CONTEXTUALIZATION

The Rural Environmental Registration (CAR) consists of electronically registering geo-referenced area information on rural properties, delimiting the Permanent Protection Areas (APP), Legal Reserves (RL), any remaining native vegetation, the consolidated rural area, areas of social interest and those for public use, aimed at designing a digital map to calculate the values of areas for environmental diagnosis.

With the enactment of the new Forest Code (Act Nº 12,651/2012), the CAR was instituted as a nationwide public electronic registration that is mandatory for all rural properties, aimed at integrating environmental information on rural properties and bailments (temporarily-owned land), building a database for environmental and economic control, monitoring, planning, as well as combating deforestation.

In the state of Bahia, the Rural Environmental Registration has been undergoing implementation since 2012, using the name State Forest Registration of Rural Property (CEFIR), as established in the State Law Nº 10,431, of December 20, 2006.

The CAR in the state of Bahia, besides meeting the requirements established in the new code, includes the request for environmental licensing and the right to use water resources. The state plans for the CAR to become an instrument which receives and approves all permits that require authorization from an environmental organ.

The project in question is part of the state’s strategy to implement the CAR, as it aims to help the enrollment of 136,000 rural properties of up to four government-established land modules (all state have different measurements), as well as improving infrastructure and training public agents.

THE PROJECT

The project aims to help implement the Rural Environmental Registration (CAR) in the state of Bahia and is structured into two components:

• improving infrastructure and training public agents to implement and manage the CAR, and
• promoting and supporting enrollment in the CAR.

Support for the first component will entail acquiring satellite images and IT equipment, developing an offline registration tool, and training public agents. Support for the second component involves hiring outsourced services to register rural properties of up to four government-established land modules (all state have different measurements), as well as communications and mobilization efforts.

INTERVENTION LOGIC

The project falls within the "Monitoring and Control" (2) component of the Amazon Fund's Logical Framework.

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 CONDUCTED

As part of government actions to ensure the compliance of human activities with environmental legislation in the State of Bahia, 26,940 environmental authorizations or licenses were granted. Additionally, 351 decentralization agreements were signed with municipalities, and 17 advanced posts of State Environmental Agencies were established.

Training sessions were conducted in various municipalities of the state of Bahia, with the participation of 1,904 public agents, of which 755 were women. The training content included the use of geotechnologies by the coordination team for the registration of rural properties in the State Environmental Information and Water Resources System (SEIA), as well as the validation and monitoring processes of the CARs (Rural Environmental Registry).

The infrastructure of the Institute of Environment and Water Resources (Inema) was strengthened through the acquisition of IT equipment to expand data storage and processing capacity, and to reduce the risks of system unavailability for SEIA/Cefir (State Forest Registry of Rural Properties).

Services were also contracted for access to an online repository of images, allowing for the visualization, download, and publication of areas of interest to the project, with a resolution of 1.2 meters, aiming to facilitate remote registration and auditing of these registries.

A total of 372,294 rural properties of up to 4 fiscal modules were mapped with georeferenced data for CAR purposes in the 392 municipalities prioritized by the project, covering an area of 3,258,232 hectares.

To carry out the registration of 307 territories belonging to Quilombola Communities in CEFIR, a public call was made, and Collaboration Agreements were subsequently signed with the Assuruá Center (CAA), the Center for Cooperatives and Solidarity Enterprises of the State of Bahia (UNISOL), and the Community Organization Movement (MOC). The project also established a partnership with the Regional Development and Action Company (CAR), a public company belonging to the indirect administration of the State of Bahia, to exchange experiences related to the subject.