Meio Ambiente

With about 49% of its original vegetation destroyed, the Cerrado will be the next biome to receive a plan of public policies to curb deforestation. At a news conference held yesterday (March 16), in Brasília, the minister of the Environment, Carlos Minc, announced the main points suggested by the MMA for the implementation of the Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Fires and Deforestation in the Cerrado (PPCerrado).

By the end of the week, a rough draft of the decree establishing the PPCerrado will be sent to the Civil House and, then, to President Lula. The idea is transform the fight against deforestation in the biome into a government's commitment, and not just of its environmental area.

Between 2002 and 2008, about 85 thousand km² of vegetation was removed. The main reasons for degradation in the Cerrado are livestock, agriculture and production of charcoal from native forests and for the steel industry.

"We intend to implement a monitoring system similar to what already happens in the Amazon, as well as the control, supervision, combat of environmental crimes, incentives for sustainable activities and creation of protected areas in the region", said minister Minc.

He highlighted the fact that the Brazilian government presented in Copenhagen the commitment to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from deforestation in the Cerrado by 40% by 2020. "With the actions proposed by the PPCerrado, our intention is to achieve this goal already in 2012, because the rates of deforestation are alarming", he said.

The draft decree suggested by the MMA also proposes the release of a list of municipalities that deforest more, as was done in the Amazon. These municipalities will be the focus of policies of monitoring, controlling and promoting sustainable productive activities.

Responsible for 5% of the entire planet's biodiversity, the biome is one of the richest Savannas in the world and occupies 24% of the country's territory. The percentage of protected areas in the region is only 8.2% and 4.4% are on indigenous lands.

The actions proposed by the PPCerrado were discussed between 10 ministries, state agencies of the environment, NGOs, civil society and universities. The project was available for public consultation for 40 days on the Internet.

The plan follows the guidelines of the Sustainable Cerrado Program (Programa Cerrado Sustentável), and is based on national policies for Biodiversity, Water Resources and on the National Plan on Climate Change, besides other environmental policies.