On June 20, 2012, during the Green Rio event, a panel on “Green Economy and Socio-biodiversity” was held.
An audience of 142 people from different segments, from entrepreneurs to researchers, listened attentively to the addresses given by Ms. Tereza Campello, Minister for Social Development and the Fight against Hunger, and Mr. Hans Joher, Director of Nestlé International, as keynote speakers, followed by comments from:
José Renato Cagnon – Manager of the Benevides (Pará) Industrial Unit of Natura Ind. e Comércio de Cosméticos S.A.
Daniel Sabará – Corporate Director – Health and Personal Care, Beraca S.A.
Jedielcio Oliveira – Coordinator of the Organic Production Program, FVPP
Manoel Monteiro – Superintendent of COOPERACRE
The Secretary for Family Farming of the Agrarian Development Ministry, Laudemir Müller, and the Director for Extraction Activities of the Ministry of the Environment, Claudia Calório, took part as debaters, enhancing the panel.
Minister Tereza Campello opened the panel, saying that the fact that poverty eradication was recognized as a highlight in the text adopted by the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (“Rio+20”) may be considered a victory. “The social agenda is occupying the space it deserves. We have to work aligning our actions in the social, environmental and economic areas. The great novelty of the Rio+20 Conference is being able to discuss both social integration and the environment together”, the Minister said.
The Minister highlighted the Socio-environmental Protection Floor, a Brazilian proposal inspired by the “Green Grant” (Bolsa Verde) that was included in the final document of the Rio+20 Conference. The Green Grant program makes the payment of the benefit conditional on sustainable activities to be carried out by extremely poor inhabitants of reserves and settlement areas. “The idea of adding an environmental condition was so that those receiving the grant would help us to protect the environment. The environmental component is feasible because we believe that a new world is feasible.”
Minister Tereza Campello reminded the audience that the Family Grant (Bolsa Família) program is a platform for including people in a broad network of social protection. As she informed, since the administration of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 18 million people have obtained formal employment.
The Minister criticized entrepreneurs who make “one-off and transitory donations” and who do not make a long-term commitment, including the socio-environmental agenda in their sustainability strategies. “We do not wish to receive favors, but rather opportunities. We need partnerships and business creation”, the Minister said.
Minister Tereza Campello also spoke about the Rural Brazil Network, a virtual platform that integrates innovative solutions for the organization of production arrangements in the Family Farming segment, with the objective of organizing the Family Farming product chain, from the production process (before and inside the farm) to the consumer market (outside the farm).
Many of the initiatives mentioned by the Minister are not known by the international community, nor by Brazilians themselves. It would be important to give greater publicity to these actions, which promote the social integration of millions of Brazilians, resulting in a positive impact on the country’s economy.
After the Minister’s address, Mr. Hans Joher, Executive Director of Nestlé International, started his presentation provoking the audience by asking how many bankers were present. There were certainly financial market representatives among the audience, but they preferred not to speak up. Hans Joher commented that, according to the consumption standards of developed countries, we would need another planet and a half, but according to the financial market’s standards we would require five planets.
Mr. Joher emphasized that until there is a paradigm change in consumption standards and also in the way production is carried out throughout the supply chain, we cannot think of sustainability.
Joher said that Nestlé has a program for 700,000 small rural producers, encouraging the replacement of predatory practices with sustainable practices.
Joher congratulated the Minister on the actions that are being carried out in Brazil, saying that the Green Grant and the Family Grant are models that could be an example for other countries, combining economic growth and social integration.
After the addresses of Minister Tereza Campello and Mr. Hans Joher, the other participants in the panel made their comments within the context of Socio-biodiversity and Green Economy.
José Renato Cagnon – Manager of Natura’s Industrial Unit in Benevides-PA,
José Renato spoke about the challenge of working in the Amazon region, facing enormous logistics difficulties, which Natura has been doing for almost a decade, and considering the human factor “the fourth pillar of sustainability”. According to José Renato Gagnon, the product chains in Pará with which Natura works benefit some 1,500 families, organized in 13 production cooperatives. Since 2007, Natura has had a partnership with six cacao producer cooperatives in the Amazon region.
As an example of a successful partnership, José Renato reminded the audience that the cacao produced alongside the Trans-Amazon highway was of poor quality, and now it comes from six cooperatives that offer certified organic cacao. Cagnon announced the renewal, for another two years, of the partnership with GIZ, and investments of R$ 150 million in the construction of a new unit in the region, with fully sustainable technologies, for which research had been done in Dubai; inauguration is scheduled for May 2013.
Jedielcio Oliveira – Coordinator of the Organic Production Program of the Fundação Viver Produzir e Preservar – FVPP (Live, Produce and Preserve Foundation), of the Amazon region
Jedielcio Oliveira started his address by quoting from the song “The Highway” (A Estrada), by the group Cidade Negra, as a metaphor for his work: “You don’t know how long I’ve walked to get here”.
Jedielcio recognizes that partnerships with large companies add value to the local product, and reminded us that growing cacao does not conflict with the Amazon forest.
Jedielcio spoke about difficulties in integration between extraction workers and the industry. “The price for cacao is based on the commodities exchange in the USA, but the producer hasn’t the slightest idea of what this means. He wants to discuss what is fair for him and for the buyer”, said Jedielcio, stressing the importance of the investing or partner company to have first-hand knowledge of the producer’s real situation.
Daniel Sabará – Corporate Director – Health and Personal Care, Beraca S.A.
Beraca seeks to work with communities that offer different products, so that the different crops enable the generation of income throughout the year. Beraca has a history of partnerships with people extracting natural products for the cosmetics area.
In this panel, Daniel Sabará declared his concern about paternalistic social assistance programs, such as the Family Grant, which may jeopardize partnerships with companies, as small producers consider that they will lose their social benefits when they become professional.
Beraca specializes in the development of technologies, solutions and high-performance raw materials for water treatment, cosmetics, animal nutrition, and the food and beverage industry.
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