Projects

Considering the significant environmental, economic, and social benefits that can be generated by the restoration of degraded areas, the state of Pará, in the State Plan for Amazon Now (PEAA), has committed to restoring 5.65 million hectares by 2030 within its jurisdiction, representing nearly 50% of the national target (State Decree No. 941/2020, Section III, Article 11, Paragraph 1 – PA, 2020). Therefore, it is essential to create cohesive and clear legal instruments and mechanisms to promote large-scale restoration of native vegetation, integrating different strategies for recovery.

In this context, the State Plan for the Recovery of Native Vegetation in the State of Pará (PRVN) supports SEMAS and the state of Pará in creating an inclusive state policy to boost the recovery of native vegetation. This policy and its instruments will be formulated following an integrated landscape management approach. The implementation of this policy will aim to generate a range of benefits for various sectors of society, including different levels of government, indigenous peoples, quilombolas, traditional communities, rural landowners, urban populations, the third sector, and the public and private sectors. Some of the highlighted benefits are:

• Reducing the cost required for rural property compliance;
  Increasing access to resources and markets, including ecosystem services;
• Creating direct rural employment, contributing to poverty reduction;
• Diversifying income for rural landowners through integrated landscape management, creating new sources of revenue;
• Reducing risks associated with natural disasters and mitigating the effects of climate change, among others;
• Promoting new business opportunities and strengthening Pará’s role as a leader in conservation and restoration of native vegetation, as well as in the sustainable use of Amazonian biodiversity.

As a member of the organizing, integrating, and consolidating committee of PRVN, IIS has participated in the development of the Plan and supported the facilitation of debates within the Working Group of PRVN (GT-PRVN). Among the activities, it has been responsible for conducting preparatory meetings to identify obstacles and opportunities, mapping ongoing restoration actions in the state of Pará, and organizing workshops for the construction of PRVN. In addition, IIS has:

• Supported the development of a draft legal norm for Pará, with instruments to establish proper governance to promote communication, coordination, and cooperation among stakeholders in native vegetation recovery and the necessary process to formulate a state plan based on a set of complementary axes to mobilize, facilitate, and implement the recovery.
• Conducted a diagnostic study to determine and assess the current situation of different success factors for recovery, identifying challenges and opportunities in this agenda in the state to form the basis for creating a set of strategies aimed at leveraging recovery in the state, integrated into a proposal for the State Plan for the Recovery of Native Vegetation.

Based on the diagnosis, the next action of IIS alongside SEMAS and partner institutions is to develop the proposal for the State Plan for the Recovery of Native Vegetation for Pará, organizing a set of strategies and actions to guide, motivate, facilitate, and implement large-scale recovery of native vegetation.
PRVN has a direct dialogue with the National Plan for Native Vegetation (Planaveg), an institutional coordination effort that enables such policies (Brazil 2017b). The project started in September 2022, and the first products were delivered in October 2022.