building, the technicians are going to apply the knowledge they acquired in the areas where they perform their activities. In order to discuss and assess their work, the researcher Falberni is going to make a technical visit to the region of Iquitos, in 2018. International liaison The activity is part of the project “Strengthening local capacities for the sustainable management and use of timber and non-timber forest species in the Javari and Purus river basins”, financed by the Brazilian (ABC) and Peruvian (APCI) International Cooperation Agencies. According to the Embrapa unit's head of Technology Transfer and International Articulator, Patrícia Drumond, the course is the fruit of negotiations between the Brazilian and Peruvian government that started in 2012. “This is the first activity developed in the scope of the project. It also stipulated assessment meetings and two other capacity-building events, one the area of in-vitro micropropagation of seedlings of timber and non-timber species, and another with a focus on precision forest management”, she explains. Translation: Mariana Medeiros