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| Paulo Henrique Coelho Amaral is a senior researcher at Imazon. |
Imazon has partnered with Hydro since the Rio +20 event (June 2012). According to Amaral, this partnership is the result of a memorandum of understanding on the need to empower local managers to use geoprocessing tools to combat and control deforestation.
Imazon is a non-profit research institute. Its mission is to promote sustainable development in the Amazon through studies, support public policy formulation, promote information and training. The institution conducts applied scientific research on problems related to the use of natural resources, professional development, contributions to public policy and broad dissemination of studies.
Based in Belém, in the Brazilian state of Pará, Imazon has monitored for years the deforestation and forest degradation in the municipality of Paragominas. Forest monitoring is the basis for the municipality to control deforestation. Monitoring is based on satellite images and field verification of the causes of deforestation and forest degradation. The partnership with Hydro makes it possible to increase the number of trained technicians in Paragominas and other municipalities in the state.
"Six, seven years ago, the general picture was of severe deforestation in Paragominas. In 2007, deforestation was in the order of 175 km2 per year, which caused the municipality to be included in the critical deforestation list of the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) in 2008. Due to local initiatives, including the 'Green Municipalities' Project, this does not happen anymore, and Paragominas was the first municipality in the Amazon to come off the list in March 2010. Currently deforestation in the municipality is in the order of 3 km2 per year.
But there are still challenges to be overcome. The first one is to maintain zero net deforestation rates. This requires that monitoring continues and that sustainable economic alternatives will be adopted, such as reforestation, forest management and that the areas already cleared can be used for intensification of agriculture and livestock. The second is that the municipal economy be totally orientated towards legal and sustainable production. In this case, the big challenge is land regularization, so that farmers have security in long-term investments and access to credit for such investments”, says Amaral.
“To what extent is it an obstacle to such policies that the land and forests are considered mainly as a “raw material”, without a high intrinsic value?”
“Forest conservation is intrinsically related to the value that these areas may have, and the benefits they can generate, especially for the local population. In the case of Paragominas, as there was no land use planning, it is essential to prepare plans for the land use, based on conditions established in the field. For example, about 63 percent of the municipality is covered by forest that suffered some kind of exploitation, mainly low-impact lumbering. This includes Hydro’s areas of operation.
However, these areas have an important economic and ecological function for timber production, as well as being areas with a potential for agriculture and livestock. Thus, if these areas are not valued, they will certainly be cleared. On the other hand, one of the ways to value these areas is to exploit the natural resources in a sustainable way, as is the case with mineral resources. We recommend, in this case, that the restoration and conservation of these areas be carried out and, where there are mining operations, full restoration or compensation of these areas be implemented”, he says.
“What kind of initiatives do you recommend as part of a sustainable program when dealing with such problems?”
"Today, a large part of the logs coming from the mining areas is left to decompose naturally, since permission for the use of this raw material is not granted. Agreements should be made so that these logs can generate financial resources, which could be invested in actions to combat and control deforestation, and in environmental management in Paragominas and direct benefits for communities impacted by the mining activities”, he says.
Amaral also comments on Pará’s overall goal: "Zero Net Deforestation by 2020". “In this way, the programs to combat and control deforestation should be supported in the long term. The areas that are targets for destruction of forest cover must be offset by other areas of native or planted forests, such that all the cleared areas are compensated. Furthermore, the actions of forest restoration should be viewed on a broad scale, for example, on a scale of watersheds. Ecological corridors should be established, so that ecosystems can be restored and fulfil their environmental and ecological functions”.
“What are the opportunities and challenges in establishing a partnership with a company like Hydro?”
“As Hydro is a company operating in the region that uses natural resources and faces the problems outlined above, it is important for the company to become directly involved in solving these problems. The issue of monitoring is essential for Pará to meet the goal of zero net deforestation by 2020. Creating local capacity in the municipalities to carry out monitoring and control of deforestation has been the biggest challenge. Hydro, with the cooperation given to Imazon, is contributing directly to the control of deforestation in Pará and helping the state achieve the goal set for 2020,” Paulo Henrique Coelho Amaral says.
