Brazil launched the “Low-Carbon Agriculture” Plan and a special line of credit: the ABC Program. However, the program has been slow in getting off the ground. To understand why, the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) conducted more than forty interviews with members of various producer, cooperative, association and industry groups, as well as the government.

The REDD+ component of the UNFCCC and other REDD processes such as the Governors’ Climate and Forest task force have the potential to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions 10% or more by slowing tropical deforestation and forest degradation and by enhancing forest...