IBP1199_09
CONTRIBUTION TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THREATENED TERRESTRIAL FAUNA OF BRAZIL: DATA FROM PETROBRAS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS Marcos A. Basbaum1, Bianca F. Torggler2, Renata A. A. Fonseca3, Renato Fernandes4, Ricardo Z. P. Guimarães5
Copyright 2009, Brazilian Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Institute - IBP This Technical Paper was prepared for presentation at the Rio Pipeline Conference and Exposition 2009, held between September, 22-24, 2009, in Rio de Janeiro. This Technical Paper was selected for presentation by the Technical Committee of the event according to the information contained in the abstract submitted by the author(s). The contents of the Technical Paper, as presented, were not reviewed by IBP. The organizers are not supposed to translate or correct the submitted papers. The material as it is presented, does not necessarily represent Brazilian Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Institute’ opinion, or that of its Members or Representatives. Authors consent to the publication of this Technical Paper in the Rio Pipeline Conference Proceedings.
Abstract
One of the major problems related to the protection of threatened species in Brazil is the current lack of primary data on their occurrence. Petrobras, due to the processes of environmental licensing of new pipelines, held numerous studies on the occurrence of several species. Most of these studies took place in Atlantic Forest remnants located in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Bahia, Sergipe, Alagoas and Pernambuco. This study compared primary data from these Environmental Impact Assessments with the Brazilian list of threatened species published by MMA (Brazilian Ministry of Environment). Many threatened species were recorded in areas where native forest fragments are reduced in number and size, such as those in the Northeastern region.
1. Introduction
A major milestone in the protection of threatened species was published in 1966 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature: the first IUCN red list of plants and animals threatened with extinction. The IUCN lists have been updated periodically, and their criteria have been improved (Marques et al, 2002). In 1973, the United States enacted the Law of endangered species (Endangered Species Act). This law, created to protect threatened species and ecosystems in which they live, also aims to foster the development of recovery plans, and served as a model for several other countries (Primack and Rodrigues, 2001). In Brazil, the former Brazilian Institute for Forestry Development (IBDF) published the first Brazilian list of endangered species in 1968, which, however, included only species of plants (IBDF Regulation 303, May 29, 1968). The first list of Brazilian threatened fauna was published in 1973 (IBDF Regulation 3481, May 31, 1973) and contained 86 species (Marques et al, 2002). The current Brazilian list comprises vertebrates and invertebrates, both terrestrial and water living animals. The criterion for inclusion of species was based on the IUCN and it was published by the Ministry of Environment (MMA) in Normative Instruction 003 (May 26, 2003). In 2008, this list led to the "Red Book of Brazilian Fauna Threatened with Extinction" issued by the MMA (Machado et al, 2008). Machado et al (2008) found that the greatest difficulty in the elaboration of threatened species lists (national or regional) is the lack of basic knowledge on the biota. Thus, this work aims to provide primary data on threatened species recorded in the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) done by Petrobras for the environmental licensing of pipeline projects.
______1 Biologist – [email protected] - SEEBLA in service of PETROBRAS 2 Biologist – [email protected] - PETROBRAS 3 Msc, Biologist – [email protected] - SEEBLA in service of PETROBRAS 4 Biologist – [email protected] - PETROBRAS 5 Biologist – [email protected] - PETROBRAS
Rio Pipeline Conference and Exposition 2009 2. Objective
This study aims to make available the knowledge about threatened species in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) from Petrobras recent pipelines projects.
3. Methods
The survey and selection of data considered nine Environmental Impact Assessments prepared between December 2004 and October 2007. The enterprises surveyed were the gas pipelines Gasbel II, Gasduc III, Pilar- Ipojuca, Gascac, Catú-Carmópolis, Gastau, Paulínia-Jacutinga, Gascav and the São Paulo’s Master Plan of Pipelines, the latter including gas, oil and derivatives pipelines (Table 1).
Table 1. Basic information on the Environmental Impact Assessments of pipelines studied.
Type of Brazilian Name Date of issue Biome enterprise Estates Rio de Janeiro, Atlantic Forest with Gasbel II Gas pipeline August 2007 Minas Gerais Cerrado ecotone Gasduc III Gas pipeline October 2007 Rio de Janeiro Atlantic Forest Alagoas, Pilar-Ipojuca Gas pipeline November 2007 Atlantic Forest Pernambuco Espírito Santo, Gascac Gas pipeline January 2005 Atlantic Forest Bahía Catú-Carmópolis Gas pipeline December 2004 Bahia, Sergipe Atlantic Forest Gastau* Gas pipeline April 2006 São Paulo Atlantic Forest São Paulo, Atlantic Forest with Paulínia-Jacutinga Gas pipeline June 2006 Minas Gerais Cerrado ecotone Rio de Janeiro, Gascav Gas pipeline January 2005 Atlantic Forest Espírito Santo Gas pipelines, PDD-SP** September 2007 São Paulo Atlantic Forest Oil lines * GASTAU – included a complementary study (June 2007). ** São Paulo’s Master Plan of Pipelines
The faunal diagnoses of the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) usually include bibliographic information, data from museums and even interviews. The analysis based on these data generates lists of species of potential occurrence in the vicinity of the enterprise. Besides these types of data, the lists may include surveys of wildlife in the field done by specialists in each faunal group. Thus, we selected for this work only the primary data records, in other words, the terrestrial vertebrates effectively identified in field. A second criterion adopted was that only species identified at the specific or subspecific level were considered. Records at level of genus or higher taxonomic levels were discarded. The criterion for recognition of threatened species and subspecies was the Brazilian List of Threatened with Extinction Species, published in the Normative Instruction 003 of Brazilian Ministry of Environment (MMA, 2003). Species with endangered subspecies were just considered if the endangered subspecies had been raised in the study.
4. Results
All threatened species and subspecies raised in field studies were compiled in Table 2 below.
2 Rio Pipeline Conference and Exposition 2009 Table 2. Threatened species actually recorded in field surveys of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA).
Gasbel Gasduc Pilar- Catú- Paulínia- Enterprises Gascac Gastau Gascav PDD II III Ipojuca Carmópolis Jacutinga
Mammalia Xenarthra Bradypodidae Bradypus torquatus x Myrmecophagidae Myrmecophaga tridactyla x Primates Callitrichidae Callithrix aurita x x Callithrix flaviceps x Pitheciidae Callicebus coimbrai x Callicebus personatus x Carnívora Canidae Chrysocyon brachyurus x Felidae Leopardus pardalis1 x x x x x x x x Leopardus tigrinus x x Puma concolor2 x x x Rodentia Erethizontidae Chaetomys subspinosus x Amphibia Anura Hylidae Hylomantis granulosa x Aves Falconiformes Acciptridae Leucopternis lacernulatus x Galliformes Cracidae Penelope superciliaris alagoensis x Psittaciformes Psittacidae Amazona rhodocorytha x Amazona vinacea x Apodiformes Trochilidae Phaethornis margarettae x Thalurania watertonii x Coraciiformes Momotidae Momotus momota marcgraviana x Piciformes Picidae
3 Rio Pipeline Conference and Exposition 2009
Gasbel Gasduc Pilar- Catú- Paulínia- Enterprises Gascac Gastau Gascav PDD II III Ipojuca Carmópolis Jacutinga Picumnus exilis pernambucensis x Passeriformes Conopophagagidae Conopophaga melanops nigrifrons x Cotingidae Iodopleura pipra leucopygia x Xipholena atropurpurea x Dendrocolaptidae Dendrocincla fuliginosa taunayi x Xiphorhynchus fuscus3 x Emberizidae Caryothraustes canadensis frontalis x Curaeus forbesi x Tangara cyanocephala corallina x Tangara fastuosa x Furnariidae Xenops minutus alagoanus x Pipridae Schiffornis turdinus intermedius x Thamnophilidae Cercomacra laeta sabinoi x Myrmeciza ruficauda soror x Pyriglena atra x Pyriglena leuconota pernambucensis x Thamnophilus aethiops distans x Thamnophilus caerulescens pernambucensis x Tyrannidae Platyrinchus mystaceus niveigularis x 1 The species was not classified as threatened, but the subspecies (Leopardus pardalis mitis) that occurs in Brazilian regions outside the Amazon. 2 The species was not classified as threatened, but two subspecies (Puma concolor greeni e Puma concolor capricorniensis) that occur in the northeast and southeast regions of Brazil. 3 The species was not classified as threatened, but the subspecies that occurs in the northeastern region of Brazil (Xiphorhynchus fuscus atlanticus).
A total of 38 threatened species were identified in the Environmental Impact Assessments studied (Table 3). Eleven species of mammals were recorded: two Xenarthra, four Primates, four Carnivora and one Rodentia. A single species of amphibian had been identified. Among the birds, there were 27 records, with emphasis on species of a region known as Atlantic Endemism Center of Pernambuco that shelters more than 2/3 of all species and subspecies of birds occurring in the biome (http://www.cepan.org.br/). These species were mainly recorded in the Pilar-Ipojuca Environmental Impact Assessment, a pipeline to be deployed in an existing right-of-use area.
4 Rio Pipeline Conference and Exposition 2009 Table 3. Total threatened species actually recorded in the field surveys of Environmental Impact Assessments.
Number Gasbel Gasduc Pilar- Catú- Paulínia- Enterprises Gascac Gastau Gascav PDD of II III Ipojuca Carmópolis Jacutinga species
Mammalia 3 1 2 2 6 3 1 1 3 11
Amphibia 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Aves 1 2 22 0 1 0 0 0 0 26
TOTAL 4 3 25 2 7 3 0 1 3 38
6. Discussion
Most species and subspecies recorded in this study live in the Atlantic Forest biome, which, according to Myers (2000) is a hotspot of biodiversity, due to the high concentrations of endemic species, as well as its submission to a major loss of habitat. However, Brazil still lacks knowledge on many species that occur in its territory and their distribution. In general, few localities have been sampled adequately, and many regional fauna listings are incomplete (Machado et al, 2008). Thus, data collected for studies of environmental impact can contribute to increase the knowledge on these species. Lists of endangered species are produced mainly to promote easy understanding of the qualitative risk of extinction. However, these lists are being used in decision making without an appropriate context (Possingham et al, 2002). These authors question the use of a qualitative approach (presence or absence of endangered species) in the process of environmental licensing, in addition to the subjective factors involved in the preparation of lists, and emphasized that the indiscriminate use of these can lead to erroneous conclusions. For example, enterprises with little environmental impact could be restricted due to the presence of listed species, while other enterprises with larger impacts on non-listed species could be implemented without proper mitigation. In Petrobras, to bring less environmental impact due to the implementation of pipelines, the project of new pipelines avoids the opening of new tracks and rights-of-use area and removal of native vegetation. In addition, mitigation programs are developed for wildlife rescue and monitoring when necessary.
7. References
CENTRO DE PESQUISAS AMBIENTAIS DO NORDESTE. Available in:
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