The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa) and the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) plan to grant five large forest areas in the Amazon to the private sector by the end of March 2023. Together, the Union’s lands total approximately of 2.3 million hectares (each hectare corresponds to the approximate measurements of an official soccer field) and will be destined to forest management projects that combine forest production and environmental protection.
Among the areas is the Balata-Tufari National Forest. According to the folder, more than 600,000 hectares, covering the territory of the cities of Canutama, Humaitá and Tapauá, can be used for business management.
The other four national forests (Flonas) are that of Iquiri (over 800,000 hectares of management area, in Lábrea); Jatuarana (Apuí, more than 300 thousand hectares); Pau-Rosa (more than 200 thousand hectares, in Maués, and Nova Olinda do Norte).
There is a fifth area under study, called Gleba Castanho, in Careiro. According to the Map, approximately 120 thousand hectares of the total 165 thousand hectares of the land cut by the BR-174 can be allocated to sustainable forest management.
Responsible for preparing the studies for the structuring of the forest concession model, the BNDES estimates that it will be able to complete part of the work by the end of this year. Once this first phase has been completed, the first public consultations may take place at the beginning of next year.
According to the schedule announced today (16), the bank’s technicians expect that the five notices will be published between March and December 2022, so that the last of the five areas can be tendered by March 2023. Mapa is that the concession of the five Amazonian areas generate 3.9 thousand direct jobs and 7.8 thousand indirect jobs, allowing the production of around 1.3 million cubic meters of legal wood and forest products.
For the minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Tereza Cristina, although the deadline seems distant, it is the time needed for the process to be well done. “There are eight robust concessions, which we need to make carefully [de forma a mostrar que] Brazil conserves [suas florestas], and we have governance,” said the minister during an event that marked the official start of studies for the concession.
Contract
The technical-legal work that the BNDES will develop is the result of a contract signed in December 2020 with the Brazilian Forest Service (SFB), a public forest management body that since 2019 has been part of the regulatory structure of the Ministry.
The agreement provides that the bank, together with the SFB, is responsible for evaluating and structuring the model of concession notices for the practice of sustainable forest management, contemplating proposals for productive arrangements that encourage local socioeconomic development; the assessment of the potential for the implementation of new services and technologies that use the infrastructure to be implemented in the forests and the generation of ancillary revenues, which should have mechanisms for sharing with the public administration.
The Map points out forest concessions as a priority for the federal government, which intends to move forward with the agenda started in 2011. Currently, there are 17 contracts in force that authorize the management of timber and non-timber forest products in areas of Pará and Rondônia, totaling an area of 1.05 million hectares.
South region
In January, Mapa and BNDES began structuring the project for the concession of three Flonas in the South Region: Três Barras and Chapecó, in Santa Catarina, and Irati, in Paraná.
Today, at the meeting where the BNDES presented its schedule for the five areas of Amazonas, the director of the Brazilian Forest Service, Valdir Colatto, said that the goal is to reach the concession of 4.8 million hectares by the beginning of 2023 .
The president of the BNDES, Gustavo Montezano, said that, once approved, the concession model for the southern areas of the country and the Amazon could serve as a model to streamline future projects. “What we are doing is, let’s say, a pilot project with 2 million hectares. It’s a huge area, but given the potential market [que o manejo florestal pode significar] for Brazil, this is just the beginning of a much bigger journey. This is a market that in ten, 15 years’ time, may multiply many times over,” said Montezano.
Minister Tereza Cristina also highlighted the importance of activities that reconcile production and environmental conservation, generating jobs and social development. “Brazil is an agro-environmental power. This is a great asset that Brazil has, a heritage that will be preserved”.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/government-studying-concession-of-five-forest-areas-in-amazonas-istoe-dinheiro/
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