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What has the Program accomplished?
The challenge of halting the destruction of the
rain forests is a difficult one and cannot be met in the
short run. The goals of the Pilot Program will not be
achieved in the short term. Too many practices still cause
destruction, and not enough is yet known about sustainable
development practices, about what works and what does not.
Immediate action has been taken, however, to prevent
a recurrence of the fires that destroyed large areas
of forest and grasslands in the northernmost state of
Roraima in March 1998. The program has begun to support a
campaign to help prevent more large-scale fires from
occurring during the dry season (June to September) in areas
of the Amazon that are particularly susceptible to fires.
Results of a study financed by the program now permit the
pinpointing of areas most susceptible to out-of-control
fires.
Besides having addressed this imminent problem,
noteworthy successes have been achieved since the
program’s inception:
- Strong
support of NGOs by the Pilot Program
helped create active networks of such
organizations in the Amazon and Atlantic rain forests.
These organizations help interested groups and
communities build a political constituency for
conservation and sustainable management of natural
resources. Today, NGOs are well-accepted and appreciated
dialogue partners of government.
- Funding
of demonstration projects has allowed
some 120 communities and organizations to experiment
with new approaches to using and conserving natural
resources in the rain forests. The communities and the
program are learning from their experiences. Not all
these experiments will succeed, but even those that do
not will still contribute to learning valuable lessons.
- Four
extractive reserves have been
established and consolidated in the Amazon. In these
conservation areas, families of rubber tappers and
Brazil-nut gatherers are both protecting this
environment and using it to make a living – without
recourse to clearing the forest.
- Program
efforts have helped legalize the lands inhabited by indigenous
people , as mandated by the Brazilian
Constitution. Since the program’s inception, almost 22
million ha of indigenous lands have been demarcated and
legalized. Many more lands have already been identified
and are ready for demarcation and final legalization,
giving more security to the Amerindian people. These
activities are scheduled to continue until a majority of
all indigenous lands in the Amazon has been demarcated
and legally registered.
- Management
of natural resources and implementation of environmental
law have traditionally been functions of the federal government. The
Brazilian Constitution of 1988 made these functions a
matter to be shared among federal, state, and municipal
governments. Under the Natural Resources Policy Project ,
state governments have begun to organize and
coordinate the activities of the various agencies that
play (or should play) a role in environmental
management. The Integrated Environmental
Management Projects have brought these parties
together to discuss and plan natural resource use,
resource management, and law enforcement in selected
priority areas in each state – by no means a minor
feat.
- The
program has helped to modernize two important scientific
centers in the Amazon: the Emilio Goeldi Museum
in Belem and the National Institute for Amazon Research
(INPA) in Manaus. The program has enabled them to create
a more productive work environment for the scientists
and to protect their unique collections from irreparable
damage. The program is also funding 23 research
projects being carried out by Brazilian
researchers and institutions. This research will
increase knowledge about the diverse Amazon environment
and the use of its natural resources.
- The
program was instrumental in introducing and gaining wide
acceptance for the concept of rain forest
corridors, networks that link protected
areas and the buffer zones around them, thus creating
wider spaces for dispersal of species and genetic flux.
Under this new model, conservation of biodiversity will
be coordinated on a regional scale rather than through
individual "conservation islands".
- Significant
advances were made since in drawing private
business interests into the program.
Partnerships between community organizations and large
firms are being forged around specific products to be
produced under innovative, sustainable conditions in the
Amazon and the Atlantic rain forests. Investment banks
in Brazil are becoming interested in promising
activities stimulated under the program.
- The
program has begun to create a singular model of
international and national cooperation.
The program has shown that global and local needs and
opportunities related to tropical rain forests can
gradually be integrated. A group of concerned countries,
the Brazilian Government, Brazil’s civil society and
the World Bank have actually joined hands to get
significant and innovative projects prepared and under
way, in pursuit of global, national and local values.
- Program
results should not be measured only in measurable
indicators. Gradual changes in the attitude and
effectiveness of institutions, a change in political
discourse, mobilization of communities, increasing
coverage and discussion of rain forest issues in the
media – all these are also significant indicators of
change in a country where rain forests have often been
considered as an obstacle to progress and development.
They can be considered as creation of
"social capital" : increasing
cohesion in society with regard to the "rain forest
issue", which is becoming a growing public concern
in Brazil. Not all of this change can be attributed to
the PPG7, but the program has played a substantive part
in it.
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