Avoiding planned deforestation and its climate impact
Pacajai REDD+ Project, Brazil
The Pacajai forest conservation project in the Brazilian state of Pará aims to avoid planned deforestation across a large forest area and thereby secure the long-term preservation of existing tropical forest cover.
By protecting the forests, carbon stored in biomass and soils remains sequestered over the long term. Avoiding planned deforestation prevents the release of substantial volumes of CO₂ that would otherwise result from logging and subsequent land-use change. In this way, the project delivers measurable emission reductions by preserving existing carbon stocks.
Forest conservation is implemented through long-term land-use and management concepts designed to avoid deforestation and stabilize forest areas. The project therefore combines the preservation of existing ecosystems with a clearly defined climate impact and demonstrates how forest conservation can contribute effectively and over the long term to climate mitigation—implemented in a traceable manner and with measurable results.
Technical project data – VCS981
Key facts about the forest conservation project at a glance.
| Parameter | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Project location | Brazil; State of Pará, Municipality of Portel (Pacajai region) | Project Description (PD), Section 1.9 |
| Project type | REDD+ project to avoid planned deforestation (Avoided Planned Deforestation, APD) in the AFOLU sector | Project Description, Section 1.2 |
| Project standard | Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) | VCS Program |
| Additional standard | Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standard (CCB) | Project Description; CCB Validation Documents |
| Project developer | ADPML – Associação de Desenvolvimento Sustentável dos Produtores da Margem Direita do Rio Pacajá | Project Description, Section 1.3 |
| Project area | Approx. 95,000 ha of tropical forest | Project Description, Section 1.9 |
| Technology / approach | Avoided planned deforestation through adapted land-use planning, protection measures, and monitoring of existing forest areas | Project Description, Sections 1.2 & 2 |
| Baseline scenario | Ongoing deforestation driven by approved or expected land-use changes with significant CO₂ release | Project Description, Section 2.3 |
| Methodology | VM0007 – REDD Methodology Framework (REDD-MF), Avoiding Planned Deforestation | Monitoring Report, Section 2 |
| Project start | Start of the crediting period as per project registration (2012) | Project Description, Section 1.6 |
| Crediting period | Multi-year crediting period as per VCS registration (ongoing) | Monitoring Report, Section 1.7 |
| Project status | Registered VCS project; ongoing review process | Verra Registry |
| Annual emission reductions | Project-specific per monitoring period; reported in monitoring and verification reports | Monitoring Reports |
| Main impact mechanism | Avoidance of CO₂ emissions by preserving existing forest carbon stocks in biomass and soil | Project Description, Sections 2 & 3 |
| Monitoring & verification | Regular monitoring using remote sensing and field checks; independent verification by accredited VVBs | Monitoring & Verification Reports |
| Additionality | Implementation of protection measures financially enabled by revenues from the voluntary carbon market | Project Description, Additionality Section |
| Permanence & risk management | Safeguarding of climate impact through the VCS AFOLU buffer pool, based on risk assessment | Non-Permanence Risk Report |
| Carbon Credit Rating | No external carbon credit rating published | Verra Registry & project documentation |
| Carbon Credit Rating Type | No project-specific external rating (e.g. BeZero, Sylvera) | – |
| Article 6 Authorization (Paris Agreement) | No authorization under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement | Verra Registry |
| CCP Status (ICVCM) | No CCP classification published | ICVCM |
| Handling of double-counting risks | Clear allocation and registration of VCUs in the VCS registry | VCS Rules |
| Risk management (AFOLU) | Systematic assessment of non-permanence risks (incl. deforestation, fire, land-use change) and coverage via the VCS buffer pool | Non-Permanence Risk Report |
| Monitoring approach | Combination of remote sensing, GIS analyses, sample-based field checks, and model-based emissions quantification in line with VCS requirements | Monitoring Reports |
| Project longevity / long-term perspective | Long-term forest conservation project with a multi-year crediting and monitoring structure | Project Description, Section 1.6 |
| Contribution to national climate strategy | Contribution to emission reductions in the AFOLU sector without national accounting under Article 6 | Project Description, Section 1.10 |
What the project can contribute
Here we summarize what the project is designed to achieve in practice and which tangible changes it makes possible.
- 1
Preserving existing forests over the long term
The Pacajai project protects existing tropical forest areas from planned deforestation. This helps maintain large, contiguous forest ecosystems that would otherwise have been converted step by step.
- 2
Preventing carbon release
By avoiding deforestation, carbon stored in biomass and soils is retained. The climate impact arises from avoiding CO₂ emissions that would have been released through forest conversion.
- 3
Stabilizing land use
The project is based on adapted land-use strategies that prioritize forest conservation. This reduces deforestation risks without opening up new areas.
- 4
Safeguarding ecological functions
Protecting the forests preserves key ecological functions such as habitats for numerous species, soil stability, and natural regulation processes in the water cycle.
- 5
Safeguard long-term climate impact
The long-term storage of sequestered carbon is ensured through monitoring, independent verification, and AFOLU-specific risk management, including protection through the VCS buffer account.
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Global climate relevance
Avoiding irreversible emissions
Deforestation releases large amounts of carbon that cannot be fully re-sequestered over human timescales. By protecting forest areas, the project avoids emissions that would otherwise contribute permanently to the global greenhouse effect.
Protecting a forest area under high pressure
The project site is located in a region with high deforestation pressure. Conservation measures take effect where the risk of emissions is particularly high and where protection therefore has correspondingly high climate relevance.
Preserving climate-relevant landscape functions
Large forest landscapes influence local and regional climate processes, for example through evapotranspiration, temperature regulation, and precipitation patterns. Preserving these structures supports the stability of climate-relevant processes beyond the project boundaries.
Long-term impact enabled by secured financing
Revenues from the voluntary carbon market enable sustained financing for protection, monitoring, and risk management. This ensures that climate impact is maintained not as a one-off effect, but over many years.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – The relevant and the complementary contributions
Beyond avoiding greenhouse gas emissions, the Pacajai project contributes to preserving existing forest ecosystems, safeguarding ecological functions, and stabilizing large-scale tropical forest landscapes. By preventing planned deforestation, essential climate and ecosystem services are maintained. The most material contributions relate to SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 15 (Life on Land). Other goals are supported in a complementary or indirect way. Some SDGs should be considered peripheral, as they are not part of the project’s core focus.
The Pacajai project contributes to climate mitigation by avoiding planned deforestation. As a result, large amounts of carbon stored in biomass and soils remain sequestered over the long term and are not released into the atmosphere as CO₂.
The climate impact arises from avoiding emissions that would otherwise result from the conversion of forest land.
Contribution:
Avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions through the preservation of existing forest carbon stocks.Protecting existing tropical forests preserves diverse ecosystems and their functions. This includes habitats for numerous species, soil stability, and natural regulation processes across the landscape.
Maintaining contiguous forest areas supports the long-term stability and resilience of these ecosystems.
Contribution:
Preservation and stabilization of existing terrestrial ecosystems by avoiding planned deforestation.The project creates employment through forest protection measures, monitoring, administration, and project implementation. These activities support local economic activity without creating additional incentives for deforestation.
Contribution:
Support for local employment and economic activity in forest conservation and project implementation.By adjusting land-use and management strategies, long-term forest conservation is prioritized. Short-term use interests are deprioritized in favor of a more responsible approach to forest resources.
Contribution:
Resource-conserving use of forest areas through long-term oriented land-use strategies.Maintaining large forest areas has positive effects on the regional water balance. Forests help regulate runoff, infiltration, and soil erosion, thereby supporting stable hydrological processes.
Contribution:
Indirect support for a more stable water balance through the preservation of natural forest structures.Protecting large-scale forest landscapes can indirectly help stabilize rural regions by maintaining ecological foundations and long-term land-use perspectives. However, there is no direct link to urban development.
Contribution:
Indirect support for stable rural livelihoods without an explicit focus on cities.The project contributes to establishing long-term structures for forest protection, monitoring, and land-use planning. These structures support the sustainable management of forest areas, but they are not the main focus of the project.
Contribution:
Contribution to the development of long-term organizational and monitoring structures in forest conservation.
How CO₂ savings are generated
Forests and soils store carbon. When they are protected, reforested or managed more sustainably, this carbon remains stored and does not enter the atmosphere as CO₂. These avoided emissions can be measured and form the basis for CO₂ certificates.
Land use and forestry projects change how an area develops over time. Without the project, forests would degrade or be cleared, or soils would store less carbon. With the project, more carbon remains stored — or additional carbon is captured, for example through newly planted trees.
Depending on the region, vegetation and soil type, there are established factors that indicate how much carbon a forest or soil can store on average.
For each project, the expected development of the area without the intervention (baseline) is compared with the carbon that is retained or additionally stored through the project activities. The difference represents the avoided or newly captured emissions. These values are verified, regularly updated — and form the basis for issuing CO₂ certificates.
Context and transparency
The Pacajai forest conservation project is registered under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and is subject to regular monitoring and independent verification. The issued emission reduction credits are based on audited monitoring and verification reports and on approved methodologies for quantifying avoided greenhouse gas emissions from planned deforestation.
Carbon offsetting, legal certainty, and defensible climate communications
Carbon offsetting is under far closer scrutiny than it used to be—driven by tighter regulation, more critical audiences, and stricter expectations for environmental claims. If you communicate “offset,” “climate-neutral,” or “carbon-neutral,”you need a robust foundation: a credible footprint and clear documentation of what has been offset—and how.
A legally robust approach therefore starts with measurement and a consistent framework. We prepare your Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF) and—where products are concerned—your Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) in line with international standards. This creates the data basis for sustainability reporting (e.g., under VSME) and for communications built on verifiable facts rather than assertions.
For carbon offsetting itself, three elements are decisive to reduce greenwashing risk:
- Transparent methodology: a clear logic of what is accounted for and what is compensated
- Quality-assured climate impact: monitoring, verification, and traceable documentation
- Robust claim logic: precise wording, no overstatements, unambiguous statements
This positions compensation not as a PR topic, but as a clearly framed component of carbon management—supported by defensible language for websites, proposals, and reporting.