CONTEXTUALIZATION

The project was implemented in municipalities in Mato Grosso and Pará, states that recurrently presented the two highest rates of deforestation in the Legal Amazon between 1988 and 2014, despite the downward trend in recent years, according to the National Institute for Space Research data (INPE). The municipalities included in the region the project covers were: Campos de Júlio, Cotriguaçu, Juruena, Nova Mutum, Nova Ubiratã, Sapezal and Tapurah, in the state of Mato Grosso; and Bannach, Cumaru do Norte, Ourilândia do Norte, São Félix do Xingu and Tucumã, in the state of Pará. Mostly, these municipalities are home to economic activities linked to logging, or to livestock and/or soy
production, suffering intense deforestation. 

THE PROJECT

The project fosters activities such as raising awareness, mobilization and integrating players – including state and local governments, associations, trade unions and rural producers. This is to stimulate the implementation of an economic development model based on environmental compliance and socio-environmental sustainability in the territory by fostering the CAR and encouraging environmental regularization for rural properties in seven municipalities within the state of Mato Grosso and five within the state of Pará.

It also encouraged rural producers to adhere to the CAR, geo-referencing approximately 10 million hectares.

INTERVENTION LOGIC

The project falls within the "Monitoring and Control" 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

The main activities were implemented within the scope of the project, as follows:

1. Creating a favorable environment to implement the CAR and an economic development model based on environmental compliance and social and environmental sustainability in the agricultural and cattle-raising sector
   
   The project team raised awareness and carried out mobilization efforts in relation to the CAR with state and municipal government teams, as well as rural producers in the region concerned. They held meetings, seminars, radio campaigns, events in rural communities, while taking part in agricultural fairs to disseminate the topic and answer questions. Furthermore, in the 12 municipalities in the project, rooms were set up to attend rural agricultural producers, where they could solve doubts concerning environmental regularization for their properties and adhere to the CAR.
   
   
2. Putting together technical instruments to foster greater adhesion of rural producers to the CAR
   
   Some 9,985,162 hectares of rural property were geo-referenced in the municipalities in the project (almost reaching the goal of 10 million hectares) and, in the scale of 1:25,000, the digital mapping bases were put together and the use land in 12 municipalities was mapped out. These bases are available for municipalities and state environmental agencies in Pará and Mato Grosso.
   
   
3. Preparing documents and maps to assist the environmental regularization of rural properties
   
   Individualized maps for 16,892 rural properties were put together, identifying the areas for legal reserve and permanent preservation, as well as diagnosing the situation of these aspects for each rural property vis-à-vis the requirements in the new Forest Code (Act Nº. 12,727/2012). Based on these analyses of individual properties, it was possible to provide information for compensation and recovery plans, for both properties and entire municipalities. Also, maps were developed, showing priority areas for restoring legal reserves, in accordance with parameters, such as: existence of forest fragments, respective sizes, forms and distribution, in addition to existence (or not) of permanent preservation areas. Also based on these analyses, recommendations were developed for each of the registered or mapped properties. To assist in forest restoration, a survey of the recommended native species for this purpose was carried out. In the state of Pará, a guide to restoration was published, and, in the state of Mato Grosso, a manual for restoring permanent preservation areas was put together. In the state of Pará, based on the new Forest Code, some 18 Projects to Recover Degraded or Modified Areas (Prada) were prepared, totaling approximately 47,300 hectares.
   
   
4. Developing a system to monitor environmental adjustments to rural properties
   
   For municipalities in the state of Pará, annual deforestation alerts and diagnosis were prepared and sent to municipal environment departments, helping municipalities in following up on and monitoring the information concerning deforestation in their territories. In the case of the municipalities in Mato Grosso, two scenarios were generated: one in 2008 and another in 2011 (year of the images acquired within the scope of the project), allowing a comparison between deforestation on properties in 2011 and that carried out prior to July 22, 2008 (date-base for sanctions related to new deforestations, as established in the new Forest Code). Municipal environmental portals were created on the Internet so that the municipalities could monitor deforestation and forest restoration on their territories. Professionals from technical teams that work in the municipalities received training on how to use this instrument in their daily activities. In the state of Mato Grosso, the portals are working properly, however, in Pará state, only the portal for the municipality of São Felix do Xingu is operational due to difficulties in supplying high-speed internet services in other municipalities. 

INSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE ASPECTS

To carry out said activities, Terms for Technical Cooperation were signed with: (i) Mato Grosso and Pará state environmental agencies; (ii) city councils
for the municipalities the project covers; (iii) representative entities for
rural producers in the 12 municipalities the project covers; (iv) Pará Land Institute (ITERPA); and (v) Regional Superintendence for the South of Pará of the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA-SR27).

RESULT AND IMPACT INDICATORS

Main indicators for the project:

• Number and area of rural property registered in the CAR
  Some 11,700 properties adhered to the CAR, totaling 6,980,565 hectares, as demonstrated in tables 1 and 2: 
  
  
   

• Number and area of geo-referenced rural properties
  Some 16,892 rural properties in the 12 municipalities were geo-referenced, covering an area of 9,985,162 hectares (97% of the total registable area), preparing 16,892 individualized maps that identify the legal reserves and permanent preservation areas of these properties.
  
  

• Number of municipal mapping bases prepared
  Mapping bases for the 12 municipalities in the project were prepared and made available.
  
  

• Number of maps prepared with priority areas for restoring legal reserves
  Maps with priority areas for restoring legal reserves in the 12 municipalities in the project were prepared and made available.
  
  
• Number of maps prepared indicating the areas with legal reserve deficits and surplus
  Maps were prepared and provided to guide the compensation policies for legal reserves, showing the legal reserves areas with deficits and surplus in the 12 municipalities the project covers.
  
  

• Area deforested in the 12 municipalities the project covers
  Table 3 presents the deforestation rate in the 12 municipalities throughout the implementation of the project. Despite the increasing deforestation rate in six of the 12 municipalities (18.7 km2 of total additional deforestation), in the aggregate for the 12 municipalities, a 244.2 km2 fall was noted in the annual deforested area, representing a 41% drop in the deforestation rate.

SUSTAINABILITY OF RESULTS

The Going Green project contributed not only to a significant fall in the deforestation rate in the group of municipalities (41%), but also to the preparation of instruments that benefited municipalities could use to monitor and formulate public policies for their territories. It also helped train technical teams in municipal environment departments to work with geo-technology and provided support for producers to environmentally regularizetheir properties.