On August 27th, a group formed by institutions related to the Jalapão Ecological Corridor Project, JICA, ICMBio, SEMADES, Naturatins, GIZ and CI, visited the headquarters of the Bahia Secretary of Environment (SEMA) to discuss the proposed formation and recognition of a mosaic of protected areas in the Jalapão Region, including also the protected areas located in western Bahia.
The Project Coordinator at ICMBio, Mr. Allan Crema, presented the Jalapão Region Ecological Corridor Project and spoke about the benefits of UC management as a mosaic. "Mosaic is the instrument that makes the SNUC actually become a system, through the interaction between federal, state, municipal and private protected areas, capable of potentiating the actions, expanding the scale of planning and optimizing resources," says Crema.
Mr. Koji Asano, team leader of JICA experts, pointed out that one of the areas under greater pressure from the expansion of agribusiness in the region of the mosaic is located in the state of Bahia.
The Secretary of Environment of the state of Bahia, Mr. Eugenio Spengler, showed great interest in establishing the mosaic including two protected areas managed by INEMA-BA. He also said that the two conservation units from Bahia - APA do Rio Preto and Ecological Station Rio Preto - are extremely important for the conservation of watersheds and underground aquifer Urucuia and emphasized the importance of developing studies and information that may help the Mosaic to dialogue with the productive sector that operates in western Bahia.
After the visit to the Secretary, between August 28th and 29th, representatives from these institutions and managers of protected areas discussed the functioning of integrated mosaic in Jalapão. At the end of the workshop, all documents required to apply for recognition of the Mosaic at MMA were prepared, including the proposed management council and letters of adhesion of the federal, state, municipal and private UCs, duly signed by representatives entitled with the UC’s management. The Mosaic and Ecological Corridors Department of ICMBio will forward these documents to the MMA and the official recognition of the mosaic will be formalized by an act of the Minister of Environment.
Author: James Possapp.
