Brazil reaches 10 million certified hectares: a milestone for nature-based solutions

With nearly 40% growth in area over the last ten years, Brazil has just reached the milestone of 10 million hectares of FSC-certified forests. This total area, which is even larger than Portugal, encompasses both native and planted forests, consolidating a new paradigm: the standing forest – whether for timber or non-timber purposes – as a strategic asset for the national economy and for the country's climate goals.

"Our potential to expand responsible forest management is still vast and underutilized, especially when it comes to native forests. Expanding forest concessions in the Amazon, for example, is a relevant path to convert public areas into sustainable production hubs that generate revenue for the State, as well as employment and income for communities," says Elson Fernandes de Lima, Executive Director of FSC Brazil.

Deforestation is a business model of the past. "The certified forest economy is one of the main strategies that allows Brazil to scale its production without compromising its greatest capital: biodiversity. Today, the 10 million certified hectares show us that the frontier of Brazilian production is not in deforestation, but in the intelligence with which we occupy and care for the territory," he adds.

Throughout this process, ecosystem services are also conserved, functioning almost as an invisible infrastructure of our economy: the regulation of rainfall regimes, the maintenance of water cycles, and carbon sequestration. These are assets that sustain agribusiness and national industry, and which responsible forest management ensures remain active rather than depleted.

Partnership with Verra 

FSC and Verra, non-profit organizations that operate certification standards in environmental and social markets, have partnered to apply FSC labels to Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) issued to projects that are both registered under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program and meet the FSC Forest Management (FM) Certification Standard.

Simultaneous participation in both programs allows forest managers and communities within FSC-certified forests to scale up their climate mitigation and sustainable development contributions through the generation of carbon credits.

As Verra is the authority on carbon credits and FSC on responsible forest management, joining the two brands increases the reputation of a project. An investor buying a credit with this new joint label knows they are paying for real carbon and, at the same time, supporting a forest managed to the highest social, economic, and environmental standards.

The fact that these credits are independently verified and certified under the VCS Program and come from FSC-certified forests demonstrates to the market both the use of best management practices and robust stakeholder engagement.

Biomes and their potential 

The Atlantic Forest is Brazil's most populous biome, home to about 80% of the population and major cities such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and largely because of this, it is also the most threatened. In 2025, it recorded its lowest level of deforestation since monitoring by the NGO SOS Mata Atlântica began 40 years ago.

States where the Atlantic Forest makes up nearly all the land (such as Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, and Santa Catarina) and states where this biome is dominant (such as Paraná, São Paulo, and Rio Grande do Sul) account for nearly 38% of the 10 million hectares.

"The certification model proves that conservation can – and must – go beyond timber. Sustainable management initiatives for products such as honey and yerba mate demonstrate that it is possible to generate economic value while respecting the unique characteristics of the region," says Lima. He further explains that sustainable forest management is a powerful economic tool that, while ensuring the maintenance of the forest, promotes employment opportunities and drives the economy.

For Lima, reaching this level of certification is the result of hard work over many years, involving companies, non-governmental organizations, and society more broadly.

"To continue on this path of growth and generate a positive impact for people and nature, we need to draw even closer to these actors and seek synergies with governments and, especially, the people who live in the forest and off the forest," he adds.

In the Caatinga, however, management takes on a new dimension with the increasingly urgent need to decarbonize production chains. There, the focus is not on harvesting logs or gathering fruits, but rather on biomass production. The potential for sustainable energy production is significant in the region, and FSC Brazil expects to have at least one certified project there later this year.

And although biomes like the Cerrado and the Caatinga face a proportionally more devastating pressure with less legal protection, the Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest in the world and has a significant impact on the global climate.

In this region, management is almost synonymous with resilience. FSC certification recognizes the fundamental role of traditional communities, quilombolas, and smallholders' cooperatives as true guardians of the forest. The challenge – and the great market leap that FSC is promoting – is to ensure that markets understand and accept the way these communities produce.

The role of traceability in more sustainable production chains 

Traceability guarantees that a log of wood, a carbon credit, or a sack of Brazil nuts has not left a trail of destruction along the way. Every step is recorded, making it possible to track the entire production process from extraction in the forest to the store shelf.

The greatest enemy of conservation is not the consumption of forest resources, but rather illegality. When timber from criminal deforestation enters the market, it drives down prices and undermines companies that operate correctly.

This chain of custody – the traceable and documented path a product takes from its origin to the end consumer – helps eliminate operational insecurities and provides the transparency required by major importers and investors. It is an increasingly necessary ‘shield’ for companies – or even for countries like Brazil – seeking leadership in the low-carbon economy.

The 10 million hectare milestone reflects the value of the standing forest and proves that Brazil's economic viability is intrinsically linked to its capacity to protect and produce sustainably.

"The biggest current challenge is to build bridges between the forest and consumer markets so that the knowledge existing there gains recognition and value," evaluates Elson. For him, "reaching this mark is not the end of a journey, but the turning point for the scale that Brazil needs to deliver to the world."