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According to information from the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), only seven of Brazil's national forests adhere to valid management plans.
They are Carajá, Saracá-Taquera, and Tapajós, in the state of Pará; Jamari, in Rondônia; Ipanema, in São Paulo; Ritápolis, in Minas Gerais; and Rio Preto, in Espírito Santo. There are currently 69 National Forests (Flonas) in the country.
The National System of Conservation Units (SNUC), adopted in 2000, makes it mandatory for a management plan to be drafted and approved in up to five years after the creation of the unit. The purpose of the plan is to determine how the area is to be zoned and to define guidelines for its occupation and use.
Therefore, strictly speaking, all the Flonas created up to 2000 should have an approved or revised management plan this year. But, according to data from the IBAMA's Forest Division (DIREF), only 16 Flonas are in the process of formulating or approving management plans, and another seven are revising plans drawn up prior to the SNUC.
The Tapajós Flona management plan was approved in February of this year. "The process took two years. It is slow, because it has to be participatory. The total cost came to R$ 325 thousand, including studies for the socio-environmental diagnosis, the hiring of consultants, and all the logistics required to hold workshops and meetings to draft the plan together with the communities," said Viviane Gonçalves, coordinator of the activities of the ProManagement/IBAMA in the Tapajós Flona.
The ProManagement is a subprogram of the Program for the Protection of Brazilian Tropical Forests (PPGU), which originated at the Eco-92 meeting in Rio de Janeiro.
A bill before the National Congress to create Law 4776, which deals with public forest management, establishes a mechanism for the concession of forests to private legal entities for up to 40 years, to utilize their natural resources for economic ends.
In the bill, the Flonas represent the conservation unit model in which forest concessions are applicable. But, according to the SNUC, economic activities in conservation units should be set forth in the management plan for the area.
Agência Brasil
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