Green Municipality Programs: Activities and Results 2013 Green Municipality Programs Activities and Results 2013
Production Communications Office – ASCOM/PMV
Texts Raphael Pacheco
Text Editing and Revisions Ana Lúcia Muniz, Justiniano Netto and Marussia Whately
Photos Diego Andrade, Marussia Whately and Raphael Pacheco
Editorial Design Ana Cristina Silveira / AnaCê Design
Financial Support Institute of People and the Environment of the Amazon (Imazon) and Climate and Land Use Organization (Clua) – Clua Imazon Project
Special Secretariat for Coordinating the Green Municipality Programs – SEPMV
Team Alessandra Zagallo (SEPMV/Cabinet Adviser), Ana Lúcia Muniz (SEPMV/ Environmental and Land Planning Adviser), Bruno Marianno (Imazon Consultant/ Support for PMV), Camilla Miranda (SEPMV/Institutional Articulation Coordinator), Denys Pereira (SEPMV/ Sustainable Production Coordinator), Felipe Lopes (SEPMV/Legal Coordinator), Gustavo Furini (SEPMV/Environmental and Land Planning Coordinator), Julianna Marruás (SEPMV/Head of Cabinet), Julianne Moutinho (SEPMV/Environmental Management Coordinator), Justiniano de Queiroz Netto (SEPMV/Special Secretary), Maíra Começanha (SEPMV/Budget Coordinator), Marussia Whately (Imazon Consultant Imazon/ Support for PMV), Raimundo Amaral Jr. (SEPMV/Institutional Articulation Adviser), Raphael Pacheco (SEPMV/Communications Adviser). Activities and Results 2013
he Green Municipality Programs (PMV) is a Pará State Govern- ment program, launched in 2011 and developed in partnership with Tmunicipalities, civil society, private enterprise, Ibama, and Federal and State Public Prosecution Services, for the purpose of fi ghting defor- estation and strengthening sustainable production through strategic actions in environmental and land title planning, and environmental management, with a focus on local pacts, monitoring of deforestation, implanting the Ru- ral Environmental Registry (CAR) and structuring municipal management.
The Program has some principal goals:
a) Reduce deforestation until reaching zero net deforestation1, by 2020;
b) Remove all Pará municipalities from the list of largest deforesters in the Amazon prepared by the Ministry of the Environment;
c) Increase the properties recorded in the Rural Environmental Registry – CAR, reaching 80% of the recordable area in the State by 2015;
d) Engage at least 100 municipalities in the Programby the end of 2014.
Since being created, the PMV has achieved signifi cantly positive re- sults. The year 2013 was the stage for several actions contributing to this. We may note:
1 Zero net deforestation pressuposes that the forest restoration process will be equal to or less than the deforestation existing in the State.
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1. Leaving the list of deforesters
In 2013, two Pará municipalities were removed from the list maintained by the Ministry of the Environment: Tailândia and Brasil Novo, who met the criteria for removal (reduction of deforestation and increase with CAR) and began to be considered municipalities with deforestation monitored and under control. The two municipalities now join Santana do Araguaia, Ulianópolis and Dom Eliseu – who left in 2012 – and Paragominas, which was the fi rst to leave, in 2010. With these six municipalities, Pará is the Bra- zilian state that has removed the most municipalities from the MMA list.
With the departure of Tailândia and Brasil Novo and no new entry in 2013, the State has 13 municipalities embargoed, fi ve of them with major chances of leaving the list in 2014 because they presented deforestation below 40 km² and a signifi cant part of their territories registered with CAR. They are: Santa Maria das Barreiras, Rondon do Pará, Pacajá, Anapú and Moju.
Secretary Justiniano Netto and Brasil Novo Mayor Marina Sperotto sign the pact for sustainability.
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Belém mayor Zenaldo Coutinho signs the the agreement in which the Pará state capital adheres to the PMV during the 9th meeting of Coges. 2. Adherence and Local pacts
Anticipating the goal set for 2014, the PMV passed the mark of 100 mu- nicipalities in 2013, and closed out the year with a mark of 102 municipal- ities. There were nine municipalities joining in 2013: Barcarena, Bragança, Belém, Capitão Poço, Ourém, São Sebastião da Boa Vista, Terra Alta, Mo- juí dos Campos and Cachoeira do Arari.
After adhering to the PMV, one of the goals that the municipalities need to meet is to achieve a local pact against deforestation, a moment when representatives of civil society, rural producers and various entities assume a public commitment to fi ght deforestation and promoted deforestation sus- tainable development in their territory. In 2013, fi ve municipalities signed local pacts with participation by the PMV: Brasil Novo, Ourém, Moju, San- tarém and Terra Alta.
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3. Rural Environmental Registry
In 2013, Pará placed 36,982 thousand rural properties in the Rural Envi- ronmental Registry (CAR), which corresponds to a 54.3% increase in rela- tion to the number of properties registered in 2012. At the end of 2013, Pará already had more than 105 thousand rural properties registered, while at the end of 2012, that number was slightly over 68 thousand properties.
With regard to the area registered, the advance represented 1.5 million hectares and reached a total of 35.2 million, which represents slightly more than 60% of the registerable area in the State.
The numbers demonstrate that CAR is increasingly reaching small rural producers and family farmers who have properties with areas of up to 4 fi scal modules. Sema, Emater, Rural Pará Program, Ministry of the Envi- ronment and several other institutions have united their efforts to promote CAR with small producers. One good example was the work developed during the last quarter of 2013 in the municipalities of Moju and Tailândia, through the Rural Pará Program with funds from the World Bank, which did more than one thousand fi ve hundred registrations with small produc- ers who had areas of up to 300 hectares.
Evolution of CAR in the State of Pará
Number of Rural Properties Area Placed in CAR (ha)
120.000 40.000.000
100.000 35.000.000 30.000.000 80.000 25.000.000
60.000 20.000.000
15.000.000 40.000 10.000.000 20.000 5.000.000 0 0 Até 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Até 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
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4. State campaign for encouraging CAR and ghting deforestation
The State Government through PMV launched the State Campaign Against Deforestation in 2013 with the slogan “Produce without Deforesting. Start seeing this as good business,” for the purpose of raising awareness among rural producers on the advantages of environmental adjustment. Besides sensi- tizing producers regarding the disadvantages of illegal deforestation, the cam- paign focused on promoting adhesion of rural producers with the Rural Envi- ronmental Registry (CAR), a tool that is the fi rst step towards environmental regularization or adjustment. With CAR, municipal and state governments will be able to support licensing and environmental regularity, as well as enabling concession of rural credit, improving productivity, beginning land title regular- ization and providing access to new markets.
The Campaign was launched in Belém in May 2013 and run throughout the State. The PMV traveled throughout a number of municipalities during the year, taking the message and materials from the campaign to local producers and managers. Events were held in the municipalities of Altamira, Brasil Novo, Novo Progresso and Santarém, and throughout the entire southern part of Pará, in the municipalities of Tucumã, São Félix do Xingu, Ourilândia do Norte, Água Azul do Norte, Rio Maria, Xinguara, Sapucaia, Eldorado dos Carajás and Marabá, through the Production Caravan, which brought together state secretaries and government technicians in visiting the municipalities.
Placards produced for the Campaign, which visited several municipalities in the State, promoting registration with CAR and the fi ght against deforestation.
7 Activities and Results 2013
An exclusive site was launched to disseminate important information related to the campaign: www.car.pa.gov.br. 5. ICMS (sales tax) as a tool for ghting deforestation
In June 2013 Pará launched the Green ICMS that included the environmental variable for transferring the state tax to Pará municipalities. The Pará Govern- ment innovated in choosing criteria for defi ning the amounts to be transferred and established the following indicators:
1. reduction in as deforestation rates (weight of 25% of the transfer); 2. percentage of protected areas in municipal territory (weight of 25% of the transfer); 3. and percentage of municipal area registered with CAR (weight of 50% of the transfer).
In 2014, it is estimated that around 35 million Reals will be transferred to the municipalities through the Green ICMS, which represents 2% of the total transfer of transfer ICMS. Since the Green ICMS is progressive, its share of the total ICMS is cumulative, so that in 2017 it will be 8% of the Total ICMS, reaching an amount estimated at R$ 140 million reals for transfer. 6. Important Decrees
In 2013 Governor Simão Jatene signed some important decrees that fa- cilitate a series of incentives for producers and also for Pará municipalities that are part of the PMV, including Decree 739, which creates a special process for land title regularization, for the purpose of expediting titling of properties and facilitating greater access to credit when there has been envi- ronmental planning; and Decree 740, which prioritizes support, incentives and actions for municipalities that fulfi ll the goals established by the PMV. The decree determines that state agencies should prioritize application of public funds coming from programs, projects or investments that stimulate sustainable socioeconomic development.
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Besides the two decrees already cited the State Government, through the PMV, also published Decree 838 for the purpose of halting the speculative deforestation process identifi ed in the southwest region. The decree estab- lishes an administrative limitation on areas illegally deforested in the State of Pará, forbidding public agencies to provide them with licenses, authori- zations, services or other types of benefi ts that can enable functioning of activities that cause deforestation. 7. Strengthening and interiorizing the Management Committee and new partnerships
In 2013 fi ve meetings of the Management Committee were held, two in Belém (May and September) and three in the hinterland: Santarém (March), Altamira (July) and Marabá (November). The meetings, as well as being mo-
8the meeting of Coges, the fi rst in 2013, held in the municipality of Santarém.
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10the meeting of Coges, held in Altamira.
ments for strategic discussions and decisions, were the stage for major events in 2013, such as adhesion of the municipalities of Belém and Santarém to the PMV, and the launch and interiorizing of the “Produce without Deforesting. Start seeing this as good business” campaign, the signature of decrees that guar- antee prioritization of State actions for municipalities in the PMV and Decree 838 as an important strategy against speculative deforestation in the State.
New partnerships were also signed in 2013; one of them was the signing of a Cooperation Agreement with Incra – National Institute for Coloni- zation and Agrarian Reform, with a view to environmental planning in the land reform settlements that account for more than 20% of deforestation in Pará. The agreement also seeks to strengthen the current program of actions against deforestation carried out by Incra, known as “Green Settle- ments,” based on a plan for preventing, fi ghting and providing alternatives for illegal deforestation in settlements in the Legal Amazon.
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Besides the agreement with INCRA, the State Government represented by PMV and by the State Environmental Secretariat (Sema), and the Min- istry for the Environment (MMA) in 2013 signed a Forest Management Agreement that seeks to integrate control systems at the two levels in order to guarantee greater transparency and safety in operations involv- ing logging and sale of timber harvested in Pará.
New partnerships were also articulated in 2013, such as the preparation of a future cooperation agreement between PMV and the State Public Prosecution Service (MPE), with a strategy of articulation and action by attorneys in the municipalities so that these will meet environmental crite- ria and move forward with the Pará agenda for sustainability Pará.
In November 2013, PMV participated in the FEICORTE 2013 Circuit, promoted in partnership with the Rural Producers Union of Parago- minas (SPRP), where it presented the process for environmental adjust- ment of rural properties to Pará producers, which is based on simplifi ca- tion and decentralization of environmental management. 8. Regulating the New Forest Code in Pará
In 2013 the State Environmental Secretariat (SEMA) and PMV began the process of regulating the New Forest Code (Law 12.651/2012) in Pará as a strategy for enabling environmental adjustment for rural properties in Pará. Among the actions was the contracting by Sema and the Rural Pará Program of a specialized consultancy in environmental issues to prepare a legal study with a view to updating Pará legislation in relation to the new law; and also a second consultancy – funded by the Ministry of the Environment, with re- sources from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and European Union – to begin the work of regulating and implementing the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA) in the State.
The PMV also promoted, in partnership with the Institute for Environ- mental Research in the Amazon (IPAM), a seminar dealing with regulation
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of the new code on the issue of economic incentives. During the seminar, studies were presented on state systems for payment for environmental ser- vices, and projects and laws on tax and economic incentives for sustainable rural properties. 9. Development of projects and partnerships
. CLUA IMAZON PROJECT
Begun in 2012, the Project in partnership between the Institute of People and the Environment of the Amazon (Imazon) and the Climate and Land Use Alliance (Clua) – Clua Imazon Project – implemented its activities in 2013, including:
Holding of workshops for capacity-building and strengthening environmental management in 11 Pará municipalities: Altamira, Brasil Novo, Dom Eliseu, Marabá, Novo Progresso, Novo Repartimento, Paragominas, Santana do Araguaia, São Felix do Xingu, Tailândia and Santarém;
Production of an Information and Indicators Database and improvement of the PMV site, available at http://www.municipiosverdes.with.br ;
Preparation of a diagnosis and proposals for improving environmental management in the State do Pará;
Consolidation and launch of the publication “Green Municipality Programs: Lessons Learned and Challenges for 2013/2014”;
Holding of a capacity-building course in Licensing of Rural Activities; Preparation of two Guides (expected to be launched in February 2014):
Environmental management, with a focus on environmental control; and Licensing of Rural Activities.
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Top: Workshop in partnership with the Clua Imazon Project, held in Novo Repartimento. Above: Municipal environmental secretaries and environmental technicians participating in the 1st Capacity-building course in LAR, held in November 2013.
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. AMAZON FUND
The National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) in December 2013 announced the approval of a Project presented by the PMV in the amount of R$ 82.4 million, which will be directed towards supporting the fi ght against deforestation and forest degradation in Pará through con- solidating the Rural Environmental Registry and strengthening municipal environmental management. With the funds to be transferred during the 30 months of the Project, the PMV will have the challenge of promoting the engagement of 100 Pará municipalities in order to meet their goals of structuring decentralized and integrated environmental management sys- tems and creating bases for encouraging environments for businesses that favor sustainable development in Pará.
. FIP AMAZON
The PMV has articulated the entry of the State Bank of Pará (Ban- pará) into the fi rst venture capital fund in the Amazon in partnership with BNDES, directed to invest R$ 100 million in businesses and enterprises that contribute towards sustainable development in the Legal Amazon region. 10. International dissemination and awards
. . CINDRA PRIZE FOR DEVELOPMENT JÚLIO REDECKER MEDAL
The Committee on the Amazon, National Integration and Regional Development (Cindra) of the Federal House of Representatives, with support from the Confederation of Industry (CNI), in November 2013, awarded the Green Municipality Programs (PMV) the CINDRA Prize for Development – Júlio Redecker Medal. According to the organiza- tion of the event, the PMV was honored because of its goal of change the deforestation scenario in the State, based on strengthening a stron- ger and more sustainable economic model, in a pact made up of public, private and non-governmental entities.
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. . INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC DELEGATIONS
The Program has also achieved national and international recognition as an initiative that has contributed to the fi ght against deforestation through- out the Amazon. The PMV received two international delegations in 2013. In April, representatives from Indonesia were in Pará to evaluate PMV actions and learn about initiative in Pará for promoting sustainable development. In December, in working in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the PMV also received a visit from a Colombian delegation to learn about the Program, fi nd out how the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) operates and also about engagement actions by participating municipalities.
In September, the organization Climate and Land use Alliance (CLUA) held the annual meeting of its network in Belém and Paragominas and the PMV promoted an event during the meeting to present its results and dis- cuss advances and challenges for the coming years.
Delegation from Indonesia in Pará to learn about the PMV experience in the fi ght against deforestation.
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. . INTERNATIONAL PROFILE
The action of the PMV as an initiative of the State Government against deforestation was highlighted in the special edition on biodiversity in Sep- tember of the magazine The Economist, one of the world’s most infl uential business magazines. The news article noted Brazil’s advances in fi ghting de- forestation and the contribution of Paragominas and Pará towards achiev- ing the positive results.
Brazil’s conversion Trees of knowledge How Brazil is using education, technology and politics to save its rainforest
In 2011 Simão Jatene, Pará’s newly elected governor, decided to replicate Paragominas’s achievements around the state. Central to this e.ort is the Cadastro Ambiental Rural (CAR), the rural environmental registry.
Brazil’s success - so far - demonstrates how many elements have to come together to make such policies work. You need clear direction not just at the top but all the way through government.
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Principal Indicators for the PMV
Jan/2013 Jan/2014 Adherence to PMV 95 102 Pacts for fi ghting deforestation and 32 37 promoting sustainable development Group for fi ghting deforestation and 12 17 promoting sustainable development Municipalities with occurrence of 49 36 SAD/IMAZON deforestation spots* Municipalities that have done verifi cation – 12 of deforestation spots in the fi eld* Municipalities that present deforestation greater 11 9 than 40Km2 (PRODES 2012/2013) Municipalities that are part of the MMA list 15 13 of top deforesters in the Amazon Municipalities that have gotten off the MMA list 4 6 Municipalities that have more than 80% 10 23 of their registerable land placed in CAR Municipalities that have from 60 to 79.9% 9 39 of their registerable land placed in CAR Municipalities enable to license activities 46 61 with local impact**
* Up to 2013 PMV had been adopting as the criterion for meeting this goal the question of whether or not the municipality had gone into the fi eld. Beginning in 2014, the intent is to adopt a per- formance rate of at least 50% as the criterion for verifi cation, meaning the number of fi re sports verifi ed over the total identifi ed in the bulletins.
** With resolution COGES/PMV 14/2013, goal 7 – environmental education was substituted by the goal of structuring environmental management, which involves: guaranteeing a minimal technical team for fi ghting deforestation and working with CAR; create an environmental council and fund; develop environmental education actions. These requirements are generally met when the muni- cipality is empowered by SEMA to carry out local impact licensing, which is thus an appropriate indicator for measuring fulfi llment of this goal.
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Situation of deforestation in Pará and in the Amazon
On November 14 2013, the Ministry of the Environment released the es- timate of the annual deforestation rate measured by Prodes, the Project for Monitoring Deforestation in the Amazon, which indicated 5,843 km² defo- rested in the Amazon for the period of August 2012 to July 2013 – a 28% increase in relation to the previous estimated, 4,656 km².
According to Prodes, deforestation also rose in Pará, from 1,741 km² to 2,379 km², in the comparison between 2012 and 2013, which corresponds to an increase of 37%, a number higher than the increase for the Amazon as a whole, but below other States, such as Mato Grosso (52%), Roraima (49%) and Maranhão (42%).
Deforestation in the Legal Amazon PRODES (Aug/2012 to Jul/2013)
Legal Amazon Pará Deforestation 5.843 Km2 2.379 Km2 Increase in deforested area 1.272 Km2 638 Km2 2012-2013 In relation to 2011-2012 period 28% 37% In relation to the 2011*-2013 9% 21% period * Year the PMV was created
However, the last fi ve months of 2013, the beginning of the deforestation calendar (August to December), point to a reversal in momentum. Data made available by the INPE System for Detecting Deforestation in Real Time (DE- TER) point to a drop of 30% when comparing August 2012 to January 2013
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(423 km²) and August 2013 and January 2014 (294 km²), a percentage higher than that recorded for all of the states in the Amazon region: 19%.
According to Imazon’s Deforestation Alert System (SAD), during the same period there were also 110 km² of deforestation recorded, while in 2012, the number reached 634 km². In other words, there was an 83% reduction. Even with the growth announced by Prodes, the data for 2013 still represent the second lowest historical rate recorded for the Amazon and Pará, behind only 2012.
In Pará the problem is mostly concentrated in federal areas in the Sou- thwest region of the State and in the land reform settlements, which total more than 70% of the total deforested. The MMA has identifi ed the return of deforestation in large polygons (above 100 hectares) in the southwest of the State and has obtained a commitment from the State Government that such areas will not be regularized.
The deforestation rate in Pará after creation of the PMV, in other words, from 2011 to 2013, recorded a 21% drop, while during the same period in the Amazon as a whole it fell by 9%. “It is necessary to analyze not only the year, but a slightly longer period. In 2008, deforestation had a rebound, the government reacted, and in the following years, it began to drop again,” recalls Justiniano Netto, special secretary for coordinating the PMV. “The im- portant thing is to continue to act, keeping the focus and the united eff orts,” he concludes.
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