Participating organizations
Context
The Brazilian Cerrado, located predominantly on Brazil’s Central Plateau, is the second-largest biome in the country. It spans over 198 million hectares, harbors 30% of Brazil’s biodiversity1 and provides 40% of the country’s freshwater.2 The Cerrado Mineiro, which is located in this biome, is the largest coffee-growing landscape in the country. Climate change severely threatens coffee production – and the livelihoods of small producers who make up the majority of growers in this area. Experts predict an 18% decline in land suitable for coffee production in Brazil and more volatile production volumes by 2050 due to rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and droughts.3
In the Cerrado Mineiro, water availability is a key concern for producers: vegetation loss and soil erosion threaten ecosystem services such as water regulation, causing water scarcity. The 4,500 coffee producers in the area depend on irrigation to water their crops – adding further pressure to the current water stress. Water scarcity, compounded by the effects of climate change, threatens production. In 2020 alone, the region’s coffee harvest declined by approximately 40%, causing an estimated USD $30 million in economic losses.4 The availability of water in nearby cities is also at risk: Patrocínio, home to 90,000 residents, recorded a water emergency seven times between 2010 and 2020.5
of Brazil’s biodiversity is harbored by the Cerrado
of the country’s freshwater is provided by the Cerrado
Key facts
Ambition of the project
The Cerrado Waters Consortium (Consórcio Cerrado das Aguas – CCA) aims to promote the sustainable management of water resources and to support producers in mitigating and adapting to climate change. It seeks to do this through the production of ecosystem services that can ensure the resilience of the Cerrado Mineiro area of the Cerrado biome, the largest coffee-growing landscape in the country.
A Nespresso-commissioned Ecosystem Services Review conducted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) identified the best integrated landscape management solution to water scarcity issues in coffee–producing landscapes. Until this time, stakeholders had designed and implemented sustainable practices on-farm, while it is only possible to ensure water availability by adopting management approaches that include a whole watershed.
The CCA began its operations in 2019 with a pilot project of the Investment Program in the Conscious Producer in the sub-basin of the Corrego Feio watershed, in the municipality of Patrocinio, Minas Gerais. It has since expanded operations to include cultivated and native vegetation areas in the Ribeirão Grande and Santo Inácio river basins. The Consortium continues to expand its operations in the landscape – its corporate membership has grown from 4 to 15 associated members. In 2024, it identified nearly 2,000 properties with the potential for enrolment in the program.
In 2024, it identified nearly
properties with the potential for enrolment in the program
The program at a glance
The CCA runs the Investment Program for Conscious Producers (IPCP) – its main implementation strategy – offering growers strategies to develop their properties sustainably through activities across four pillars: institutional engagement, connected landscapes, climate-smart agriculture and water resources management.
Upon joining the IPCP, producers receive a bespoke climate adaptation plan (CAP) containing recommendations for the implementation of climate adaptation of productive land, as well as for native vegetation restoration. Through this, growers receive the specialized technical support and training they need to successfully transition to more resilient and environmentally responsible production systems. Recommended regenerative practices aim to support growers in reducing carbon emissions, increasing soil organic carbon and improving soil quality and water infiltration.
While growers are responsible for the implementation of recommended regenerative practices on agricultural land, the CCA is directly responsible for the implementation of restoration activities. Further, the Consortium partners with local authorities – namely the Coromandel and Serra do Salitre municipalities – who provide labor, machinery and equipment for restoration activities.
The Investment Program in the Conscious Producer has a comprehensive producer engagement program that consults growers, from the identification of their property through to implementation and monitoring, ensuring participation in and a commitment to the climate adaptation plan. The CCA aims to increase women’s participation in the landscape and to engage farmers and heads of households who are women through its activities. To do so, it works in partnership with local women’s groups. Its long-term vision is to support the creation of a Women Builders of Sustainable Landscapes Network.
A strong governance model
The Consortium’s legal entity is that of a non-profit organization. Its governance structure includes a General Assembly, a Board of Directors and an Advisory Board.
The General Assembly is the highest decision-making body. It includes all partners in the Consortium and meets twice a year. The Board of Directors is the Consortium’s executive arm. It is responsible for its strategic and operational decisions, which the executive secretariat then implements. The President of the Board of Directors – whose role rotates annually – is always a producer.
Institutional engagement
Design of collective working plans, with public and private sectors to amplify impact of the Consortium's work through formal partnerships
Connected landscapes
Diagnosis of and strategy for conservation, restoration and ecosystem services at watershed and landscape level, to integrate productive and natural areas
Climate-smart agriculture
Development of bespoke climate adaptation plans for each agricultural property in the program and training of farmers in the implementation and monitoring of the plan
Protected water resources
Promotion of efficient water resource management through water quality and quantity evaluation and analysis in rivers and springs
A compelling business case
The participation of growers in the IPCP has a commercial value insofar as it increases the property’s resilience to climate change, improves competitiveness, adds value to production and guarantees access to markets that require sustainable practices. With increasing awareness of and demand for sustainably-sourced products, participation in the Consortium provides coffee growers with a differentiated position in the market by linking them to more demanding and valued markets through connections to the private sector actors associated with it.
Beyond the advantages of improved climate resilience, producers in the Consortium have benefited from increasing productivity and the higher quality of production – which companies investing in the project find of value.
As a pre-competitive platform, the CCA offers associated businesses a unique opportunity to actively engage in landscape-scale conservation activities with other stakeholders in the value chain, aligning with sustainability goals and benefiting both farmers and neighboring communities.
A recipe for success
At the core of the program is collective action. Producers, businesses, local authorities and foundations alike recognize that a single actor cannot solve the environmental challenges faced in the Cerrado Mineiro region – especially water stress and climate change – as they require concerted, multi-stakeholder action.
Collaboration drives the growth of the Consortium’s activities. The following have determined its success to date:
The continuous and multidisciplinary training of the technical team, which supports growers at each step of their transition to sustainable farming;
The adoption of a participatory and inclusive approach with the rural communities – specifically with producers who are women – as they are engaged in the implementation of sustainable practices and through participatory monitoring activities;
The use of tested and validated methodologies to determine the climate adaptation plan for each producer and monitor results – through partnerships with specialized research institutions;
Strategic, long-term alliances with businesses;
A strong alignment between the project’s objectives and the socio-environmental demands of the region.
Financing model
The majority of the Consortium’s funding – 70% – derives from the membership fees of associated businesses. The remaining 30% comes from grants and a variety of non-repayable funds ringfenced to support the Consortium’s specific activities.
Associated partners, businesses and cooperatives in the coffee value chain pay an annual membership fee with a forward-looking five-year commitment. This finances the running of the Consortium’s administrative activities and those run through the IPCP. The value of the contribution is equal among all private sector members and amounts to USD $15,000 a year.
The Consortium’s funding partners include FUNBIO (the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund), the Cargill Foundation, the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) and the Rabofoundation.
In 2025, the CCA received approval for three distinct grant-funded sets of activities:
The first one, awarded by FUNBIO through the Living Forest (Floresta Viva) call for proposals sponsored by FUNBIO in partnership with the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDS), supports the Consortium activities as a whole;
The second, financed by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (a joint initiative of l’Agence française de développement, Conservation International, the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan and the World Bank) focuses on incorporating women’s empowerment in the construction of regenerative landscapes into the Consortium’s strategic planning, promoting the mobilization, engagement and training of women in all stages of the implementation of actions;
The third approved proposal concerns the promotion of agroforestry systems through the Consortium’s activities, with the Cargill Foundation providing financing.
“Being part of the CCA as a coffee producer brings many benefits, including technical guidance and the connection to key players in the coffee value chain. But above all, the greatest benefit is knowing that we’re working to ensure the long-term sustainability of our activity – for ourselves and for future generations. We’ve also learned the value of collaborating in a pre-competitive environment, where everyone works toward a common goal while respecting each other’s individuality.”
– Marcelo Cocco Urtado, coffee grower and President of the CCA in 2025
Monitoring, reporting and verification
The monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) framework implemented by the CCA adopts a multi-level participatory approach, placing the farmer at the center of the process and aiming to ensure rigorous monitoring and knowledge transfer between the different actors involved and increased awareness of, participation in and commitment to sustainable practices among producers.
Using paper and digital forms, producers submit information on the percentage of disturbance, seedling mortality, pest attacks, species monitored and competition for resources in restoration areas. The Consortium’s technical team also monitors the development of vegetation in the restoration areas, complementing the information provided by the producers with more in-depth technical assessments. Field studies provide the data on soil health and water quality.
Credits: Cerrado Water Consortium
Partner universities analyze it: the Federal University of Itajubá (UNIFEI) carries out hydrological monitoring and the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU) is responsible for soil analyses. The use of drones and satellite imagery to monitor ground cover and changes in vegetation in restoration areas and remote sensing to calculate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions complement these assessments.
In addition to working with individual growers on monitoring different social and environmental outcomes, the Consortium looks at the bigger picture, taking responsibility for measuring water volume and water quality at strategic points along the watershed. The Consortium prioritizes water monitoring in the basins in which it operates, seeking to ensure the availability and quality of water and to recharge aquifers. The Consortium monitors basin flows over time, with the aim of identifying variations related to the adoption of sustainable practices in productive areas.
Table 2: Objectives and progress monitored per impact area
Endnotes
1 WBCSD (2025). Resilience for the Future: A Viable Pathway to Regenerative Landscapes in the Cerrado. Retrieved from: https://www.wbcsd.org/resources/resilience-for-the-future-a-viable-pathway-to-regenerative-landscapes-in-the-cerrado/.
2 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (2019). New climate-smart investment scheme to promote sustainable land and water use in Brazil’s Cerrado region. Retrieved from: https://iucn.org/news/business-and-biodiversity/201908/new-climate-smart-investment-scheme-promote-sustainable-land-and-water-use-brazils-cerrado-region.
3 TechnoServe (2025). Building the Case for Regenerative Coffee Production: Brazil Arabica. Retrieved from: https://www.technoserve.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/TechnoServe_Brazil-Arabica-Regenerative-Coffee-Investment-Case.pdf.
4 Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund (2021). In Brazil, Climate Change Is Causing a Coffee Crisis. Retrieved from: https://www.cepf.net/stories/brazil-climate-change-causing-coffee-crisis#:~:text=10%20August%202021,the%20Federation%20of%20Coffee%20Growers.
5 Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund (2021). In Brazil, Climate Change Is Causing a Coffee Crisis. Retrieved from: https://www.cepf.net/stories/brazil-climate-change-causing-coffee-crisis#:~:text=10%20August%202021,the%20Federation%20of%20Coffee%20Growers.
