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Project

Pará Combating Forest Fires and Unauthorized Burn-offs

State of Pará/State of Pará Military Firefighters (CBMPA)

Project official website
Total project value
R$ 23,469,023.55
Total support amount
US$ 8,096,541.11
Concluded

Presentation

Objective

To provide support for efforts towards monitoring, preventing and combating deforestation resulting from forest fires and unauthorized burn-offs in the state of Pará, by physically and operationally structuring the CBM fire stations located in 10 municipalities in the state

Beneficiary

Population in the state of Pará

Territorial scope

State of Pará

Description

CONTEXTUALIZATION 

Pará is the second largest Brazilian state and the most densely populated in the entire Amazon biome. All told, there are 144 municipalities in an 1.2 million km² area, with an estimated population of 8.6 million inhabitants, according to 2019 data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE)¹.

The state’s economy is based on agricultural activities (with approximately 10% of Brazil’s cattle herd and 24% of the Brazilian Amazon’s² cattle herd), industry, services, mineral extraction (iron ore and aluminum are important export products), besides plant extraction. However, Pará registers high annual deforestation rates in the Amazon, accounting for 42% of the deforested area in the Brazilian Amazon from 2009 to 2019³.

In the Amazon, fire is one of the most used instruments in rural productive activities, by the culture of cut-burning for cleaning the land and transforming the forest into pasture. Although the use of controlled fire sometimes fulfills roles in some ecosystems, forest fires and burnings produce greenhouse gas emissions, 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 aspects.

The project, presented by the government of Pará and implemented by the Military Fire Department of the State of Pará (CBMPA), integrates the state’s strategy to combat forest fires and unauthorized burnings, provided for in the Plan for Prevention, Control and Alternatives to Deforestation of the State of Pará (PPCAD/PA), launched in June 2009, which aims at ensuring compliance with the goals foreseen nationwide in the Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon (PPCDAm).

¹ https://www.ibge.gov.br/estatisticas/sociais/populacao/9103-estimativas-de populacao.html?=&t=resultados
² https://sidra.ibge.gov.br/tabela/3939#resultado – 2018 data
³ Calculated from data available at the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) – http://www.obt.inpe.br/OBT/assuntos/programas/amazonia/prodes 

THE PROJECT

Implemented by the Military Fire Department of the State of Pará (CBMPA), the project aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the monitoring, preventing and combating of deforestation, unauthorized burnings and forest fires in the State of Pará, by the physical and operational structuring of CBMPA units.

Its resources were allocated to fourteen CBMPA units, located in the following municipalities: Marabá, Itaituba, Castanhal, Tucuruí, Redenção, Altamira, Santarém, Abaetetuba, Parauapebas, Paragominas, Tailândia, Vigia, Salvaterra and Canaã dos Carajás. The contemplated units are responsible for covering all 12 integration regions of the state of Pará, making the scope of the project correspond to Pará’s entire territory.

INTERVENTION LOGIC

The project is part of the “monitoring and control” (2) component of the Amazon Fund’s Logical Framework. Its outcome was thus defined: “the Military Fire Department of Pará (MFCPA) better structured for monitoring and combating deforestation caused by forest fires and unauthorized burnings.”

The occurrence of forest fires is related to the duration of the dry season and the use of fire in productive activities. It is also usually a stage of the illegal deforestation process with views to land grabbing4, when, after the removal of larger trees (and the most valueable), fire is used to open new areas for agricultural purposes.

Training managers and structuring the CBMPA to expand their monitoring and firefighting actions directly contribute to reducing the loss of vegetation cover due to forest fires and unauthorized burnings in the state of Pará. This in turn contributes to the overall objective of the Amazon Fund 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.

_objectives-tree

4 In Brazil, land grabbing is the illegal practice of taking possession of public lands, often including the falsification of documents.

Evolution

Date of approval 11.27.2012
Date of the contract 06.26.2013
Date of conclusion 03.30.2020
Disbursement period 24 months (from the date the contract was signed)
approval
11.27.2012
award
06.26.2013
conclusion
03.30.2020

Disbursement

date amount
1º disbursements 11.11.2013 R$16,830,280.00
Total amount disbursed R$16,830,280.00

Total amount disbursed in relation to the Amazon Fund’s support

100%

Activities executed

The project comprised six components, one funded with resources from the Amazon Fund and the others with counterpart resources from the state of Pará. The components are presented below: 

  1. Implementing the Operational Base of Environmental Protection (Bopa) in Marabá and the Rapid Response Operational Centers (NORR) in ten municipalities. This was the only component supported with resources from the Amazon Fund. 

With counterpart resources from CBMPA, five other components were planned: 

  1. Training of the Military Firefighters managers to monitor, to offer support to supervision and to combat forest fires; 
  1. Implementing the Regional Center for Monitoring, Environmental Prevention and Disasters (CRMPAD), in Belém, for monitoring and managing the combat of forest fires and disasters; 
  1. Building the 7th Military Fire Brigade in Itaituba for prevention and combating unauthorized burnings and forest fires; 
  1. Act in prevention by mobilizing the municipalities to create the Municipal Civil Defense Coordinators (Comdec) and Community Civil Defense Centers (Nudec); and 
  1. Act in preparation for prevention and response to unauthorized burnings and forest fires, forming community leaders and improving Military Firefighters. 

Component 1 was fully implemented throught the use of financial resources from the Amazon Fund, including for the acquisition of equipment for the Bopa, in Marabá and for nine NORR in the municipalities of Itaituba, Castanhal, Tucuruí, Redenção, Altamira, Santarém, Abaetetuba, Parauapebas and Paragominas. 

Throughout the implementation of the project, at CBMPA’s request, the operational structuring of the battalion located in the municipality of Tailândia was included in the scope of its component 1, aiming at expanding the institution’s range of action in combating forest fires. 

With the Amazon Fund’s resources, various equipment were acquired, such as six heavy forest firefighting vehicles (10,000 liters) and 12 light forest firefighting vehicles (4,000 liters), four heavy troop vehicles, ten mechanical floating pumps, 150 hoses and 150 adjustable jet sprays, 800 protective suits, 15 pickup trucks and 15 fire fighting kits for pickup trucks, 200 backpack fire extinguishers, 18 GPS devices, 25 tents and 200 mattresses for camping, 200 fire dampers and helmets for combating forest fires. 

It is important to highlight that, before receiving support from the Amazon Fund, Pará’s Military Fire Department lacked its own vehicles to combat forest fires and that the measures implemented in component 1 allowed the operational structuring of CBMPA brigades, which cover all 12 integration regions of the State of Pará, i. e., the entire state. 

Regarding component 2, training for the Military Firefighters managers, 13 CBMPA managers attended a course held at the Institute of Safety Education of Pará (Iesp), by the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), with a specialization degree in Environmental Management and Safety, with 500 credit hours. 

The Regional Center for Monitoring, Environmental Prevention and Disasters (CRMPAD) (component 3) was also implemented. CRMPAD works as a situation room, located in the building where the General Command of the the Military Fire Department of Pará operates, in Belém. It aims at monitoring, preventing and combating forest fires and disasters, being also used to hold planning meetings for actions developed by the State Civil Defense. 

Within the scope of component 4, the physical and operational structuring of the 7th Military Fire Brigade in Itaituba was implemented. Still in this component, 32 military firefighters were trained in preventing and combating forest fires and 33 military firefighters in environmental survey.

 

At CBMPA’s request, the unexecuted part of component 4 (some training activities and educational campaigns), as well as all of components 5 and 6 were replaced by new counterparts, fully implemented, namely: the construction and structuring of the Military Fire Brigades in the municipalities of Tailândia, Vigia and Salvaterra and the reform and structuring of the Military Fire Brigades in the municipalities of Castanhal, Marabá and Canaã dos Carajás.

Final Evaluation

RESULT AND IMPACT INDICATORS 

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

Direct effect 2.1: Military Fire Department of Pará (CBMPA) better structured for monitoring and combating deforestation caused by forest fires and unauthorized burnings 

The main indicators established for monitoring this objective were: 

  • Number of CBMPA managers trained in postgraduate courses in Environmental Management and Safety effectively using the acquired knowledge (outcome indicator)
    Goal: 20 | Result achieved: 13 
  • Number of hot spots (outcome indicator)
    Goal: not defined | Result achieved: 30,166 

In 2019, there were 30,166 hot spots in the state of Pará¹. As a baseline of this indicator, 50,516 hot spots were recorded, calculated based on the average corresponding to the period from 2004 to 2013 (ten years prior to 2014, first year of project implementation². Thus, during the execution period of the project, the number of hot spots in the state of Pará was reduced by 40%. 

It is important to note that the increase or reduction in the number of hot spots in the state of Pará are also influenced by meteorological issues, varying much from one year to the next depending on the length of the dry periods. Given this context, the on screen indicator is insufficient to measure the outcome of the project supported by the Amazon Fund, although being a favorable sign and a reference for evaluating the other indicators of the project. 

Hot spots in the state of Pará

Baseline

(Average 2004 to 2013)

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

50,516

35,526

43,164

29,724

49,770

22,080

30,166

Source: Elaborated by the authors based on information from INPE’s Forest Burnings Database.
  • Number of forest fires or unauthorized burnings controlled directly by CBMPA (outcome indicator)
    Goal: not defined | Result achieved: 2,401 

During 2017, 2,401 forest fires and unauthorized burnings were controlled, whereas 596 forest fires or burnings were contained in 2013 (baseline of the project), showing an increase of more than four times in the capacity to combat forest fires and burnings. This variation highlights the increase in the corporation’s response capacity, due to the project’s intervention, which shows that, since the start of  the project developed with the Amazon Fund, Pará’s firefighters have been expanding their performance in combating forest fires. 

Number of forest fires or unauthorized burnings controlled directly by CBMPA

Baseline
(2013)

2014

2015

2016

2017

596

1,254

2,835

1,606

2,401

Source: Elaborated by the authors based on information from the Military Fire Department of the state of Pará (CBMPA). 
  • Annual deforestation in the state of Pará
    Goal: not defined | Verified value: 3,862 km2 

The annual clear-cut deforestation in 2019 in the state of Pará was 3,862km2, corresponding to about 40% of the deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon that year. Considering that in 2013 this rate had been 2,346km2 (baseline), there was an increase of approximately 65% in the annual deforestation rate in the period from 2013 to 2019. 

Annual deforestation in the state of Pará (km2)

Baseline
(2013)

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2,346

1,887

2,153

2,992

2,433

2,744

3,862

Source: Elaborated by the author based on Inpe/Prodes data.

Institutional and administrative aspects

The project “Pará against forest fires and unauthorized burnings,” in addition to the operational structuring of CBMPA for combating forest fires, aimed at promoting integrated and articulated management between state and federal public policies, dedicated to ordering, monitoring, preventing and combating these fires, as well as to develop and disseminate techniques for controlled fire management, to train human resources to disseminate these techniques and to raise awareness for the risks of inappropriate fire use. 

The project strongly supported the structuring of the state of Pará to combat forest fires, and the organization of the Regional Center for Monitoring, Environmental Prevention and Disasters (CRMPAD), which works as a center for managing critical situations and subsidizes decision-making by the CBMPA. 

However, the project lacked the same success in the planned actions of institutional articulation with the municipalities to prevent and combat forest fires and to train the rural population to change their culture of using fire in the region’s agricultural production. Throughout the execution of the project, these activities were replaced, at CBMPA’s request, by others that prioritized the direct control of forest fires and burnings. 

Despite the relevance of the substitute counterpart activities carried out, actions aimed at institutional articulation and forest fire prevention ended up being neglected, to the detriment, therefore, of the search for medium and long-term results that would have been achieved throught a change in the region’s culture of fire use. 

Risks and lessons learned

Overall, it can be said that the project has developed satisfactorily after the partial review of its scope, having performed the planned activities and achieved good results. Particulary, the indicator “number of forest fires or unauthorized burnings controlled directly by CBMPA” showed favorable developments throughout the project, having quadrupled the number of fires controlled by CBMPA annually.  

However, the project did not contribute as planned to the structuring of new Municipal Civil Defense Coordinators (which are bodies constituted by the municipalities) and Community Civil Defense Centers (which are voluntary structures formed by community members), which aim, among other objectives, at promoting community awareness for preventing forest fires and identifying burning outbreaks. The project also did not support as planned the training activities for farmers in controlled burning techniques, aiming at changing the region’s culture of fire use. 

For a project, thus, it is not enough to simply envision actions to promote institutional articulation and to include interventions for preventing forest fires and unauthorized burningg. It is necessary to ensure the allocation of specific resources to these activities, as well as the adoption of mechanisms that guarantee their execution. 

Sustainability of results

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

It is worth mentioning that the training and qualifications of military firefighters in the state of Pará, carried out by the project, tend to produce long-lasting and extended effects, considering the diffusion of knowledge that naturally occurs in organizations and requires no new contributions of resources.

It should be noted that the project “Pará against forest fires and unauthorized burnings” joined other projects by military fire departments (CBM) in the states of the Brazilian Amazon (Acre, Mato Grosso, Rondônia and Tocantins), and the project “Prevfogo - Ibama,” all implemented with support from the Amazon Fund³.

Finally, despite the progress already made with the support of the Amazon Fund, it remains to further expand CBMPA’s response capacity, so that it is structured to carry out actions to verify the nature of the hot spots found, by the monitoring systems and by being adequately equipped, with human and material resources, to combat all identified forest fires and unauthorized burnings.

¹ http://queimadas.dgi.inpe.br/queimadas/portal-static/estatisticas_estados/
² The baseline of this indicator was defined as an average of the years prior to the implementation of the project because the occurrence of hot spots varies significantly due to climate changes. In other words, some years show a substantial increase in the number of hot spots, not as a result of direct human action but from climatic events, such as the atmospheric-oceanic phenomenon known as “El Niño.” Using an average of years allows, therefore, to mitigate those years with atypical variations.
³ Both the “Rondônia Mais Verde” (CBMRO) project and the “Prevfogo / Ibama” project are still under execution.

Collection

In this area we offer some PDF files with the main publications generated by the project. Click the filename to start the download.