29/03/2010 - Despite
the steep increase of the vehicle fleet
in Brazil (estimated at around 36 million
vehicles), the emissions of pollutant gases
have fallen in the country. This is the
conclusion of the 1st National On-road Vehicles
Emission Inventory, launched on March 25
at the National Petroleum Agency, in Rio
de Janeiro.
The document states
that the transport sector is the one that
causes most relevant impacts on air quality,
and that on-road vehicles are responsible
for 90% of emissions of pollutants and CO2.
The minister of the Environment, Carlos
Minc, said that the document will guide
public policies aimed at improving air quality.
According to the minister,
users and consumers can also collaborate
to improve air quality. "They can choose
less polluting vehicles, use alternative
transport and require that the government
take effective measures to provide an integrated
transport system in big cities", he
said.
According to the manager
of Air Quality at the Ministry of the Environment
(MMA), Rudolf Noronha, the reduction in
the emissions of pollutant gases demonstrates
the success of the programs to control vehicle
pollution that have been implemented by
the government.
The inventory shows
the emissions of the following pollutants:
carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx),
non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC), aldehydes
(RHCO), particulate material (PM) and evaporative
emissions, besides greenhouse gases like
carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4).
The Secretary of Climate
Change, Suzana Khan, said that the inventory
is the starting point for the National Plan
on Air Quality, which will contribute to
achieving the goals stipulated in the National
Plan on Climate Change.
At the ceremony, the
minister signed an ordinance that will extend
the activities of the Working Group (GT)
responsible for preparing the National Inventory.
The WG is comprised of eight institutions:
MMA, IBAMA, ANP, ANTT, Petrobras, Anfavea,
Cetesb and IEMA.
The WG will work, until
December, to draw up inventories of the
10 largest metropolitan regions in Brazil:
Porto Alegre, Curitiba, São Paulo,
Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Brasília,
Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza and Belém.
+ More
Brazil: US$ 13 million
GEF Grant for Biodiversity Conservation
in the Cerrado
22/03/2010 - Press Office
of the World Bank in Washington (USA) -
The World Bank Board of Executive Directors
approved on March 18 a US$ 13 million grant
from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF)
for the Sustainable Cerrado Initiative,
which seeks to guarantee the conservation
of the most biodiverse savanna in the world,
which covers nearly 25% of the Brazilian
territory. The grant will be implemented
by the federal and state governments, with
World Bank support.
"The Sustainable
Cerrado Initiative is a good opportunity
for the environment. This US$ 13 million
grant from GEF for the first phase of the
initiative will be crucial for the Brazilian
Ministry of the Environment to monitor the
Cerrado, implement sustainable policies
for the entire biome and for the Chico Mendes
Institute to create and implement protected
areas. For all these initiatives there will
be US$ 29 million in co-financing from the
governments and other agencies", said
Carlos Minc, Minister of the Environment.
The Minister added that
"this initiative comes at a time when
the Ministry released the Cerrado deforestation
data, based on which the climate policy
established a target for reducing deforestation
in the Cerrado. This is a target announced
at COP-15 by Brazil and detailed when we
launched the plan to combat fires and deforestation
in the Cerrado".
"Therefore, this
GEF grant comes in a good juncture. The
programs are ready; there are several initiatives,
such as management practices, with 400 trained
farmers. Hence, these funds came at a right
time, and will certainly be put for good
use. We want Brazil to protect all biomes,
not just the Amazon", said the Minister.
The Cerrado is a unique
type of tropical savanna which harbors over
12.000 species of plants and a couple of
thousands of species of mammals, birds,
reptiles, amphibians and freshwater fish.
Recent studies, however, have shown that
the biome is under stress due to high deforestation
rates, an average of 1.4 million hectares
yearly (a rate of 0.7%/year). It is estimated
that about 48% of the Cerrado has already
been lost. If the current trend continues,
the biome could disappear by 2085.
"The Sustainable
Cerrado Initiative will effectively contribute
to Brazil's conservation policy for the
biome by increasing the number of protected
areas, promoting the sustainable use and
the conservation of rural landscape, and
contributing to a more sustainable land
management, to the protection of forests
and biodiversity and to greater social inclusion",
said Makhtar Diop, World Bank Director for
Brazil.
The Initiative will
support four coordinated projects: The Cerrado
Policy and Biome Monitoring Project of the
Brazilian Ministry of the Environment (US$
4 million); the Tocantins Sustainable Cerrado
Project (US$ 3 million); the Goiás
Sustainable Cerrado Project (US$ 3 million);
and the Cerrado Biodiversity Protection
Project of the Chico Mendes Institute for
Biodiversity Conservation (US$ 3 million,
which will be approved over the next weeks).
The Sustainable Cerrado
Initiative brings an innovative approach
to the conservation and sustainable use
of this biome which faces several conservation
and development challenges. This Initiative
will enable local communities, civil society
and the private sector to participate actively
in policy formulation and implementation
for the effective environmental management
of the Cerrado, bringing transparency and
accountability", said Garo Batmanian,
World Bank Project Manager.
The expected results
of these four projects are:
- An increase in the
mosaic of legally protected areas of unique
biodiversity in the Cerrado.
- A more sustainable
use of the biome's natural resources including
native species by the by medium, large and
small farmers, and local communities.
- Generation of new
public policies for the conservation and
sustainable use of the Cerrado, as well
natural resources management.
- Monitor the biome's
status to ensure the effective implementation
of the Initiative by creating a public database
containing current geophysical, social and
environmental information.
