Forest Positive Coalition

Tocantins, a critical state within the Brazilian Cerrado, holds 13.9 million hectares of remaining native vegetation but faces mounting pressure from agricultural expansion and a large area still eligible for legal clearing. This initiative supports a jurisdictional approach that aligns sustainable production, climate goals, and long-term territorial resilience. Through strengthened multi‑stakeholder governance, it brings together state agencies, municipalities, producers, civil society, and private sector actors to coordinate policies and actions.
The program drives adoption of climate‑smart, low‑carbon agricultural practices that can reduce emissions, improve productivity, restore degraded lands, and minimize pressure for new deforestation. It also accelerates Forest Code implementation by supporting CAR validation, PRA execution, and scalable restoration pathways, improving legal certainty and supply chain resilience.
By integrating sustainable agriculture, forest protection, and large‑scale restoration, the initiative positions Tocantins to contribute significantly to Brazil&rsquo;s climate and biodiversity targets while creating economic opportunities and a resilient rural economy.
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The Brazilian Cerrado exhibits key challenges associated with rapid agricultural development. Nearly 50% of native Cerrado vegetation has already been converted to agriculture. The state of Tocantins contains 13.9 million hectares (ha) of remaining native vegetation. Of this total, approximately 9.2 million ha are savanna formations, and 4.7 million ha are forest formations (MapBiomas, 2024). The Cerrado Biome accounts for 92% of this native vegetation, with less than 7% classified as part of the Amazon Biome (MapBiomas 2024). The remaining natural Cerrado in Tocantins is highly vulnerable: 63% is on private land and 3.6 million ha can be legally cleared according to Environmental Secretariat of Tocantins <a href="https://cigma.to.gov.br/car/propriedade-iframe/">(Cigma)</a>.&nbsp; Conflicting views over remaining natural lands have contributed to tense social and political discourse, as agriculturalists view Tocantins as a land of opportunity, while conservationists view Tocantins as a last frontier to be saved from conversion. While the threats from agriculture are clear, recent analysis show that the right agriculture in the right places is essential to achieving the Paris Climate Agreement&nbsp;The ABC Action Plan establishes a mitigation target of 39.58 million MgCO₂eq for Tocantins for the 2020&ndash;2030 period .&nbsp;The Brazil's agricultural research agency EMBRAPA has developed climate-smart agricultural practices that can contribute directly to these goals.&nbsp;Implementation of these Low Carbon Agriculture practices (ABC by their acronym in Portuguese) has reduced GHG emissions, increased yields, and boosted farm resiliency.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gov.br/agricultura/pt-br/assuntos/sustentabilidade/planoabc-abcmais/abc/metas-do-abc">The National ABC Action Plan</a> sets a mitigation target of 1.07 Gt CO₂eq for the 2020&ndash;2030 period, which corresponds to roughly 20% of the global mitigation potential 5.2 Gt CO₂eq estimated in the IPCC AR4 assessment. Widespread adoption of these practices coupled with agricultural expansion into Tocantins's 1.9 million ha of degraded land (MapBiomas, 2024) and conservation of the state&rsquo;s remaining natural vegetation could demonstrate that climate smart agriculture and conservation together can deliver essential natural climate solutions for people and nature.
In addition, the state faces a significant challenge, and a corresponding opportunity, to advance the effective implementation of the Brazilian Forest Code. In most of the state, the legislation requires the maintenance of 35% native vegetation as Legal Reserve on private properties,, depending on the context, it may also be possible to account the Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs) for the Legal Reserve (RL) requirement. Ensuring full implementation of the Forest Code is therefore essential to restoring previously converted native vegetation and to advancing the environmental regularization of farmers&mdash; a critical step for strengthening legal certainty and enhancing the resilience of commodity supply chains. Currently, approximately 850,000 hectares of Legal Reserve and APP areas require restoration in the state, underscoring Tocantins&rsquo; substantial potential for large-scale native vegetation recovery (CIGMA, 2025).
Unfortunately, this vision of sustainable, climate-smart agricultural development, together with native vegetation protection and restoration is not being realized due to inter-related factors including:
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li class="MsoNormal">Lack of appropriate dialogue forums necessary to explore and align upon alternative visions for agriculture, conservation and sustainable rural development in Tocantins. Brazil's NBSAP (National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan) and its ABC+ 2020-2030 strategy, which feeds into Brazil's NDC, establish national targets for conservation and climate-smart agriculture. However, poor communication and coordination between sectors and levels of government means that local government does not see the potential synergies between policy targets nor have the resources to pursue joint implementation. Local stakeholders do not have forums to share the needs and aspirations of their communities and explore collaboration with other sectors. Together, these factors fuel further isolation, frustration, reduce cross-sectoral collaboration and stifle progress towards national targets.&nbsp;</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Farmers lack adequate incentives to move away from business-as-usual land development and agricultural practices, including incentives to restore degraded areas and to conserve native vegetation that they are legally allowed to convert. Current farming practices, even if sub-optimal, are typically profitable for farmers and there are no incentives to take risks in implementing new farming practices that could increase yield and profitability and increase soil carbon sequestration and improve crop resilience. Farmers with natural vegetation on-farm beyond the requirements of legal compliance have no incentive to conserve.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Gaps in capacity needed to implement known solutions and drive scale of adoption. EMBRAPA's ABC practices can be good for farmers' bottom line, the climate and the environment. However, there is no extension network to disseminate these technologies widely nor tell the success stories of farmers that have adopted them. Furthermore, credit lines that might create incentives for farmers to adopt ABC practices are not accessed by local banks in Tocantins, making them difficult and cumbersome to access.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Delays in CAR validation and PRA implementation are slowing Forest Code compliance.&nbsp;Capacity constraints within government institutions and state regulatory agencies, combined with the limitations of traditional command-and-control approaches, have hindered effective implementation of the Forest Code in Tocantins &mdash; including the verification of landholders&rsquo; environmental liabilities and their subsequent regularization. This has delayed native vegetation restoration efforts across the state and generated uncertainty for commodity supply chains.</li>
</ul>
The net result is a &ldquo;business-as-usual&rdquo; development trajectory across Tocantins, with agricultural expansion driving continued conversion of Cerrado vegetation, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, and land conflict. This trajectory prevents the state from positioning itself as a benchmark for sustainable development in the Brazilian Cerrado &mdash; an opportunity that could be realized through effective and strategic collaboration among federal, state, and local governments; private sector actors operating in the state; downstream buyers; civil society organizations; research institutions; rural producers; and other key stakeholders.
This initiative addresses these challenges by implementing the following main workstreams:
<ol>
<li class="MsoNormal">Improvement of Governance Through Cross-sector Collaboration: The state government lacked a structured forum to coordinate action with local stakeholders and articulate a shared strategic vision for sustainable development, while stakeholders themselves had no dedicated space to express community needs or explore cross-sector collaboration. The initiative has addressed this gap by establishing multi-stakeholder platforms that convene public authorities, private sector actors, civil society, research institutions, and producers to strengthen alignment and clarify roles and responsibilities in the design and implementation of policies and regulations. At the state level, through the Green Commodities Programme (implemented in partnership with UNDP and funded by SECO), the initiative supported the reactivation of the State Low-Carbon Agriculture Action Plan Management Group and has initiated the establishment of a state-level Sustainable Agriculture Forum. At the municipal level, it has advanced engagement processes and cooperation agreements with priority municipalities. By institutionalizing these coordination spaces, the initiative bridges the gap between policymakers, producers, and market actors, fostering a shared vision that aligns long-term sustainability ambitions with practical implementation pathways.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Enabling the Adoption of Low-Carbon and Regenerative Agricultural Practices: Despite Brazil&rsquo;s robust institutional framework for climate mitigation and adaptation &mdash; including the Ministry of Agriculture&rsquo;s Low-Carbon Agriculture Plan (ABC Plan), which defines sectoral pathways and provides dedicated credit lines to support the adoption of low-carbon practices &mdash; uptake among farmers remains limited. Access to ABC credit lines is still low, dissemination of technical knowledge through extension services is insufficient, and financial institutions often lack the information and capacity required to effectively support producers transitioning to climate-smart agriculture. The initiative seeks to address these barriers by strengthening technical assistance, expanding awareness and access to existing financial instruments, and positioning low-carbon agriculture and livestock practices as a practical entry point toward more regenerative production systems. When combined with strengthened governance and coordinated landscape planning, improved land management can increase productivity, reduce pressure for further land conversion, enable land sparing for conservation and restoration, and enhance landscape connectivity, generating benefits for producers, local communities, and climate resilience.&nbsp;</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Accelerating Forest Code Implementation and Environmental Regularization: This workstream seeks to accelerate the effective implementation of the Brazilian Forest Code in Tocantins by addressing institutional, technical, and financial bottlenecks that delay environmental regularization. Through coordinated support to municipalities, state authorities, commodity companies operating in the territory, and rural producers, the initiative promotes practical solutions to advance CAR validation, PRA implementation, and farmer compliance. It also supports the development of tools and local policy instruments that streamline regularization processes, reduce uncertainty, and unlock restoration opportunities, strengthening legal certainty and enhancing the sustainability and resilience of commodity supply chains.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Advancing Enabling Conditions for Sustainable Production, Conservation, and Restoration: Beyond targeted technical interventions, this workstream focuses on strengthening the state&rsquo;s enabling environment for sustainable production, native vegetation protection, and large-scale restoration. The initiative works in close coordination with the state government to advance the implementation of key public policies that underpin Tocantins&rsquo; long-term sustainable development strategy, including the State Low-Carbon Agriculture Action Plan, the State Plan for Native Vegetation Recovery, the Tocantins Competitive and Sustainable Strategy (ESTOCS), and other relevant policy frameworks. By aligning institutional priorities, strengthening implementation capacity, and fostering coherence across sectoral agendas, the initiative supports the consolidation of a policy environment capable of driving systemic transformation across the territory.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Reducing Legal Deforestation and Strengthening Incentives for Native Vegetation Conservation: Given the significant potential for legal deforestation within private properties in the Brazilian Cerrado, this workstream aims to create positive incentives for the conservation of native vegetation and the reduction of further habitat conversion. Through strengthened multi-stakeholder platforms, the initiative reinforces the value of natural capital for long-term productivity and territorial resilience, while fostering collaboration among government authorities, producers, communities, and private sector actors to develop landscape strategies that accommodate production growth without expanding into new native areas. In partnership with aligned initiatives and financial actors, the program seeks to mobilize additional incentives for on-farm conservation and restoration. Results and tangible on-farm benefits generated by leading producers will be documented and strategically disseminated through targeted communications, stakeholder platforms, and farmer-to-farmer networks, demonstrating viable alternatives to continued land conversion and showcasing the economic and environmental value of low-carbon practices, pasture recovery, soil and water conservation, assisted natural regeneration, and ecological restoration.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>

Conservation International

Building a Jurisdictional Approach to Climate Smart, Resilient Agricultural Landscapes in Tocantins

The Tocantins landscape initiative applies a jurisdictional approach defined by the state’s administrative boundaries, chosen to align public policy, environmental governance, and market incentives across the entire territory. This boundary is essential in a context where Tocantins—located fully within the MATOPIBA frontier—faces intertwined challenges: it holds vast remaining Cerrado vegetation while experiencing mounting legal and illegal deforestation driven by soy and cattle expansion.
Within this jurisdiction, the initiative operates at three levels. On-farm, it strengthens natural capital management through Forest Code compliance, regenerative and low-carbon agriculture, and climate mitigation and resilience practices. At the landscape level, efforts concentrate in three priority hubs: Central Tocantins (soy-producing municipalities such as Porto Nacional, Santa Rosa do Tocantins, and Monte do Carmo), the Cantão Environmental Protection Area, and the southern region near Gurupi, an agricultural and livestock center. These hubs serve as pilots for sustainable production and partnership-building. At the jurisdictional level, the initiative anchors its strategy in a multi-stakeholder platform convening actors across soy and beef value chains to drive coordinated climate-smart and regenerative production, conservation incentives, and finance mobilization. This work is reinforced through collaboration with government entities on key policies.

The Tocantins initiative centers on creating the Tocantins Sustainable Agriculture Forum, a multi‑stakeholder platform designed to guide the state’s sustainable development strategy. Its foundation is the existing State Management Group (GGE) of the Low‑Carbon Agriculture Action Plan (ABC+ Plan), which coordinates statewide low‑carbon agricultural policy. Within this platform, key stakeholders have been mapped, with varying levels of engagement. A core group—including Embrapa, the State Secretariats of Agriculture and Environment, the Federal Superintendence of Agriculture, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and state agencies Naturatins and Ruraltins—participates actively.
The Steering Committee convenes every two months, coordinating ABC+ implementation, advancing technical working groups, approving new members, and supporting capacity building. A major achievement has been completion of the Tocantins Low‑Carbon Agriculture Plan, which provides a strategic roadmap for scaling sustainable practices.
Next steps involve expanding participation to actors in priority value chains, especially soy and cattle companies and producers, and broadening the platform to include NGOs, research institutions, universities, financial institutions, and additional private‑sector actors. This expanded coalition will underpin the formal launch and implementation of the Tocantins Sustainable Agriculture Forum, advancing a holistic vision for sustainable agriculture across the state.

The Tocantins landscape initiative is currently anchored in the governance structure of the State Management Group (GGE) of the Low-Carbon Agriculture Action Plan (ABC+ Plan). The GGE operates under a formal regulatory framework that defines its institutional composition, member roles, and procedures. The group is coordinated by a department within the State Secretariat of Agriculture, which convenes and leads meetings and oversees overall committee coordination.
The governance structure includes primary and alternate representatives, as well as Technical Working Groups (TWGs) responsible for specialized topics. The regulation outlines their functions, establishes rules for participation and attendance, and sets operational procedures guiding the committee’s work. Decision‑making authority is distributed across governance bodies, with the Steering Committee following a structured meeting calendar and using the regulatory guidelines to validate decisions, coordinate actions, and advance implementation of the ABC+ Plan.
A key next step is establishing the governance structure for the broader Tocantins Sustainable Agriculture Forum, which will expand the platform beyond low‑carbon agriculture. This new structure will draw on lessons from the GGE and is expected to define clear governance bodies, roles and responsibilities, membership criteria, thematic working groups, and a regular meeting schedule. 

The initiative is designed to directly align with and strengthen key public policies in the state, recognizing public policy as a critical mechanism to scale and transform the broader landscape of sustainable production, native vegetation protection, and restoration in Tocantins.

At the state level, the initiative seeks to align with and support the implementation of key policies such as the State Low-Carbon Agriculture Plan (ABC+), the State Plan for Native Vegetation Recovery (PEVEG), and the Tocantins Sustainable Development Strategy (ESTOCS).

Our role is to help catalyze the implementation of these policies by developing tangible and scalable models on the ground, while also supporting government agencies through action plans, tools, and stakeholder mobilization to strengthen policy implementation. By leveraging private sector resources and global networks, alongside support for public policy implementation, the initiative promotes environmental compliance and the dissemination of best practices across the territory.

In parallel, the initiative also seeks to align with and contribute to federal policies, such as the Brazilian Forest Code and the National Plan for Native Vegetation Recovery (PLANAVEG), as well as municipal-level policies through local engagement with municipalities that are most critical for the production of priority commodities in the state.


The initiative is establishing this coordinating function through its engagement with the Management Group (GGE) of the Tocantins State Low-Carbon Agriculture Action Plan. The group has already finalized the State Low-Carbon Agriculture Plan and is now moving into the implementation phase through the continuation of regular meetings and the work of its Technical Working Groups.

In parallel, the group is currently developing Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) frameworks, designed to support implementation and provide the basis for the transition toward a broader and more comprehensive multi-stakeholder platform. Finalizing this monitoring framework will be one of the central priorities of the Management Group in the next phases of the initiative.

Looking ahead, the broader platform currently under development—the Tocantins Sustainable Agriculture Forum—is expected to assume a similar coordinating role for actions and monitoring related to the wider agenda of sustainable agriculture in the state, building on the experience and lessons learned from the GGE and the State Low-Carbon Agriculture Plan.


Safeguards within the Tocantins landscape initiative are still evolving, as a formal system for the broader multi‑stakeholder platform has not yet been established. In the interim, Conservation International (CI), a core implementing partner, applies its institutional safeguard procedures to all project-supported activities in the territory. For farms receiving direct support, CI conducts a rapid safeguard screening to ensure activities do not overlap with Indigenous territories, conservation units, or areas with land‑tenure risks. The process also includes checks against Brazil’s “Dirty List” for slave labor risks and verification of environmental embargoes or other legal restrictions, ensuring compliance and preventing involvement in harmful practices.
These internal procedures are shared openly with partners to encourage consistent risk‑mitigation practices across the emerging platform. In parallel, CI Brazil is developing a Territorial Safeguard Plan, designed to map socio‑environmental sensitivities across Tocantins, produce a verified “clean map,” and proactively identify and mitigate risks as the initiative expands. This plan will guide responsible implementation and help avoid unintended negative impacts.
The development of this framework will provide the foundation for future formal safeguards and grievance mechanisms within the Tocantins Sustainable Agriculture Forum, strengthening accountability and governance across the landscape.

The collective sustainability goals for the Tocantins landscape initiative were initially defined through the State Low‑Carbon Agriculture Action Plan (ABC+ Plan). The goal‑setting process was led by the Management Group (GGE), which consolidated baseline studies and analyses contributed by participating institutions to build an evidence base for defining targets. Technical Working Groups further refined priorities through thematic discussions on low‑carbon agriculture, resulting in a set of goals formally recorded in the state’s Low‑Carbon Agriculture Plan. These currently guide implementation across the territory.
To ensure goals remain relevant, the GGE is developing a Monitoring Plan that will outline indicators, tracking procedures, and mechanisms for periodically reviewing and adjusting targets as conditions evolve. This will establish an adaptive system for updating objectives over time.
Looking ahead, the initiative will expand beyond low‑carbon agriculture to define broader sustainability goals through the emerging Tocantins Sustainable Agriculture Forum. This next phase has not yet begun but will align with the state’s wider development agenda. In parallel, the initiative is supporting the government and the Secretariat of Environment (SEMARH) in implementing the Tocantins Sustainable and Competitive Strategy (ESTOCS), which organizes state‑level targets across economic, social, environmental, and infrastructure pillars.

A foundation for a collective action plan exists through the Tocantins State Low-Carbon Agriculture Action Plan (ABC+ Plan), developed by the Management Group (GGE) to guide the expansion of low‑carbon agricultural practices. The plan outlines priority actions and targets, including scaling low‑carbon systems across roughly 1.6 million hectares by 2030 and developing key management instruments. These targets are advanced through coordinated discussions within the GGE and its Technical Working Groups.
The State Secretariat of Agriculture, which leads the Management Group, is responsible for overseeing implementation, monitoring progress, and coordinating periodic revisions through the platform’s established governance structure.
Looking ahead, a broader collective action plan will be created under the emerging Tocantins Sustainable Agriculture Forum. This expanded plan will build on existing frameworks—particularly the ABC+ Plan and the Tocantins Sustainable and Competitive Strategy (ESTOCS)—and will integrate priorities identified through multi‑stakeholder engagement. Once established, the action plan will be jointly defined, validated, and regularly reviewed by participating stakeholders to ensure alignment with state policies, landscape needs, and available financing.

At present, the initiative does not yet have a consolidated mapping of funding sources specifically associated with the collective action plan.

The state government, through its secretariats that are actively involved in the initiative (such as the Agriculture and Environmental Secretariats), already maps potential financing sources to support different workstreams in the state, particularly those related to sustainable production, restoration, and conservation.

A next step for the initiative will be to consolidate this mapping of funding sources, identify existing gaps, and explore opportunities to mobilize diversified funding streams to support the implementation of the action plans emerging from the multi-stakeholder platform.


For low-carbon agriculture practices (ABC), a baseline and target reference exists through the Plano ABC 2010–2020 goals, which were validated by stakeholders through the State Management Group. However, a comprehensive baseline performance assessment covering all collective goals has not yet been fully carried out.

For low-carbon agriculture practices (ABC), Embrapa monitors the progress of soil management, pasture recovery, integrated production systems, and planted forests every crop season (biannually – every six months). Seagro is responsible for the overall ABC goals monitoring with each institution.

For ABC practices, progress is monitored through rapid georeferenced screening of participating farms. In addition, surveys are conducted by Embrapa and its consultants to monitor the URTs and validate the expansion of ABC practices beyond these reference units.