CONTEXTUALIZATION 

The state of Amazonas holds the largest forest patrimony in Brazil. There are 140 million hectares of native forests, and about 52% of the territory are legally protected, consisting of 28% of TIs, 12% of state protected areas (PAs) and 12% of federal PAs. It has the lowest rate of deforestation in the Amazon region (less than 3% of the state's total area), although the municipalities located in the south of the state present high rates of deforestation. Among the main causes are: migratory pressure of neighboring states; lack of integrated policies aimed at the sustainable development of the region; incipient land regularization, and lack of permanent control and environmental supervision. 

THE PROJECT

The Reforestation in the Southern Region of Amazonas State project aimed at supporting the strengthening of the environmental management of the state of Amazonas in areas suffering from deforestation in the municipalities of Boca do Acre, Lábrea, Apuí and Novo Aripuanã.

The project contemplated activities around two axes: (i) strengthening of environmental management, focusing on implementation of the CAR; and (ii) recovery of deforested areas through reforestation with species with economic and ecological function, through agroforestry, silvicultural and agrosilvopastoral systems. For this purpose, the state environmental agency selected 1,000 rural producers in the four municipalities.

Awareness workshops were held with local communities, besides training and technical assistance through sustainable use and management practices of natural resources, using demonstration units where farmers could observe the implementation methods and results of agroforestry systems (SAFs). As support for reforestation actions, the project implemented: (i) mechanization services for cleaning and preparation of area for planting; (ii) supply of inputs to support planting; and (iii) supply of seedlings to producers for the implementation of SAFs.

The project was implemented by the State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainable Development (SDS), which, after an administrative reform in the state in 2015, became the State Secretariat for the Environment (Sema). It also had the direct partnership of the Institute for Sustainable Development of Agriculture and Forestry Development of the State of Amazonas (Idam) and the Institute of Environmental Protection of Amazonas (Ipaam).

INTERVENTION LOGIC

The project is part of the “sustainable production” (1) and “monitor and control” (2) components of the Amazon Fund’s Logical Framework.

The effects expected in the “sustainable production” component were: (i) recovery of deforested and degraded areas in the municipalities of Boca do Acre, Lábrea, Novo Aripuanã and Apuí, for economic and ecological conservation purposes; and (ii) expansion of managerial and technical capacity of the local rural communities for the implementation of SAFs and other activities of sustainable management of natural resources in these municipalities.

Thus, the project aimed to contribute to the economic attractiveness of the activities that maintain the forest, promoting the productive inclusion of rural communities and encouraging productive models that preserve the forest, as well as sequestering carbon by recovering the vegetation cover of deforested areas.

Regarding the “monitoring and control” component, the project aimed to increase the access of rural producers to the environmental regulation of their properties in the state of Amazonas, by supporting the rural environmental diagnosis of rural properties and rural ownerships in the municipalities of Boca do Acre, Lábrea, Novo Aripuanã and Apuí and their registration with the CAR. One of the main merits of the CAR is that it acts as an inducer of production systems with environmental sustainability.

Through the CAR, the environmental assets and liabilities of rural properties are identified, allowing both the management of these assets and the planning and execution of actions to recover deforested areas that, by legal determination, need to be reforested. An important function of this registration is that, in the case of rural properties, the squatters in these properties are formally identified (individuals who occupy a rural property without having a title of their property), establishing the possibility of their liability in case of possible environmental infractions in these properties.

ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED

A thousand rural properties were registered in the districts of Boca do Acre, Lábrea, Apuí and Novo Aripuanã, also covering the identification of the priority areas cleared for subsequent reforestation actions.

There was recovery of 1,074 hectares of deforested and/or degraded areas for economic and ecological conservation purposes in the four municipalities benefited by the project, including the implementation of 767 SAFs that integrate the simultaneous cultivation of agricultural crops and forest species.

In the component related to training rural producers, the highlights are 208 training events attended by 903 participants, representing 90% of the project’s target audience. Twelve units were installed for demonstration courses in the municipalities benefited by the project, involving three types of demonstration units: SAFs (five units), rotational grazing (three units) and crop-pasture-forest integration (four units). The training program addressed four themes: environmental education for family agriculture, collection of forest seeds, agroecology, and workshops on the CAR.

With the support of the project, a proposal was made for legislation, which contributed to the promulgation of Law 4,406, dated December 28, 2017, which established the State Policy for Environmental Regularization, which sets forth points for the CAR, the Rural Environmental Registry System (Siscar-AM), and the Environmental Regulation Program (PRA) in the state of Amazonas.

INSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE ASPECTS

The state of Amazonas performed the implementation of the project through an inter-institutional arrangement led by the Sema, former SDS. Idam and Ipaam were the main partners of the initiative and acted as interveners in the contract with the BNDES.

To deal with the complexity of the project, the state of Amazonas created a project management unit, with an exclusive team, responsible for the executive and operational coordination of all actions developed during the project. The intention was to obtain an administrative arrangement of its own, with a certain degree of autonomy, so that interdependent actions could be carried out in an articulated and integrated way between the partner institutions. Despite these efforts, there were difficulties of interlocution between the institutions participating in the project. Another weakness was the fact that, as a result of administrative reforms, there was a repeated process of changes in the team responsible for conducting the project, imposing laborious restarts.

Some changes that have occurred in the project since its original approval are also noteworthy. The amount contracted initially corresponded to R$ 20 million and, in addition to the activities described previously, it had a component for land regularization of eight hundred rural properties in the municipalities of Novo Aripuanã and Boca do Acre. This component of support for land tenure and land use planning, however, was excluded from the project at the request of the Sema because of difficulties in its execution; the contract value was adjusted, and R$ 17,575,286.19 was disbursed.

RESULT AND IMPACT INDICATORS

The project activities contributed to the results related to the "sustainable production" (1) and "monitoring and control" (2) components of the Amazon Fund’s Logical Framework.

Sustainable Production Component (1)

Outcome 1.3: Expanded management and technical capacity for the implementation of SAFs, sustainable management of natural resources in the municipalities of Boca do Acre, Lábrea, Novo Aripuanã and Apuí.

Outcome 1.4: Deforested and degraded areas recovered and used for economic and ecological conservation purposes in the municipalities of Boca do Acre, Lábrea, Novo Aripuanã and Apuí.

The main indicators agreed to monitor these objectives were:

• Area recovered and used for economic purposes (effectiveness indicator)

Target: 1,400 hectares. Result achieved: 1,074 hectares

• Number of land management projects for simultaneous cultivation of planted agricultural crops and forest species (SAF) (efficacy indicator)

Target: 1,000 projects. Result achieved: 767 projects implemented

• Number of seedlings distributed (indicator of efficacy)

Target: 1,450,000 seedlings. Result achieved: 1,450,000 seedlings distributed

The project’s target was the reforestation of 1.4 hectares in each of the thousand properties/possessions registered in the project, totaling an area of 1,400 hectares to be reforested. For this purpose, the project performed: (i) mechanization services for cleaning and preparation of area for planting; (ii) supply of inputs to support planting; (iii) supply of seedlings to producers to implement SAFs; and (iv) provision of technical assistance and rural extension (Ater).

Throughout the monitoring of the project, the state of Amazonas adequately proved the execution of the services related to these objectives. The areas selected for planting, totaling 1,450 hectares, received agricultural mechanization in two stages: soil cleaning and organic debris removal (method that replaces the use of fire), and harrowing. The production and availability of seedlings for the farmers also reached the planned quantity, and a total of 1,450,000 seedlings of 17 species were distributed.

However, there were adversities that reflected on the success rates of the plantations, which did not reach the targets established in the indicators. One of the issues observed is the perception of a poor quality of the seedlings produced and their delivery to farmers out of the most adequate time, making transportation difficult and increasing the propensity to plant loss. Other weaknesses are related to the technical assistance and training offered, which, despite the efforts made, did not achieve the desired results regarding local communities’ motivation and interest.

Monitoring and Control Component (2)

Outcome 2.2: Increased access of rural producers to the environmental regularization of their properties in the state of Amazonas.

The main indicators agreed for monitoring this objective were:

• Number of properties that had their application to join the CAR registered (effectiveness indicator)

Target: 1,000 adhesion contracts. Result achieved: 1,000 adhesion contracts registered

• Area of properties that had their application to join the CAR registered (effectiveness indicator)

Target: not defined. Result achieved: 57,137 hectares

In the CAR theme, the project was seen as a pilot, acting in the municipalities with the greatest deforestation in the state. The date of the contract of the project was prior to the enactment of the new Forest Code (Law 12,651/2012), which established the CAR as electronic public record nationwide, compulsory for all rural properties. Thus, the first activities conducted by Sema, together with Ipaam, related to the elaboration of legal frameworks for State action. Also in 2011, the state created the State Environmental Regulation Program and regulated the CAR, through Law 3,635/2011. This result was highly relevant for the state, and demonstrated its commitment to territorial management and sustainability.

The resources set forth and implemented in this component were basically intended to the accomplishment of the registration of 1,000 rural properties/possessions selected in the four municipalities, which included the identification of the priority areas for establishment of the plantations, target of the “sustainable production” component previously addressed. The data of 1,000 properties/possessions were inserted into the state system, called Amazonas Environmental Control System (Scaam) and managed by Ipaam, generating the Terms of Commitment and Adherence to the CAR (TCA), which corresponds to the first phase of adhesion to the Environmental Regularization Program of Rural Property in the State of Amazonas. It should be emphasized that the insertion of the adhesions into the state system occurred before the CAR Federal System (Sicar).

Impact 2: Actions of the state of Amazonas ensure adaptation of anthropic activities to environmental legislation.

In order to measure the reach of this effect, the indicator that monitors the rate of annual deforestation per shallow cut in the state of Amazonas, verified by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) through satellites, has been chosen:

• Annual deforestation in the state of Amazonas (effectiveness indicator)

The table above shows the evolution of the annual rate of deforestation by shallow cut verified in the state of Amazonas as of 2010, base year of the project (595 km²). Comparing this year to subsequent years, it is observed that, initially, there was a reduction in deforestation rates in the state of Amazonas; however, in later years, deforestation increased, reaching 1,045 km² in 2018 (preliminary data). For the purpose of historical comparison, the two highest rates of deforestation in the state of Amazonas were in 1995 (2,114 km²) and in 2003 (1,550 km²).

Deforestation in the State of Amazonas (2010-2018)

Source: Inpe.

RISKS AND LESSONS LEARNED

The project proved itself to be relevant, having been an important pilot in the CAR theme in the state, mobilizing efforts to develop the agenda of ecological conservation and sustainable production in a region that is strategic to combat deforestation. Nonetheless, weaknesses were observed, leading to the recording of some lessons learned.

Regarding the executive conduction of the project, a central point is the need for attention to administrative transitions, characteristic of initiatives with public entities. Therefore, special care should be taken to record the plans and decisions related to the projects, especially in the transitions between the teams, so as to avoid the loss of information on those occasions. In particular, in the project in question, the complexity of dealing with an inter-institutional arrangement reinforces the demands of articulation and management.

With regard to fieldwork, the Sema has identified that the geographic dispersion of the project may have led to results of lower overall impacts, and that methodological processes applied on a larger scale and with more resources might contribute with a more effective and sustainable response to deforestation in those regions. Methodologically, it was observed that a project of this nature should carry out a participatory socio-environmental diagnosis beforehand focusing on mobilizing local social bases. These would be central elements in an initiative to promote alternative activities of land use with family farmers, in order to motivate the rural producers and make them interested.

SUSTAINABILITY OF RESULTS

The project sought to stimulate the economic attractiveness of activities that keep the standing forest in rural communities in the municipalities of Boca do Acre, Lábrea, Novo Aripuanã and Apuí, which are areas under intense deforestation. To a certain extent, it has succeeded in reaching the commitment of small rural producers with the environmental regularization of their properties and adaptation to the environmental legislation, which, with registration with the CAR, begin to integrate the base under state’s environmental monitoring.

The provision of training, technical assistance, agricultural services and inputs were the pillars for the mobilization of producers in the implementation of SAFs, which, if properly maintained, can be an economically sustainable alternative, generating food, employment and income in the region. The long-term sustainability of the results obtained, however, depends on the continuity of local efforts aligned with the principles of sustainable development, reinforcing the importance of combining production with ecological conservation.

Finally, it is mentioned that, in the period of implementation of the project, there was an increase in the deforestation rate in the state of Amazonas. It is evaluated that, despite the positive effects of the actions supported, the scale of the project was not enough to deal with the intensity of the vectors that cause deforestation in this state. Therefore, new strategies and initiatives should be developed to reverse this tendency that has appeared in recent years, especially because the Amazon conserves more than 97% of its native forests.