CONTEXT

With an estimated population of 1.6 million inhabitants¹, the state of Tocantins occupies an area of 278,000 km², representing 3.3% of the Brazilian territory. The occupation of the state occurred through government programs for the development and integration of the Amazon in the national economy, carried out in the 1960s and 1970s; through the construction of the Belém-Brasília highway (BR-153); and through the creation of the state in 1988.

Currently, the state of Tocantins is part of the region of the great national agricultural frontier, called Matopiba, which comprises the Cerrado biome of the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia and accounts for an important portion of the Brazilian grain and fiber production. In Tocantins, the three agricultural products of greatest economic relevance are, respectively, soybeans, meat and corn.

In the Amazon, fire is one of the most used instruments in productive activities, through the practice of cutting and burning vegetation for clearing swidden areas and transforming forest into pasture. Although the use of controlled fire in the Cerrado sometimes has ecosystemic functions, forest fires and unauthorized burn-offs impact soil fertility, destroy biodiversity, weaken ecosystems, destroy transmission lines, compromise air quality, increase the risk of road accidents and limit air traffic, among other negative effects.

Concurrently with the presentation of the Tocantins Forest Protection project in 2012, a broad state mobilization around the Tocantins Fire Fighting Action Program was announced, which brought together 24 government, private sector and third sector institutions.

¹ Available at: https://www.ibge.gov.br/apps/populacao/projecao/

THE PROJECT

The project was carried out by the State of Tocantins Military Firefighters (CBMTO) and aimed to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from forest fires and unauthorized burn-offs.

The project supported actions to monitor, prevent and combat deforestation resulting from forest fires and unauthorized burn-offs in the state of Tocantins, with emphasis on its north-central region, through the training of managers, the structuring of integrated management mechanisms and the acquisition of materials and equipment for the Environmental Protection Battalion, located in the municipality of Araguaína.

INTERVENTION LOGIC

The project is part of the “monitoring and control” component (2) of the Amazon Fund’s Logical Framework. Its direct effect was thus defined in the project’s logical framework: “State of Tocantins Military Firefighters (CBMTO) better structured for monitoring and combating deforestation caused by forest fires and unauthorized burn-offs.”

The occurrence of forest fires is related to the duration of dry seasons and to the use of fire in productive activities. Usually, it is also one of the stages of the process of illegal deforestation aimed at land grabbing (land grabbing in Brazil is the illegal practice of taking possession of vacant (public) lands, often including the falsification of documents), when, after the removal of larger (more valuable) trees, fire is used to open new areas for farming.

Structuring the CBMTO to expand actions aimed to monitor and combat forest fires and to train managers, civil firefighters and the community directly contributes to reducing the loss of vegetation cover due to forest fires and unauthorized burn-offs. This contributes to the Amazon Fund‘s general objective of reducing deforestation with sustainable development in the Amazon.

Click on the following image to view its objectives tree, that is, how the project's outputs and linked to the expected outcomes and impact.

ACTIVITIES EXECUTED

The project was structured around four components and was fully executed. The main activities performed by component are detailed below:

• Strengthen activities to monitor, prevent and combat deforestation caused by forest fires and unauthorized burn-offs

Within this objective, an extensive list of equipment essential for the final activity of the CBMTO was acquired, with emphasis on three forest trucks with large-capacity (4,000 liters) and for the transport of firefighters to fight large forest fires, in addition to 13 4x4 type vehicles (trucks) for fast and initial actions of fire prevention and combat. Additionally, communication and location equipment was purchased, such as mobile radios, laptops and GPS devices, as well as mobile kits to combat fire and logistical support material and equipment: a truck with capacity to transport eight tons of material, two buses to transport military firefighters and civil firefighters, 264 flexible backpacks with back pumps and tents for up to 150 firefighters.

• Promote the training of managers of the main government agencies involved in managing the combat against forest fires and burn-offs and the training of the community in general

In the scope of manager training, there were workshops on the mapping of areas of risk, coordination of firefighting operations and analysis and interpretation of images. Since the beginning, there was a concern to involve the largest number of managers linked to agencies that are part of the Fire Committee¹, which meets for the planning and execution of forest fire prevention and combat activities in the state. Thus, professionals of the following agencies were trained: CBMTO, Civil Defense, Tocantins Nature Institute (Naturatins), Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Seagro), State Department of Health (Sesau), Independent Environmental Police Company (Cipama), Department of Roads (Dertins), State of Tocantins Rural Development Institute (Ruraltins), State Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPE), Department of Education and Culture (Seduc), Department of Public Security (SSP/TO), through the Environment Police (Dema), Department of Water Resources and Environment (SRHMA), the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), Brazilian Army, National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra), Metropolitan Guard of Palmas and the Federation of Agriculture of the state of Tocantins (Faet). In total, 466 public servants were trained.

The training in the community included workshops for the training of 1,626 civil firefighters and capacity building in forest fire prevention and combat. The events were held by CBMTO firefighters in spaces provided by the municipalities and enabled with the use of equipment and materials acquired with resources of the project.

• Structure the situation room of the State Fire Committee

The situation room is a technical unit responsible for the compilation and systematization of data on possible incidents and the occurrence of burn-offs and forest fires, generating information on the main characteristics of the affected area. Consisting of interdisciplinary teams, the situation room provided agility in the tracing of fire spots and immediate mobilization of responsible agencies. Among others, the project’s activities consisted of the acquisition of five desktop computers, two laptops, a projector and a 52” LCD TV.

• Implement the actions provided in the Tocantins Fire Fighting Action Program, prepared by the State Forest Fire Combat and Burn-Off Control Committee, under the responsibility of the State Civil Defense Coordination

The activities associated with this objective promoted the sensitization and guidance of rural producers in the state through preventive notifications and information on soil management, construction of firebreaks and legal use of fire (authorization and controlled burn-off). Four education and awareness raising campaigns were carried out with advertising in various media, in addition to 93 actions in the municipalities with the highest rates of fires.

¹  The Fire Committee was established by the State Decree 645 of August 20, 1998, with the aim of improving fire control and prevention actions in the state of Tocantins

RESULT AND IMPACT INDICATORS

The project activities contributed to the results related to the “monitoring and control” component (2) of the Amazon Fund’s Logical Framework.

Direct effect 2.1:CBMTO better structured for monitoring and combating deforestation caused by forest fires and illegal burn-offs.

The main indicators agreed for the monitoring of this objective were:

• Number of servants effectively trained using the acquired knowledge (outcome indicator)
  Goal: not set | Result achieved: 466 

It was verified that 466 managers of CBMTO and partners, trained through workshops on mapping risk areas, coordination of firefighting operations and analysis and interpretation of images, are using the knowledge acquired.

• Number of citizens trained (output indicator)
  Goal: 500 | Result achieved: 1,626 

During the project, forest fire prevention and fighting techniques were disseminated through the training of 1,626 civil firefighters

• Number of heat spots (outcome indicator)
  Goal: not set | Result achieved: 7,108

In 2018, 7,108 heat spots were recorded in the state of Tocantins. As a baseline for this indicator, 14,132 heat spots were considered – an estimation based on the average of the period from 2003 to 2012 (ten years prior to 2013, first year of implementation of the project¹). Therefore, during the project execution period, the number of heat spots in the state of the Tocantins was reduced to about half.

It is important to note that the increase or reduction in the number of heat spots in the state of Tocantins are influenced by meteorological issues, varying greatly from one year to the next depending on the duration of the dry season. However, the project acted directly in preventing and fighting forest fires, which contributes to reducing heat spots. In this context, the on-screen indicator is not sufficient to assess the effectiveness of the project supported by the Amazon Fund, although it is a favorable sign and a reference for evaluating the other indicators of the project.

Source: BNDES, based on data from the  INPE Burns Database

¹ The definition of the baseline of this indicator as an average of the years prior to the implementation of the project is due to the fact that the occurrence of heat spots varies significantly according to changes in the climate. That is, in some years there is substantial increase in heat spots that did not result directly from human action, but rather from climatic events, such as the atmospheric-oceanic phenomenon called El Niño. Therefore, the use of an average of years allows to mitigate these years with atypical variations.

• Number of forest fires or unauthorized burn-offs directly fought by CBMTO (outcome indicator)
  Goal: not set | Result achieved: 1,320

During 2018, a total of 1,320 forest fires and unauthorized burn-offs were fought, while in 2012 (project baseline) 710 forest fires or burn-offs had been fought, which shows an 86% increase in the capacity to fight forest fires and burn-offs. This variation clearly shows the increased response capacity of the corporation based on the project’s interventions, which demonstrates that, through the Amazon Fund support, firefighters in the state of Tocantins have been expanding their activities in the fight against forest fires.

Source: BNDES, based on data from the CBMTO

• Annual deforestation in the state of Tocantins
  Goal: undefined | Result achieved: 25 km²

The annual deforestation by shallow cutting in 2018 in the state of Tocantins was 25 km². Considering that, in 2012, this rate was 52 km² (baseline), there was a reduction of about 50% in the annual deforestation rate.

Source:  BNDES, based on data from INPE/PRODES

Inpe’s Prodes system performs the inventory of loss of primary forest through the use of satellite images of the Earth for the entire length of the Brazilian Amazon.

Institutional and administrative aspects

The experience of the state of Tocantins in the mobilization of partners took significant steps with the launch of the aforementioned Tocantins Fire Fighting Action Program in 2011, which involved several federal and state agencies around three axes of action: education and awareness raising; mobilization and prevention; surveillance and fight against forest fires and control of burn-offs.

The understanding that the prevention and fight against forest fires and deforestation depend on the integrated action of public agencies from various spheres of government and on the mobilization of civil society resulted in the creation, in 2016, of the Brazilian Amazon Protection Committee (Copal), a nonprofit civil entity created to coordinate and execute actions to monitor, preserve, conserve and protect the Amazon biome by the military fire brigades of the nine states that compose the Brazilian Amazon.

Based in Palmas, Copal represented a paradigm shift in the way military fire brigades of the States of the Brazilian Amazon operate, with the inversion from a predominantly reactive and isolated logic to a preventive and strategic approach, based on technicaloperational cooperation between the different bodies.

Risks and lessons learned

In general terms, it can be said that the Tocantins Forest Protection project developed satisfactorily, having executed the planned activities and achieved good results. The “number of forest fires or illegal burn-offs directly fought by CBMTO” indicator showed favorable evolution throughout the project, as well as the action to train CBMTO managers, partners and citizens.

It is worth pointing out, with regard to the acquisition of project items, the occurrence of difficulties in the bidding processes, resulting in delay in their execution. As a solution to this problem, CBMTO opted for the mode of Price Registration Minutes, in the case of the acquisition of goods. 

Another difficulty was the deficiency in monitoring the work performed by the existing fire brigades in municipalities in the state, as well as the recording of occurrences served by them. The solution found was to develop a smartphone application that provides greater agility in recording and scaling fire damage through photos with geographic coordinates.

The specific characteristics of the Amazon, with large territorial extension and areas of difficult access, make the actions of firefighters riskier and more complex, requiring a differentiated strategy in relation to fire. This perception led to the initiative of creating the aforementioned Copal, with the purpose of establishing a regime of close technical-operational cooperation between these states.

Sustainability of results 

The long-term sustainability of the results achieved with the Amazon Fund support, given the nature of this project, depends mainly on the budgetary conditions of the state of Tocantins, which is responsible for maintaining the main equipment acquired under the project, as well as providing CBMTO with funding resources.

It should be mentioned that the capacity building and training of public servants, carried out as a result of the project, tend to produce lasting and expanded effects, considering the dissemination of knowledge that naturally occurs in organizations and is practically independent of new contributions of public resources.

The support of local civil firefighters in rural municipalities, trained for the prevention and fight against forest fires in their initial phase, is also an element that will contribute to the reduction of burned areas, and should be sustained even after the completion of the project.

Note that the Tocantins Forest Protection project was added to the projects of other military fire brigades in the states of the Brazilian Amazon (Acre, Mato Grosso, Rondônia and Pará), and to the Prevfogo project (Ibama), all implemented with the support of the Amazon Fund. The creation of Copal, consisting of all state military fire brigades in the Brazilian Amazon, represents a first step in the combination of efforts by these corporations to fight forest fires in the region.

Finally, despite the progress already made with the support of the Amazon Fund, it is understood that the response capacity of the CBMTO should be further expanded, so that it is structured to carry out actions to determine the nature of heat spots traced by monitoring systems and properly equipped, with human and material resources, to combat all forest fires and unauthorized burn-offs traced.