The New Voluntary Monitoring Protocol for Cattle Suppliers in the Cerrado

Companies sourcing cattle products from the Brazilian Cerrado have started to develop responsible sourcing strategies to avoid purchases linked with social and environmental issues in the Cerrado biome. However, despite pledges to conserve the biome, there is a lack of alignment on how to operationalise these in the beef sector. There is no protocol for slaughterhouses to analyse cattle purchases in the Cerrado yet, as there is for the Amazon.

Proforest and Imaflora have collaborated with supply chain actors to create a voluntary monitoring protocol for cattle suppliers in the Cerrado. A preliminary version is now available, after a detailed consultation and public discussion to look at potential usage of the protocol by different stakeholders as well as potential implementation challenges. 

Imaflora has experience in the design of the Amazon Protocol and Proforest has experience developing and implementing beef sourcing policies in the Cerrado. This initiative has been developed as part of the Good Growth Partnership's “Responsible Demand” project, thanks to funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through WWF/US.

The process involved a benchmarking study of the key features that different platforms, public commitments, frameworks, and companies themselves use to achieve zero conversion goals in the Cerrado. Alongside public data sets available for monitoring certain social and environmental issues, we defined what would be the most relevant criteria for a first version of a Voluntary Monitoring Protocol for Cattle Suppliers in the Cerrado.

A second phase of the protocol work is starting and the focus is on any operational challenges where we may need to adjust the protocol, continuing to involve both purchasers and cattle suppliers in tests and updates. Our plan is to establish a way to monitor best practices for cattle purchases in the Cerrado, where supply chain actors and civil society organisations can stay involved as we continue to drive adoption of the Cerrado Protocol. 

You can download the first version of the protocol and read more about the Cerrado biome at www.cerradoprotocol.net.