From rural Family Production to Climate Mitigation: An Ecological-Economic Approach to Measuring CO 2 Emissions in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve

Abstract

The urgency of reversing environmental degradation and advancing global warming has mobilized the international community and scientific research. The drastic reduction of CO 2 emissions is the primary measure to mitigate this crisis. This study aims to present a theoretical-analytical proposal for measuring CO 2 emissions in rural family production in the Amazon rainforest. The research was built on ecological economics principles from the co-production perspective and the social reproduction of rural family production in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve in Acre, Brazil. The proposed methodology systematizes the calculation of environmental impact in terms of carbon emissions and resource consumption, based on quantitative metrics, from information on 1) data on operations carried out, with details in terms of the use of labor and 2) data on materials and inputs in the production process. A case study was used as a reference. The results indicate a very low environmental impact in using inputs and materials, with zero effect on using family labor in production processes. This confirms nature’s co-productive nature in the search for zero net carbon emissions. Thus, this approach can contribute to disseminating a new vision that seeks to position rural family production as part of the solution and opportunities in the transition to low-carbon production systems that respect the ecological balance of ecosystems.