Temer expands and creates environmental conservation units

On June 5, the World Environment Day, President Michel Temer signed decrees expanding three Brazilian conservation units: the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, in Goiás state; the Taim Ecological Station, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul; and the União Biological Station, in Rio de Janeiro state. Another decree founds the Campos Ferruginosos National Park, in Pará, northern Brazil.

During an event Monday morning (Jun 5) at the Planalto presidential palace, the president also signed a decree to turn the Paris Agreement on Climate Change part of the Brazilian legislation, and launched the River Planters Program (Programa Plantadores de Rios, in the original Portuguese), aimed at protecting and recovering riverheads and watercourse APPs, as the so-called Permanent Preservation Areas are called.

The Chapada dos Veadeiros

Created in 1961 with a total area of 625 thousand hectares, the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park underwent a series of reductions in size before reaching its current 65 thousand hectares—some 10% of its original size.

According to environmental NGO WWF, at least nine vegetable biomes have been identified in the park's expansion area. The increase in the space is expected to protect some 600 riverheads, in addition to 17 plant species threatened with extinction and 34 also endangered animal species—of which 15 are birds, 18 mammals and one a native bee species.

The program

Among the innovations brought by the River Planters Program is an interactive app that brings together land owners on the SICAR system and people as well as institutions interested in investing in the protection and recovery of forests. SICAR has mapped 15 million hectares of Permanent Preservation Areas, of which 6 million need recovering. Also registered are 1.5 million springs.

According to Environment Minister Sarney Filho, SICAR is an important source of data for the program. “We support the implementation of the program in three pillars: management aimed at making supplies available, initiatives for the recovery of water Permanent Preservation Areas, and the app,” he said.

Sarney Filho went on to say that the plan will help tackle the water crisis in some of the regions in the country. “The program will protect and recover springs and watercourse Permanent Preservation Areas, fighting the water crisis that has faced the country ever more severely with each year. We can't fight only what's between the reserves and the water tap. We must reach the root of the problem.”

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira