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Chaib et al. Carbon Footprints 2026, 5, 23 Page 9 of 23

Table 2. Curiaú LVIs scores, classifications and thresholds for eligibility
Index Score Vulnerability classification [50] Eligibility threshold [43] Position

LVI-SF 0.39 Vulnerable > 0.30 Above
LVI-SF-IPCC -0.04 Moderate vulnerability > -0.30 Above

A breakdown of indicator and component-level scores for each LVI category is provided in Supplementary Table 1.

principle, be issued as carbon credits - which are labelled as Social Carbon Units (SCUs) under the applied
[52]
standard.

Complementarily, Curiaú’s potential carbon credit volumes are linked to an illustrative climate-resilience
analysis focusing on flood-related damage to agricultural plots and on the gradual adoption of regenerative
practices on existing cropland and pasture. The analysis is explicitly stylized and uses only externally sourced
parameters. First, a set of plausible carbon-price scenarios for high-integrity forest and REDD+ credits is
defined based on recent market reports documenting transaction prices for credits with social and
environmental co-benefits. Under each scenario, annual revenues that could flow to the community are
approximated and compared with per-hectare cost benchmarks for re-establishing flood-affected
cassava-based cropping systems, establishing diversified agroforestry and rehabilitating degraded pastures in
Amazonian contexts.

Second, an exploratory regenerative-agriculture component assesses the potential additional contribution of
soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration in Curiaú’s agricultural mosaic, using indicative sequestration
factors and cost ranges drawn from studies on conservation agriculture, agroforestry and improved pasture
management. This second step provides only order-of-magnitude estimates of additional removals and
associated revenues and is treated as a complementary, hypothesis-generating exploration of how
regenerative practices could form an additional mitigation and finance pillar alongside avoided deforestation,
rather than as a basis for project-level crediting.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This section follows the analytical sequence defined in the study design, progressing from livelihood
vulnerability and eligibility to dynamic baseline construction, carbon-credit estimation, and
climate-resilience implications.

Livelihood vulnerability
The LVIs indicate that Curiaú exhibits an overall moderate level of livelihood vulnerability over the survey
period. Because LVI-based metrics are primarily designed to compare vulnerability across communities or
social units within a given study context, rather than to establish universally applicable absolute cut-offs,
their interpretation should be treated as contextual [45,50] . In line with this, empirical studies tend to apply
interpretive ranges that vary according to the regional setting, the variables included, and the scale of
analysis [45,50] . Accordingly, the thresholds adopted here are interpreted as operational eligibility screening
values under the applied methodology , rather than universally applicable benchmarks. Against this
[43]
interpretive background, Curiaú is classified as meeting the methodology’s eligibility screening thresholds
[Table 2].

Within the applied methodological framework, livelihood vulnerability is not treated solely as a descriptive
metric, but as a criterion to identify contexts where carbon finance can generate additional social and
land-use decision effects [42,43] . In this sense, the use of vulnerability-based eligibility thresholds is consistent
with the broader logic of carbon finance approaches, which prioritize contexts where financial incentives are