Governo do Pará

The Amazon has around 7.8 million square kilometres (km) of natural forests, spreading over eight countries. The State of Pará has 1.2 million km2 of area, representing 15% of the whole Amazon Region with the largest protected wildlife corridor in the world, with more than 717 thousand km2 of area (around 71 million hectares), including nature reserve and managed resource protected areas and Indigenous reserve lands. Together, these protected areas represent more than 57% of the State’s territory. Many animal and vegetable species living in these areas are yet to be discovered by Science.

However, throughout the disorganised settlement process of the Amazon, which was initiated in the 1970s, the State of Pará has lost around 20% of its forest area, the equivalent to 22 million hectares. The economic expansion and the great pressure put over the forest, especially for agricultural and cattle breeding production purposes, has made the State of Pará figure as one of the main culprits for the deforesting of the Amazon.

It was against this background that the Governor of the State of Pará, Ana Júlia Carepa, in this year’s May period has, in cooperation with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, officially launched the most extensive programme for forest restoration on the planet: “One Billion Trees to the Amazon”, which will encourage the planting of native species in areas that have already been altered by man’s action. The government plans to reach this goal by 2013.

The trees absorb carbon, reduce the heat index on ground level, balance the weather and control the expansion of deserts. This is the practical contribution from the State of Pará to the debates about anti-global warming measures. The programme for forest restoration of the government of the State of Pará derives from the international campaign “One Billion Trees”, from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)). The difference is that UN’s goal is the planting of one billion trees on the entire planet, and the State of Pará intends to plant the same amount of trees just within the its territory.

The programme “One Billion Trees to the Amazon” is much more extensive than the simple act of planting saplings. The central idea of the project is to encourage forest restoration in the short, medium and long term, through the forest planting of native species for productive and energetic purposes to be implemented by small farmers and the private sector. Some of the Governor’s purposes are to restore the land’s forest reserve, and to make such restoration a profitable activity provided with financing, technical assistance, remuneration for environmental services, subsidies for small farmers and guidance for a better access to credit.

Tackling climate change

One of the pillars of the State climate change plan is related to the planting of one billion trees, which will be able to perform the capturing of over 100 million tons of carbon. This line of action is in accordance with the Ministry of Environment’s plan for Reduction of Emissions for Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). This plan’s objective is to avoid deforestation through the creation of programmes that, through earning carbon credits, make paying for environmental services possible. A public policy’s set of mechanisms and instruments will induce reforestation and will charge owners of rural properties (properties that have been eroded, underused, or inadequately used areas) the environmental liability.

Governmental commitment

Through President’s Lula Sustainable Amazon Plan, the government intends to establish lines of credit in order to support the financing of forest planting, via the Bank of Amazonia and the Bank of Brazil. The reforestation must be promoted as the new model for a sustainable rural development that enables the healing of the lands’ forest reserve through income generating activities. The One Billion Trees Programme is one of the most important links in the State of Pará’s new development model. With this initiative, the government proposes, among other objectives, to decelerate deforestation, to stimulate and support the planting of native species, to create lines of credit focused on forest planting, to close the gap between the scientific knowledge and the productive sector, to restore one million hectares of native forest areas and to set the new standard for forest economy on the State of Pará and on the Amazon. Pará is indeed a Land of Rights.

W: www.pa.gov.br