Pasture restoration as a nature-based solution: legal, political, and governance challenges

Pasture restoration is a nature-based solution for climate mitigation and adaptation in tropical livestock systems also a NbS for land degradation. Its effectiveness depends on biophysical processes and enabling governance. This study analyses how Brazilian policies and multi-stakeholder initiatives for low-carbon livestock are shaping soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics and the conditions for credible Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) of soil carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes in restored pastures. The research combines: (i) a qualitative assessment of key federal instruments (ABC+ Plan, National Plan for Recovery of Native Vegetation, National Plan for Conversion of Degraded Pastures, sustainable finance and sovereign bond frameworks); (ii) document analysis of initiatives on sustainable beef, traceability and deforestation-free supply chains; (iii) a synthesis of evidence on SOM stocks and CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O fluxes in Brazilian climate-smart livestock systems (well-managed pastures, integrated crop–livestock–forestry, regenerative practices); and (iv) expert interviews. Results indicate that pasture intensification, when combined with continuous soil cover, diversified rotations and trees, tends to increase SOM stocks and reduce GHG emission intensity per unit of beef, but these gains are context-dependent and unevenly captured by MRV architectures. Governance innovations—such as linking credit, taxonomies and traceability platforms to soil indicators—are emerging, yet soil health metrics remain weakly integrated into climate and agricultural policy targets. Aligning SOM and soil health indicators with legal, financial and trade instruments is essential to scale pasture restoration as a high-integrity NbS in Brazil’s livestock sector and to close the gap between soil science, climate commitments and market demands.