Brazilian system of Nature Conservation Units marks 25 years
A landmark law passed twenty-five years ago ended decades of uncertainty and debate over the ideal model for creating and managing areas to protect Brazil’s rich biological and sociocultural diversity. It marked a turning point in the country’s efforts to remain the most comprehensive nation in the world in terms of genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity—recognizing that humans, too, are part of nature.
Enacted on June 18, 2000, the National System of Nature Conservation Units Law (Law No. 9,985/2000), known as the SNUC Law, avoided taking sides in the long-standing debate between conservationists and developmentalists. Instead, it established 12 categories of protected areas designed to encompass the full diversity of the Brazilian territory.
The system includes five categories of conservation units (UCs) for full protection: ecological stations, biological reserves, national parks, natural monuments, and wildlife refuges. It also defines seven categories for sustainable use: environmental protection areas (APAs), areas of relevant ecological interest (ARIEs), national forests (Flonas), extractive reserves (Resex), fauna reserves, sustainable development reserves (RDS), and private natural heritage reserves (RPPNs).
Together, these areas currently cover more than 260 million hectares of Brazilian territory, representing 18.6 percent of the continent and 26.3 percent of the country’s marine zone. “They range from areas that may be restricted to scientific use, such as biological reserves, to parks for tourism or extractive reserves used for small-scale agriculture and livestock, for example. But the most important aspect is the genetic bank they preserve,” says agronomist Maria Tereza Pádua, honorary president of Funatura—the organization that drafted the bill submitted to the National Congress in 1992.
Even before the proposal was drafted in the late 1980s, the environmentalist was already actively working on projects to create conservation units—at a time when initiatives to protect areas with abundant native vegetation were still rare.
“When I started working, or thinking about nature conservation, Brazil had four or five federal conservation units. And today there is a whole national system, with several wildlife refuges, but also many areas that are being well used and well managed,” Pádua notes.
In total, it took four years to draft the bill and another eight years for it to pass through Congress—making it possible, two and a half decades later, for the number of conservation units in the country to grow from 207 to 3,185.
The sites were created by federal, state, and municipal governments, often overlapping and managed in an integrated, participatory manner. There are also private initiatives, where landowners choose to conserve the natural resources on their properties by creating private natural heritage reserves (RPPNs). “These units are generally smaller than public ones but have significant conservation value and complement the system in an important way by protecting very fragile natural niches,” points out Pedro Menezes, director of the Protected Areas department at the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.
Connectivity
According to the federal government official, the SNUC has a comprehensive framework that has enabled significant progress, but there is still a need to go further. “What we lack today, and are working to achieve, is a stronger instrument of connectivity so that these units do not become isolated islands, which would lead to genetic weakening,” he says.
Menezes explains that connectivity facilitates genetic flow between populations, creating a stronger genetic base that is more resistant to disease, and therefore more resilient and less prone to mortality. “To achieve this, we have implemented the public policy known as the National Network of Trails and Connectivity—which has won numerous awards in recent years. Its goal is to connect conservation units through forest corridors that also serve as recreational infrastructure for the population,” he explains.
Challenges
Another initiative to enhance the connectivity of these protected areas is the launch of public calls offering technical, legal, and institutional support to states and municipalities for the creation and expansion of conservation units. The goal is to facilitate socio-environmental and land studies, as well as to support subsequent stages such as planning, conducting public consultations, and the legal and administrative formalization of new protected areas.
“Brazil has committed under the Convention on Biological Diversity to protect 30 percent of its territory. We have not yet reached this goal,” adds the director.
For environmentalist Virgílio Viana, general superintendent of the Amazon Sustainable Foundation (FAS), the actions of subnational governments not only strengthen the SNUC but also address certain limitations of the law. “In Amazonas, the SEUC—the State System of Conservation Units—has corrected deficiencies present in the national system,” he points out.
One example, according to Viana, was the reclassification of RPPNs as full protection units under state law—reflecting their actual use in practice, even though this classification is not recognized in the SNUC. “Under federal law, RPPNs are categorized as sustainable use units, but presidential vetoes effectively placed them under full protection,” he explains.
The environmentalist also emphasizes the need for complementary policies to ensure the financial sustainability of conservation units that do not generate revenue through activities like tourism. He also highlights the importance of strengthening governance through improved institutional capacity and structure.
“I believe allocating public lands is crucial, as Brazil still has a vast amount of unallocated public territory,” says Viana. “Equally important is the effective management of areas that have already been designated. But in terms of urgency, allocation comes first. We must act swiftly to assign these lands and remove them from the land grabbing market.”
Despite the challenges, Maria Tereza Pádua believes the law’s implementation offers more reasons for celebration than concern.
“We went from virtually no protection in the 1940s to what we have today, which is truly impressive. A system of conservation units in any country serves as a genetic bank available to science, society, and development. That’s the key message we need to convey. You cannot develop a country or a region without a genetic bank,” says the agronomist.
