On June 18, Hydro's bauxite mine in Paragominas signed an agreement with the Pará State Secretariat, in charge of the Green Municipalities Program, and the environmental organization Imazon, to train 90 technicians who will work on the program. < / p>

"Our commitment to making society more viable is strong," says Johnny Undeli, head of the Bauxite & Alumina business area in Brazil. "Hydro's cooperation with the State of Pará and Imazon covers education and training of technicians, with a view to ensuring that Pará has the necessary competence to monitor deforestation and thus contribute to mitigating climate change. ”

The technicians come from the municipalities that have already joined the Program, which aims to reverse deforestation and develop a strong and sustainable economy in the region.

Green Municipalities

According to the Program, a “green municipality” develops sustainable productive activities with low carbon emissions and high social and environmental responsibility. The program also ensures that environmental development is continuously monitored, to assist in assessing the progress made.

Launched in March 2011 by the Government of Pará, the Program is based on the success of the project developed in Paragominas, a city that, over the years, has faced great environmental challenges.

In 2008, Paragominas was listed among the most critical cities in Brazil in terms of deforestation. In order to avoid penalties from the federal government, the city made efforts to involve the main social actors in a commitment to improve environmental performance. As a result of the initiative, Paragominas was the first municipality to leave the “black list” of deforestation in Brazil.

In order to become a “green municipality”, it is necessary to reduce deforestation, ensure compliance with social and environmental legislation, promote the recovery of degraded areas, make better use of areas already deforested and manage the native forest properly. .

There will be action

Actions carried out by municipalities may include: pacts with relevant local actors, development of municipal diagnostic systems (environment, land ownership, economic conditions & nbsp; data on agriculture / livestock) and establishment of partnerships (public administration, unions , producers, technical institutions etc.).

To this end, the Secretariat of Green Municipalities was created, which will be responsible for managing the development of the program and which has been well accepted by local authorities. & nbsp; Ninety of the 143 municipalities in the State of Pará have already joined the program.

The agreement with & nbsp; Imazon includes a "technical cooperation agreement" between the Secretariat of Green Municipalities of the State of Pará, Hydro Paragominas (Mineração Paragominas AS) and & nbsp; Imazon, which will detail the objectives and related responsibilities with the training of technicians and a contract between Hydro Paragominas and & nbsp; Imazon, which will detail the contribution to the organization, to the development of training activities.

Essential partnership

“A partnership of this nature between Hydro, the State Government and & nbsp; Imazon is essential for finding appropriate responses to the environmental challenges in Pará,” says Paulo Amaral, senior researcher at Imazon.

“The focus of this agreement is to train environmental agencies in different municipalities in the fight against deforestation. In this sense, Hydro's role in this partnership is fundamental and its contribution is vital for the Government of Pará to achieve its objectives of controlling deforestation. ”

The goal is to reduce deforestation by 80 percent by 2020 and ensure environmental compliance, which would remove 16 municipalities from the list of cities in the Amazon region with the worst deforestation rates.

Representatives of the Green Municipalities Program will participate in several events at the Rio +20 conference, including the presentation of the program and the signing of a partnership with Fundação Globo, for the development of video lessons on forest management.