German-Brazilian APD: Technical Exchange on Carbon Farming
The main topic of the trip, which took the delegation to Berlin, Leipzig and Bonn, was methods for measuring, verifying and monitoring carbon sequestration in agriculture in temperate and tropical climates.
Certain agricultural practices are capable of mitigating emissions of methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide (CO2) and sequestering CO2 in the soil. The potential of tropical agriculture, e.g. in Brazil, as a CO2 sink has not yet been sufficiently considered in scientific studies. An international exchange on the corresponding potentials and challenges is therefore very important.
Also, the demand for CO2 certificates in Brazil is high and Brazilian agriculture could cover it to a greater extent in the medium term. One item on the program of the trip was therefore a full-day workshop at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) of the University of Bonn. In this workshop, the technical conditions of carbon farming in the tropics, governance and the necessary political framework conditions were discussed so that corresponding economic models can emerge from this.