The AF Madera and Forestal Sylvis silvopastoral projects successfully passed the field visit for the validation audit under Verra’s VCS standard. This important stage took place from April 7 to 11 in the town of Dr. Moisés Bertoni, Paraguay. Forestal Sylvis manages an initial 1905 hectares, while AF Madera covers 114 hectares. Both organizations implement silvopastoral practices, combining low-density eucalyptus plantations with cattle ranching (ARR activities).
AENOR was in charge of carrying out the validation visit during a week of work in the field. Initially, ProSustentia presented the details of both projects in Asunción, Paraguay. It ranged from forest design to environmental and socioeconomic impacts, costs and potential benefits. The mitigation strategy for potential negative impacts was also explained and the results of the public consultation held in June of the previous year were presented.
During the audit week, the AENOR team made detailed visits to the projects at Loma Linda and nearby strategic points. The main objective was to validate the vegetation cover in several previously selected control areas. To optimize this process, a drone was used to accompany the entire audit, allowing an agile review of key points using innovative tools.
A key component of the visit was the conduct of interviews by the auditor with key stakeholders involved in the projects. More than 20 people were interviewed, including plantation workers, contractors, neighbors and local authorities. The purpose of these interviews was to validate the knowledge of the different stakeholders on various aspects of the projects and their implementation.
This audit process represents a significant step forward for the VCS certification of these silvopastoral projects in Paraguay. For more detailed information on these projects, we invite you to visit the Verra website dedicated to them: (link to Verra website).
