Platform calculates investment necessary for forest restoration of rural properties

The Escolhas Institute has launched a digital platform #Quantoé? plantar floresta (Planting forest: what is the cost?) that helps estimate the financial sums needed to restore the forested area on Brazilian rural properties and the economic returns that forests could generate. The user selects the macroregion to be recovered on the map, inputs the size (in hectares) and the platform offers eight forest recovery models for the user to choose, depending on the area’s degree of the degradation and its purpose (permanent preservation areas, legal reserves or only forestation), with or without the intention of financial return. The platform allows the property owner to calculate the monetary sum that needs to be invested by combining different forestry recovery models, with varying portions of each of these models, estimating the value for each of these combinations.

The platform was inspired by the study performed by the Choices Institute for the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, which estimated the investment that Brazil must make to fulfill one of the goals presented in the 2015 Climate Conference in Paris – the restoration and reforestation of 12 million hectares by 2030. “We also help farmers who need to adapt their properties to the Forest Code, recovering forest liabilities, estimating how much investment is needed to achieve this. We wish to demonstrate that planting forest need not be viewed as an onerous expense or burden, but as an investment in the sustainable future of Brazil”, says Sérgio Leitão, Director of Relations with the Society of Choices.

According to Shigueo Watanabe Jr., one of the people responsible for the content of #Quantoé? plantar floresta, in addition to the purchase of seeds and seedlings, the platform calculates labor, materials, machinery & equipment, and technical assistance. Revenue is calculated from the price of standing forest, discounting the forest insurance and taxes. “We start with the average prices for macroregions and research of the literature. We adopt values for the mean annual increment, grouping species into fast, moderate and slow growth rate, predicting investment for 7.5 years and revenues for up to 50 years”, he explains.

This is the primary theme of the #Quantoé? It is a platform intended to provide society with studies conducted by the Institute in areas such as energy, emissions, transport, allowing the user to access the research data in a manner that is easy and straightforward.

A #Quantoé? plantar floresta is freely available at http://quantoefloresta.escolhas.org/ and on the Choices website (https://escolhas.org/) for PC, tablet and mobile. The table of calculations is also accessible and available for download with wide access to data.

Founded in 2015, the Choices Institute is a think tank that endeavors to qualify the debate on sustainability, translating numerically the economic, social and environmental impacts of public and private decisions. By means of studies, analyses and reports, we provide new perspectives and arguments that can overcome the ideological polarization of the inherent conflict in the planning of choices. Only qualified arguments can support informed decisions, allowing the construction of effective solutions for sustainable development.