MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT Secretariat of Biodiversity and Forests Office of the National Program for Biodiversity Conservation FOURTH NATIONAL REPORT TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY BRAZIL COP-10 Special Edition October 2010 FOURTH NATIONAL REPORT TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY: BRAZIL Coordinator Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias Technical Coordination and Final Text Agnes de Lemos Velloso Technical Team Andreina D‟Ayala Valva, Rosana Rezende, Juliana Ferreira Leite, Anthony Gross, Núbia Cristina Bezerra da Silva, Simone Wolff, Verônica Brasil (trainee). ISBN __________ Brazil, Ministry of the Environment. Office of the National Program for Biodiversity Conservation - DCBio. Fourth National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity: Brazil. Brasília: Ministry of the Environment, 2010. 1. Biodiversity – Brazil. 2. Convention on Biological Diversity – Brazil. Ministério do Meio Ambiente – MMA Esplanada dos Ministérios – Bloco B Brasília, DF CEP: 70068-900 Secretaria de Biodiversidade e Florestas Diretoria do Programa Nacional de Conservação da Biodiversidade SEPN 505 – Bloco B – Ed. Marie Prendi Cruz Asa Norte Brasília, DF CEP 70730-542 ii PREFACE By adopting the Strategic Plan of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Parties committed to achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national levels. Brazil‟s Fourth National Report to the CBD presents the country‟s progress in the achievement of this global target and the current status of the Brazilian ecosystems and biodiversity. Through a participatory process, Brazil established in 2006 (CONABIO Resolution no 03) its National Biodiversity Targets for 2010, based on the CBD 2010 Targets and in response to its Decision VIII/15. The set of 51 national targets is even more ambitious than the global targets, which are completely addressed by the national targets. Since 2006, numerous public policies and new projects and programs were developed, seeking the achievement of the three objectives of the CBD (biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, and benefit sharing) and addressing its numerous specific themes, such as the conservation of species and ecosystems, the sustainable use of biodiversity, mainstreaming biodiversity themes into different sectors, traditional knowledge, agrobiodiversity, genetic resources, forests, marine ecosystems, among many others. In addition to these instruments, Brazil adjusted its institutional structure, creating a new institution – the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) – to provide a specific focus on conservation to the federal environmental management. ICMBio was given the responsibility for creating and managing protected areas, and defining and implementing strategies for biodiversity conservation, particularly regarding threatened species, protecting the Brazilian natural heritage and promoting the sustainable use of biodiversity in protected areas of sustainable use. Other structures were also created to improve environmental and natural resources management, such as the Brazilian Forest Service, to conciliate the use and conservation of Brazilian public forests, and the National Center for Flora Conservation (CNCFlora), at the Research Institute of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, to periodically update the list of threatened plant species and develop action plans for the conservation of threatened species, among other responsibilities. In 2010, CNCFlora published the Catalogue of Brazilian Flora, updating for the first time in one hundred years the original work of cataloguing the Brazilian flora (Flora Brasiliensis) initiated by naturalist von Martius in 1840 and concluded in 1906. The third Global Biodiversity Outlook published in 2010 by the CBD Secretariat concluded that the objective of reducing the rate of biodiversity loss was not reached at the global level and indicated that none of the 21 global targets was completely achieved, obtaining at most 50% fulfillment of the objectives for some targets. In Brazil, although the progress obtained in the achievement of national biodiversity targets was not homogeneous, two of the 51 targets were fully achieved: the publication of lists and catalogues of Brazilian species (target 1.1) and the reduction by 25% of the number of fire occurrences in each biome (target 4.2), surpassing the achievement of the latter by at least 100% in all biomes, despite the renewed intensification in the occurrence of forest fires in this extremely dry year of 2010. Additionally, four other targets reached 75% achievement: the conservation of at least 30% of the Amazon biome and 10% of the other biomes (target 2.1); increase in iii the investments in studies and research on the sustainable use of biodiversity (target 3.11); increase in the number of patents generated from biodiversity components (target 3.12); and reduction by 75% in the Amazon deforestation rate (target 4.1). Although it is still necessary to develop a more encompassing monitoring system capable of providing a more accurate measure of the progress and that allows quantitative analyses of the achievement of all national targets, information currently available indicate that, while notable progress was obtained for several targets, for various other targets the progress was merely modest. The direct protection of habitats is among the most significant achievements, due to the marked effort to increase the number and extension of protected areas in the country. Under this theme, according to the third Global Biodiversity Outlook, Brazil is responsible for the protection of almost 75% of all hectares conserved in protected areas established around the world since 2003. Another significant national progress is related to biome monitoring: increasing the scope of the excellent work developed since 1988 in the Amazon and since 1985 in the Atlantic Forest, in 2002 Brazil started to monitor vegetation cover in all biomes, which will allow the continuous enhancement of strategies to combat illegal deforestation. Important progress was also obtained for themes related to increasing knowledge on biodiversity and increasing investments in sustainable use practices involving biodiversity components. The 2010 launching, by the National Scientific and Technological Research Council (CNPq) in partnership with other research support agencies, of the National Biodiversity Research System – SISBIOTA is noteworthy among the investments in biodiversity research, with a more than R$ 50 million (approximately US$ 30 million) budget. SISBIOTA seeks to promote scientific research to increase knowledge and understanding of Brazilian biodiversity and to enhance the capacity to forecast responses to global change, particularly related to land use and land cover change as well as climate change, associating the capacity building of human resources to environmental education and the dissemination of scientific knowledge. However, it must be recognized that the country presented insufficient progress regarding other themes, particularly those related to alien invasive species, recovery of fish stocks, and benefit sharing and regulated access to genetic resources. The country needs to significantly increase its efforts related to biodiversity, particularly regarding the national target themes where modest progress was achieved in the past 10 years. We expect that, based on a COP-10 decision in Nagoya, Brazil will be able to update its national targets and increase its efforts invested in the implementation of its national and international biodiversity commitments. This report identifies the main challenges encountered by the country, including those that still remain on the path of the national implementation efforts. To overcome them, among other factors it is necessary to further advance international cooperation and increase the means of support to CBD implementation, including the transfer of financial resources and technology, and the exchange of experiences among Parties to the Convention. It is also necessary to progress in the engagement of consumers and the business sector in the national effort to achieve CBD objectives. iv The Ministry of the Environment acknowledges and expresses its gratitude to all those who contributed to the development of this document. This report gathers a remarkable amount of data on biodiversity, organized in a broad national outlook of the status of Brazilian biodiversity and ecosystems. We hope that this report becomes an important reference to guide efforts supporting biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, as well as the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits resulting from the use of Brazilian genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge. Izabella Mônica Vieira Teixeira Minister of the Environment v FOREWORD Brazil‟s Fourth National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity was prepared in accordance with Article 26 of the Convention and COP decision VIII/14. The structure of the report is based on the Guidelines for the Fourth National Report published by the Convention. The proposed guidelines required the collection of a large volume of information and analyses, particularly given Brazil‟s status of mega-diverse country of continental size. Additionally, much of the information needed for the report is still dispersed and/or difficult to access, both among the various institutions and within them. Although this reflects the need for greater investment in the systematization