Summary for Policymakers - Environmental Power of Biodiversity: an innovative path for Brazil (original) (raw)
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Contribution of southern Brazil to the climate and biodiversity conservation agenda
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We highlight the importance of the South Brazilian grasslands and the Araucaria Forest formations located in the Pampa and Atlantic Forest Biomes and their associated coastal and estuarine environments for the conservation of biodiversity, carbon storage and maintenance of significant ecosystem services. We reinforce the need to strengthen research institutions on the environment and the broad participation of different segments of society in the southern region of Brazil to change the course of environmental policies, highlighting the potential of the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná on national and international agendas on biodiversity and climate
Brazilian assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem services: summary for policy makers
Biota Neotropica, 2019
Biodiversity and ecosystems are important elements for addressing national and global socioeconomic and environmental crises, since they provide new development opportunities, for example, as source of job and income creation, and reduction in poverty and socioeconomic inequity. Brazilian biological diversity is also expressed in its immense cultural diversity, with a great variety of knowledge holders. These peoples possess vast knowledge on agrobiodiversity, fishing, fire management, natural medicine, among others of commercial, cultural and spiritual value. The main conclusions of this Summary for Police Makers is that land use changes and climate changes have been-and will continue to be throughout this century-the main drivers that result in the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the country. Political interventions at different levels (from local to national, from public to private) and the enforcement of existing laws (regulatory mechanisms and incentives) are required to cope with the mitigation of the negative impacts of biodiversity and ecosystem services loss. Brazil has already a wide variety of policy instruments and socioenvironmental governance options, as well as global commitments (ODS, Aich Targets, Paris Agreement) related to the objective of a sustainable future. However, inefficient management control or lack of incentive to comply with the rules pose risks to consolidating the path to this future. The country has strong and capable institutions, but infrastructural problems, slow processes, inefficient measurements and judicial, social and ecological conflicts obstruct a proficient performance. There is a lack of communication between science and society which needs to be improved by establishing an effective flow that makes communication inclusive and representative, reaching public and private decision makers. Permanent efforts to integrate Science and policy knowledges are desirable to build confidence between policy makers and researchers.
PUBLIC POLICIES FOR BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN THE STATE OF MATO GROSSO DO SUL - BRAZIL (Atena Editora), 2024
As a proposal for the conservation of biodiversity, an environmental index was created, aiming to establish public policies for Mato Grosso do Sul aimed at Protected Surfaces (SPs), focusing mainly on the conditions in which the Conservation Units (UC) and Indigenous Land-(TI) of each municipality, with data collected in 2022. The UCs, TIs and Surface/Ha-1 /IBGE of the 79 municipalities in the State were used as indicators. Calculation formula: CCB= SAP/SM*FC*AQAP; ICCBM=(CBM/CBE) *100; CCBM= (Sum of Conservation Coefficients - (CC) of the municipality's Protected Areas (PA); CCBE= (Sum of the CCs of the APs of all municipalities); CCB= Biodiversity CC; SAP = AP Surface; SM = Municipality Surface; FC= Correction Factor; AQAP= AP Quality Assessment. The highest rates were found in the municipalities of Jatei, Alcinópolis, Taquarussu, Bodoquena, Bonito and Naviraí; 33 were at High levels, 19 Medium and 26 Low, indicating 33% of municipalities need to institute public policies aimed at conserving biodiversity and expand protected surfaces depending on the biomes existing in the state.
Are Environmental Impact Assessments effectively addressing the biodiversity issues in Brazil
Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 2022
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the main legal instrument for controlling the impacts of human development projects in many countries, including Brazil. However, the way biodiversity is addressed as part of the EIA process has been discussed around the world, with concerns raised about poor-quality studies and a failure to achieve evidence-based decisions. To explore these concerns, we evaluated: 1) the quality of baseline biodiversity studies used to inform EIAs; 2) the predictions made about the impacts of the development on biodiversity and their relationship to baseline studies; and 3) the relevance of the quality of these baseline studies and the predicted impacts on the decisions made by the relevant licensing agency. To do this, we collected and analyzed EIAs associated with 78 development proposals from the State of Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil, using medium and large-sized terrestrial mammals as indicators. We found baseline studies were basic and lacking scientific rigor, with no guiding questions or hypotheses, few ecological analyses, and that they omitted essential information about study design. The poor quality of biodiversity information in most baseline studies led to significant deficiencies in impact reports, with inadequate descriptions of the likely impacts of developments on biodiversity. Finally, we found that the shortcomings in both baseline studies and impact assessment reports had no relationship to decision-making, with poor quality EIAs still obtaining environmental licenses, which is alarming. Only in two decisions were cited some shortcoming of baseline studies as a reason for conditional approval. We conclude by providing a range of recommendations to help promote evidence-based decision-making in EIAs and improve the quality and transparency of the biodiversity data produced throughout Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and EIA.
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 2019
Climate change is a global phenomenon that affects biophysical systems and human well-being. The Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change entered into force in 2016 with the objective of strengthening the global response to climate change by keeping global temperature rise this century well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 °C. The agreement requires all Parties to submit their "nationally determined contributions" (NDCs) and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead. Reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation is an important strategy for mitigating climate change, particularly in developing countries with large forests. Extensive tropical forest loss and degradation have increased awareness at the international level of the need to undertake large-scale ecological restoration, highlighting the need to identify cases in which restoration strategies can contribute to mitigation and adaptation. Here we consider Brazil as a case study to evaluate the benefits and challenges of implementing large-scale restoration programs in developing countries. The Brazilian NDC included the target of restoring and reforesting 12 million hectares of forests for multiple uses by 2030. Restoration of native vegetation is one of the foundations of sustainable rural development in Brazil and should consider multiple purposes, from biodiversity and ecosystem services conservation to social and economic development. However, ecological restoration still presents substantial challenges for tropical and mega-diverse countries, including the need to develop plans that are technically and financially feasible, as well as public policies and monitoring instruments that can assess effectiveness. The planning, execution, and monitoring of restoration efforts strongly depend on the context and the diagnosis of the area with respect to reference ecosystems (e.g., forests, savannas, grasslands, wetlands). In addition, poor integration of climate change policies at the national and subnational levels and with other sectorial policies constrains the large-scale implementation of restoration programs. The case of Brazil shows that slowing deforestation is possible; however, this analysis highlights the need for increased national commitment and international support for actions that require large-scale transformations of the forest sector regarding ecosystem restoration efforts. Scaling up the ambitions and actions of the Paris Agreement implies the need for a global framework that recognizes landscape restoration as a cost-effective nature-based solution and that supports countries in addressing their remaining needs, challenges, and barriers.