Meetings with municipalities of the Jalapão Region Ecological Corridor marked the returning to the Tocantins State of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency – JICA’s head of experts, Koji Asano. The main topic discussed with local environmental council and schoolteachers was the definition of an activities’ plan for 2012.
In Ponte Alta do Tocantins JICA team met the Secretary of Tourism, Rafaela, and other members of the Environmental Council. Selene ???, JICA’s expert for the promotion of local capacities, highlighted the activities for institutional strengthening carried out in the first two years of the project and suggested the selection of actions according to document signed with the Center for Operational Support to the Environment – (CAOMA in Portuguese) from the State Prosecutor's Office. (MPE)
“The project has been working for two years for the establishment of the environmental council which is the key actor for environmental ??? of municipalities. This is ??? focus an actual model activities wich can assist council members to develop their technical and administrative ???.
Teachers from São Felix affirmed they were waiting for the opportunity to implement the project Jalapão ASAs (in Portuguese) - Agents of Environmental Awareness in their schools. Asas is a course for the local teachers that are trained to multiply environmental education to students, who have to perform related activities involving the whole community in the project.
The highlight of the day in São Felix was the Secretary and Council of Tourism and Environment’s proposal to create the first Municipal Conservation Unit of the Tocantins State: the Natural Monument “Canyons e Corredeiras do Rio Sono”. In the meeting was discussed issues related to the process of erosion of the São Felix creek and the search for resources to support the project of integration of the two urban centers of São Felix.
In Rio da Conceição, the council members expressed concern about the garbage in the urban area and what’s left in the touristic attractions. The discussion focused on investments in environmental education. Aquilas Mascarenhas, chief of Ecological Station Serra Geral do Tocantins, also a council member, affirmed that “the Ecological Station’s office in Rio da Conceição is a valuable resource, in terms of technical support, to the community’s projects.”
Autor: James Possapp.
