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Project

Empowering Environmental Monitoring and Control in order to Combat Illegal Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama)

Project official website
Total project value
R$ 56,295,964.63
Total support amount
US$ 17,662,033.20
Concluded

Presentation

Objective

Support Ibama’s environmental inspection and deforestation control activities in the Brazilian Amazon

Beneficiary

The entire population of the Brazilian Amazon

Territorial scope

The entire Brazilian Amazon

Description

CONTEXT

Since the creation of the Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon (PPCDAm), Brazil has managed to considerably reduce deforestation rates in the Amazon. Its preparation, in 2004, had the collaboration of several ministries, in addition to representatives of civil society and the Amazonian states, and its implementation was coordinated by the Ministry of Environment (MMA).

According to the evaluation of the second phase of the PPCDAm, it was concluded that the drop in deforestation was mainly due to the actions carried out in the environmental monitoring and control axis, among which the environmental inspection actions carried out by Ibama stand out.

Environmental inspection activities require appropriate means of transport for this type of operation in the Amazon region, such as: 4x4 pick-up trucks for land activities and helicopters for aerial activities.

Historically, Ibama had these resources and carried out its inspection activities with considerable success. However, in recent years the budget of this environmental agency has been reduced by the Federal Government, due to the fiscal situation of the country resulting from the economic recession.

THE PROJECT

Ibama is an independent federal agency, with administrative and financial autonomy, linked to the Ministry of Environment (MMA). The institute has as one of its main tasks the environmental supervision, monitoring and control and the exercise of the power of environmental police.

The project aimed to ensure the execution of inspection activities by Ibama. The resources from the project were used to pay for the rent of trucks and helicopters to be used in field inspection activities. The activities were concentrated in the regions
that suffer the greatest deforestation pressure, according to alerts issued by the Deter system¹, 18 among others.

¹ The Deter is a quick survey of alerts of evidence of alteration of the forest cover in the Amazon, made by Inpe using satellite images.

INTERVENTION LOGIC 

The project is part of the “monitoring and control” component (2) of the Amazon Fund Logical Framework. Its expected direct effect was thus defined: “Ibama structured to conduct activities to suppress environmental crimes in the Amazon.”

Ibama’s structuring through the provision of vehicles and helicopters for environmental monitoring and inspection activities in the Amazon directly contributes to reduce the loss of vegetation cover due to illegal deforestation, directly impacting 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.quadrologico_EN

Evolution

Date of approval 10.19.2016
Date of the contract 11.03.2016
Date of conclusion 06.30.2019
Disbursement period 20 months (from the date the contract was signed)
approval
10.19.2016
award
11.03.2016
conclusion
06.30.2019

Disbursement

date amount
1º disbursements 12.22.2016 R$9,126,512.95
2º disbursements 03.15.2017 R$12,859,266.65
3º disbursements 08.08.2017 R$11,877,401.20
4º disbursements 12.22.2017 R$17,177,825.29
5º disbursements 03.19.2018 R$5,254,958.54
Total amount disbursed R$56,295,964.63

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

100%

ACTIVITIES EXECUTED

The project goal of “strengthening environmental control and monitoring to combat illegal deforestation in the Amazon” aimed to increase the Federal Government’s capacity to prevent environmental crimes and lead to a reduced rate of deforestation
in the Amazon. Such strengthening occurred with the leasing of vehicles and aircraft for monitoring and transport.

The vehicle leasing and aircraft chartering activities were carried out as provided in the project. From October 2016 to May 2018, 175 vehicles were used per month and there were 3,796 hours of flights in the Brazilian Amazon.

Final Evaluation

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: Ibama structured to conduct activities to suppress environmental crimes in the Amazon.

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

  • Number of environmental inspection actions carried out (output indicator)
    Goal: 166 (annual) | Result achieved: 415 (annual)

A total of 691 environmental inspection actions were carried out during the period of approximately one and a half year of project execution (from October 2016 to May 2018). The baseline of this indicator was 166 annual actions, and the goal established aimed to ensure the execution of this same number of inspection actions, considering the conjuncture of budgetary constraints of the Federal Government resulting from economic recession in 2015 and 2016. The number of inspection actions carried out was significantly higher than the expected goal.

  • Number of infringement notices filed by Ibama (outcome indicator)
    Goal: 4,650 (annual) | Result achieved: 3,910 (annual)

The 691 inspection actions carried out by Ibama with the support of the Amazon Fund resulted in 6,516 infringement notices. The baseline of this indicator was 4,650 infringement notices (annual), and the goal set was to achieve that same number. The annualized achieved result was slightly below the expected value.

  • Amount of fines imposed by Ibama for infractions against flora (outcome indicator)
    Goal: R$ 1.6 billion (annual) | Result achieved: R$ 1.9 billion (annual)

The inspection actions resulted in the filing of fines totaling R$ 3,180,226,402.00 The baseline of this indicator was R$ 1.6 billion (annual) and the goal set aimed at achieving this same amount, which was surpassed by the project.

  • Annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
    Baseline: 7,893 km² (2016) | Result achieved: 7,536 km² (2018)

The annual shallow cutting deforestation rate in 2016 (the year prior to the start of the project actions¹) was 7,893 km², while in 2018 this rate was 7,536 km² (year in which the actions supported by the Amazon Fund were completed). There was, therefore, a reduction of approximately 5% in the deforestation rate when compared with baseline and 2018, which indicates that the project actions were effective in containing deforestation in this period.

DEFORESTED AREA IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON

Year

Area (Km²)

2016

7,893

2017

6,947

2018

7,536

Source: BNDES, based on Inpe/Prodes.

Institutional and administrative aspects

Throughout the project execution period there were changes in the Planning, Administration and Logistics Board, in the Environmental Licensing Board, and in the General Coordination of Supervision. However, such changes had no impact
on the implementation of the project since it was under the responsibility of the Environmental Protection Board (Dipro) of Ibama.

Risks and lessons learned

The Amazon Fund does not pay the daily expenses and salaries of public servants. In the supported project, there was no actualization of the risk of Ibama having budgetary insufficiency to pay, with its own resources, other costs involved in the
inspection actions, such as daily expenses for servants in the field.

There was a slight delay in project execution due to the sporadic unavailability of aircraft due to corrective and preventive maintenance or because they were not employed because of unfavorable weather conditions for flight.

Sustainability of the results

The sustainability of the results achieved with the support of the Amazon Fund, given the nature of this project, depends mainly on the continuation of activities to monitor, inspect and suppress illegal deforestation.

In 2018, a new Ibama project was approved by the Amazon Fund, in the amount of R$ 140 million (Profisc I – B project), with the same objective of funding its environmental inspection and deforestation control activities in the Brazilian Amazon.

This new project also aims to provide resources for payment of proper means of transportation for environmental inspection activities of Ibama, through the leasing of trucks and helicopters to be used in field actions. The execution period of this new project extends until 2020.

¹ Annual deforestation rates have been calculated by Inpe for the periods from August to July every year, uninterruptedly, since 1988.

 

Collection

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