The Paraíba do Sul River Basin Water Management Association, AGEVAP, was one of those awarded in the Public Selection of the Petrobras Socioenvironmental Program. The program’s objective is to encourage the development of social and environmental actions, generating positive results on issues relevant to society. This partnership will make possible the investment of around one and a half million reais, over two years, in the Water and Forest Producers Program (PAF), of the Guandu-RJ Committee.
AGEVAP is a water agency that fulfills this role by delegation of ANA, INEA and IGAM, in eleven Basin Committees in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, including the Guandu-RJ Committee. In the Guandu-RJ Committee, according to the Strategic Plan for Water Resources, among the main challenges for the management and management of Hydrographic Region II of the State of Rio, responsible for supplying about nine million people, is the loss of coverage. forestry, which accelerates the degradation of soils and, consequently, of water resources. In this scenario, as a strategy for the efficient and sustainable management of water resources, in 2009 the Guandu-RJ Committee and partner institutions implemented in the municipality of Rio Claro/RJ, the Water and Forest Producers (PAF) program, which includes actions conservation, forest restoration and payment for environmental services (PES). The program has already resulted in the conservation and recovery of five thousand hectares of Atlantic Forest, in addition to repaying local producers with more than two million reais in PES, generating environmental and social benefits.
From 2019 to 2020, an environmental diagnosis was carried out in order to expand forest restoration, appropriate to the current situation of the site. In this context, AGEVAP submitted to the Public Selection a project aimed at restoring nearly 45 hectares of forest, equivalent to 45 soccer fields, distributed in 15 properties that are part of the PAF, in addition to developing environmental education activities, in partnership with the Municipal Department of Education, in the plantation areas.
The project was selected and will receive around 1.5 million reais within a two-year timetable, that is, the Collegiate initiative will receive resources that do not come from charging for water use (Law 9433/97), further strengthening water management in the state.
The areas selected by the project are in a high degree of degradation, where fire and low soil fertility are the main factors that impede ecosystems’ life. According to the diagnosis carried out on the properties, techniques for ecological restoration such as total planting, densification, enrichment, conducting natural regeneration and direct seeding should be used. For each technique, a set of operational activities are associated, such as the control of leaf-cutting ants and competing species, soil preparation and/or fertilization.
After the restoration is implemented, the areas will receive maintenance activities until the end of the project. As up to four years of maintenance are needed for the restoration to succeed, the Guandu Committee will continue its activities after the two-year partnership, until the areas reach the reference values indicated by the INEA (resolution No. 143 of June 14, 2017 ), which will be verified through the annual monitoring of restoration polygons.
With this new partnership, AGEVAP, the Guandu-RJ Committee, city hall and partner organizations intend to further expand PAF’s environmental gains, which impact on the quality and availability of water in the basin that supplies nine million people.
More information about the Petrobras Socioenvironmental Program is available at: https://bit.ly/3l0oTMF
About the 2021 selection, access https://petrobr.as/ppsa-selecao2021 and learn more.
COMMUNICATION GUANDU COMMITTEE
Telephone: (21) 3787 3729
E mail: comunicacao.guandu@agevap.org.br
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