11/05/2010 -
From the Press Office of the World Bank
in Washington
The World Bank approved on May 6 a US$ 6
million grant to the Sustainable Cerrado
Initiative. This is the second and final
part of a total US$ 13 million Global Environmental
Facility (GEF) grant, which seeks to guarantee
the conservation of the most biodiverse
savanna in the world and that covers nearly
25% of the Brazilian territory. The first
part of the grant, of US$ 7 million, was
approved in March.
"It is with great
joy that we received the news of the allocation
of US$ 6 million from the Global Environment
Facility, in a partnership with the World
Bank, for the protection and conservation
of the Cerrado in Brazil. This is an important
biome for our country and for the planet,
not only from the standpoint of its biodiversity
conservation, but also due to our responsibility
to meet the target of reducing emissions
associated with illegal deforestation",
said Izabella Teixeira, Environment Minister.
The Minister added that
this new grant will enable the Brazilian
Ministry of Environment to have more resources
to advance on the Plan to Prevent and Control
Illegal Deforestation in the Cerrado as
well to invest on associated programs for
biodiversity adaptation and conservation,
not only at the Federal level, particularly
with projects from the Chico Mendes Institute
for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio),
but also at the state level by supporting
initiatives such as the Tocantins Sustainable
Cerrado Project, recently approved, and
the Goiás Sustainable Cerrado Project.
The initiative, to be
implemented by the Brazil's federal and
state governments, with the World Bank support,
comprises four coordinated projects: The
Goiás Sustainable Project with the
Brazilian state of Goiás (US$ 3 million)
and the Cerrado Biodiversity Project of
the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity
Conservation - ICMBio (US$ 3million), both
approved on May 6; the Cerrado Policy and
Biome Monitoring Project of the Brazilian
Environment Ministry (US$ 4 million); and
the Tocantins Sustainable Cerrado Project,
with the state of Tocantins, approved last
March.
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 deforestation
rates of about 1.4 million hectares annually
(almost twice the current Amazon deforestation
rate), resulting in about 48% of the Cerrado
having already been lost.
"With the approval
of this grant we inaugurate the first phase
of the Sustainable Cerrado Initiative. These
four projects, combined under a single umbrella,
will foster the cooperation among federal,
states governments and institutions and
ensure concerted actions to achieve this
long-standing goal of the biome's conservation
and the sustainable use of its resources
by local communities", said Makhtar
Diop, World Bank Director for Brazil.
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 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.
For additional information
about this project, click here.
For more information
on the World Bank in Brazil, please visit:
http://www.worldbank.org/br
+ More
Gulf of Mexico oil spill
encourages preventive strategies in Brazil
10/05/2010 - Aiming
to avoid an environmental disaster in Brazil
as occurred in the Gulf of Mexico last month,
the minister of the Environment, Izabella
Teixeira, met the secretary of State for
the Environment, Marilene Ramos, on Friday
(May 7) in Rio de Janeiro to discuss prevention
strategies for oil extraction in the country.
Experts from the Navy, INEA, IBAMA and Petrobras
also attended the meeting.
To achieve the prevention
and the mapping of risks on the oil rigs
in Brazil, five working groups were formed.
Among other initiatives it is expected the
consolidation of a national contingency
plan, the creation of a crisis committee
and the regulation of the use of new technologies
to control oil spills.
According to the minister
Izabella, a team from the Brazilian Institute
of Petroleum (IBP) has been sent to Mexico.
The group will monitor the work and the
technology used to minimize the impact caused
by the disaster, and should bring to Brazil
the result of these experiences.
The minister said that
technicians from IBAMA, INEA and IBP will
prepare a study to improve methods of environmental
risk assessment, which will be incorporated
in the environmental licensing process.
"We intend to improve the exchange
of information among environmental agencies
to establish criteria for accident prevention.
We will also study the feasibility of regulating
the use of new technologies to control oil
spills", explained Izabella.
