The PCI Strategy is a successful one. An example of that was the formal adherence of a new company (FS Bio Energia) to the PCI Compact of Sorriso during a members’ meeting held on May 20. David Grilo, who represented the company, endorsed the importance of the PCI goals, emphasizing the company’s interest in contributing. “FS Bioenergia is fully committed to collaborating in the best possible way. We consider the partnership signed extremely important, for it will promote the development of the company as well as of the agriculture and of the sustainability in the region”, said Grilo. FS Bio Energia is part of the National Corn Ethanol Union (UNEM, the acronym in Portuguese), one of the founding organizations and member of the Council of PCI Institute.

The PCI Regional Compact of Sorriso was created in April 2019, when 25 representatives from the public, private sectors, civil society, and farmers signed the Memorandum of Understanding. A year later, in March 2020, the Pact received its first direct investment through the Cultivando Vida Sustentável Program. This was a partnership between IDH and Clube Amigos da Terra (CAT), with an estimated investment of EUR 660,000 in resources provided by IDH, and EUR 780,00 matched by the private sector (CAT and local producers) for training and investments until the end of 2021.

Barra do Garças

On 12 May, the members of Barra do Garças PCI Compact also met to discuss and deliberate on several issues. Among these issues, the structuring of the governance model was brought up. Updates were also made on the four projects developed with IDH funds and managed by TNC.

Regarding the initiative, the coordinator of the Flor de Ibez Institute, Simon Paz, said that without the Compact, the processes would not take place and would be slower. “We can see the positive result in terms of leveraging possibilities that were embryonic or buried by the current difficulties. So, this initiative is very important for it awakes the participants, attracts and motivates them to achieve the goals”. The Institute proposed one of the projects, aimed at indigenous communities.

Juruena Valley

During the month of May, the Juruena Valley Regional Compact meeting took place. In addition to internal issues, the participants were able to get updated information on the PCI Strategy at a state level and they were able to learn about initiatives being implemented in the region. One of these initiatives is the REM-MT program - in partnership with Empaer, and the Terra a Limpo program - which contribute to the goals of the Regional PCI Compact and establish a direct relationship with the goals of the PCI Strategy at a state level.

The Juruena Valley was the first region to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for putting together IDH’s Regional Compact in Mato Grosso in May 2018. As a result of the investment, the activities of the Calf Sustainable Production Program, coordinated by IDH, began in the following year. This was done with resources from the Group and from the Carrefour Foundation at the amount of 3.5 million euros by the end of 2021.

“Mato Grosso is an environment that offers countless opportunities for our way of working, which seeks to cause impacts on scale with the involvement of different social players, consumer markets, producers, companies and governments. Seeing these results materialize motivates us even further”, stated IDH Executive Director in Brazil, Daniela Mariuzzo.

All meetings were held online, in compliance with the safety protocols recommended by the World Health Organization, in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic