Press release from the Seminary
Some of the largest socio-environmental organizations in Brazil have joined forces to advocate for the next president to create a policy for the Cerrado. The intention is to define guidelines so that the occupation of the biome combines rural development with the conservation of natural resources and the advancement of the rights of traditional peoples and communities.
Brasilia, June 4, 2018 – Ending deforestation and conducting research to define public policies for the conservation of the Cerrado and respecting the right of traditional communities to occupy the biome. These are some of the most important measures proposed to establish a policy for the Cerrado in Brazil and halt the devastation that has already consumed half of the biome's original vegetation cover – and which involve land tenure issues and access to water in the region.
The topic will be debated on June 5th – International Environment Day – in the Chamber of Deputies. Participation is open and will take place in plenary room 2 of Annex II, as it is an event organized by the Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development (CMADS), chaired by Deputy Augusto de Carvalho (SD-DF).
To that end, six of Brazil's largest and most important socio-environmental organizations have joined forces to support the National Strategy for the Cerrado Seminar. The seminar is coordinated by the institutes Society, Population and Nature (ISPN), Center for Life (ICV), Socio-environmental (ISA), International Education in Brazil (IEB), Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), and WWF. The final document will be delivered to the environmental program coordinators of the presidential candidates in the October elections this year.
An initial document was developed throughout the seminar preparation process with experts from socio-environmental organizations and contains 11 proposals for discussion on June 5th. "The document is just the starting point for the debate so that those invited to this meeting can also influence the outcome," explained the project's general coordinator, environmentalist and lawyer André Lima, former Secretary of the Environment of the Federal District.
Base document
The foundational document for this debate is based on three pillars, as Lima explained. The first is the conservation, protection, monitoring, and improvements in regulations for the protection of biodiversity in the Cerrado. The second addresses the rights of traditional, extractive, and indigenous populations in the territories, as well as family farming. Finally, the 11 proposals also encompass the rural development of agriculture and livestock farming in the biome.
The topics to be discussed on the 5th include a proposed constitutional amendment to consider the Cerrado as national heritage, for example. Others include increasing the number of parks and conservation units to align with the goals of the biodiversity convention, as well as revising the targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation in the Cerrado. "The current targets are very timid," the environmentalist pointed out. Also on the agenda are debates on the implementation of the forest code and the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) to improve and implement deforestation control in the Cerrado.
“It is a set of measures that need to be coordinated with each other in order to build policies and programs that strengthen each other,” explained André Lima. “All these proposals foresee governance to coordinate strategic actions in a policy for our Cerrado,” he concluded.