Paula Piccin

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Face the various social and environmental challenges in degraded areas of permanent preservation (APPs) and water recharge in the Rio Doce Basin (in the states Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo), IPÊ started the Education, Landscape and Community project, with the purpose of supporting soil regeneration and water conservation in influential areas from the basin, through community involvement and agroecology development.

Operating for the first time in Espírito Santo, the Institute takes to rural settlements in Alto Rio Novo and Águia Branca counties (areas of influence of the Rio Doce Basin) the successful social technology that it developed over 20 years ago with farmers in Pontal do Paranapanema, in the far west of the state of São Paulo. Among the actions there are environmental education, training and rural extension, with the application of sustainable productions such as agroecology.

The initiative is part of the School and Community Integration action line, carried out by IPÊ and its school, ESCAS – University of Environmental Conservation and Sustainability. In its edition in Espírito Santo, the project is now working to benefit 143 small properties in four rural settlements selected due to the potential of scale and applicability of the activities.

“School and Community Integration is a very interesting means of implementing a socio-environmental agenda for transformation. Through ESCAS, the IPÊ school, we bring education tools to the population, combining our expertise in science and social mobilization for real change. This is the principle adopted, even at Pontal do Paranapanema, where we have been working with communities for almost 30 years”, explains Eduardo Badialli, project coordinator.

Among some of the main activities of the project is the implementation of IPPs (Individual Property Projects) that contemplates forest restoration in rural landscapes and sustainable rural production in family farming.

Field activities with the communities started in August 2021 and will continue for two years. The work is in partnership with the Renova Foundation.

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About 120 communities who live in Protected Areas in Amazon received capacitation and training to watch irapuca’s (Podocnemis erythrocephala), tracajá’s (Podocnemis unifilis) and amazon turtles’ (Podocnemis expansa) species protected nests, since the spawning until the eggs hatch. The action happened in early July until the beginning of August and aims to help the hatchlings survive. The period of time chosen for this capacitation is the dryer one, for it’s when the turtle’s spawn occurs.

Virgínia Bernardes, scientific coordinator in Biodiversity Participative Monitoring – Monitoramento Participativo de Biodiversidade (MPB/IPÊ)  -, joined the team of analysts, brigade and Núcleo de Gestão Integrada (NGI) Novo Airão volunteers, and for 18 days, crossed every community in Jaú and Unini rivers which are inserted in Jaú’s National Park (Parque Nacional (Parna) do Jaú),  Extractive Reserve Rio Unini (Reserva Extrativista (Resex) Rio Unini) and Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve (Reserva de Desenvolvimento Sustentável (RDS) Amanã).

“The capacitations are extremely important for the permanence of the success in data collection and monitor engagement. Moreover, the meetings between the researchers, focal point and monitors are the ones that enable the dialogue for a better alignment and understanding of possible updates about protocols (methodology), forms, data collection’s evaluation moment, knowledge sharing, experiences and agreement redefinitions and appointments”, Virgínia says.

Fire prevention was also among the topics at the meeting. The team carried out an expedition with the fire brigade from NGI Novo Airão. “As an effect of the climate changes in the last few years, the Amazon has presented a greater susceptibility to fire for the rain decreasing during this dry time, especially in lowland forests, riplet forests and igapós”, Virgínia explains. During the activity, an instruction focusing on building firebreaks around the plantation swiddens, at the moment of the fire cleaning, was made, remembering the agreed rules on the handling plans of the Resex Rio Unini and Jaú’s National Park’s terms of commitment.

About MPB

The activity is part of the partnership between IPÊ and ICMBio – Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, through the National Program of Biodiversity Monitoring (MONITORA – Programa Nacional de Monitoramento da Biodiversidade) and the National Center of Research and Conservation of the Amazonian Biodiversity (CEPAM – Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação da Biodiversidade Amazônica).

The initiative is an activity from the project  MPB – Monitoramento Participativo da Biodiversidade em Unidades de Conservação na Amazônia, as in Biodiversity Participative Program in Conservation Unities in Amazon, developed by IPÊ in partnership with ICMBio, and support  from Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, USAID and ARPA.

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The black-lion-tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysopygus), an endangered species that only occurs in the interior of the state of São Paulo, was the subject of the first environmental conservation study by IPÊ – Institute for Ecological Research, which, thanks to research on the primate, expanded its actions with landscape restoration and environmental education projects.

Despite extensive research over 35 years, unprecedented data still emerges about the species. The most recent studies analyzed the influence of the structure of the forest– conserved or degraded – on the conservation of the black-lion-tamarin and were presented at the Virtual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC), from 21 to 23 July.

Gabriela Rezende, who is a Ph.D. candidate in Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity (UNESP – Rio Claro) and also a Master from ESCAS-IPÊ leads the research. The study analyzed data from “backpacks” with GPS (small mechanism for monitoring animals) in four groups of tamarins in two different areas: in a very conserved area, the Ponte Branca fragment, from the Mico-leão-preto Ecological Station (ICMBio ), in the far west of São Paulo; and in an intensely fragmented area, in the municipality of Guareí (also in São Paulo).

The difference between these areas is also present in the dimensions. The area analyzed at the Ecological Station has 1,303 hectares, the equivalent of a little bit over 1,000 soccer fields. The area in Guareí is only 105 hectares – around 100 football fields. The groups were followed for 10 to 22 consecutive days, between September 2019 and February 2021. The original research data were presented at the Virtual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC), this week (July 21 to 23). ), in an online meeting.

“The data showed that the groups in the smaller fragment also have reduced home ranges, up to five times smaller than the home ranges used by the Ecological Station groups. In addition, in Guareí there was an overlap of up to 37% of these neighboring territories, whereas in Ponte Branca this was not observed. These results suggest a strong fragmentation effect in the use of space by the tamarins. The most interesting is that, despite this difference between the areas, the distance traveled by the tamarins per day is on average 2 .6 km in both areas”, reveals Gabriela Rezende, who signs the research together with Milene Alves-Eigenheer (UENF), Luca Börger (Swansea University – United Kingdom), Daniel Felippi (IPÊ), Gabriel P. Sabino (UNESP – Rio Claro) and Laurence Culot (UNESP – Rio Claro).

In the next phase of the research, the goal is to quantify the energy expenditure of animals in these areas and integrate information about the structure of the vegetation in the analyzes to understand what may cause these variations.

High risk of extinction

          Francy Forero Sanchez, a researcher at IPÊ’s Black-Lion-Tamarin Conservation Program, sought to estimate whether known populations will continue to resist in the long run. To obtain this data, Francy used the Population Viability Analysis (PVA) methodology, through software that aligned these variables to the threats present in each region.

“The viability and health of the tamarin population demand at least 98% genetic diversity in the population. This makes the species more resistant to disease, for example. The risk of extinction threat must be less than or at most equal to 2%, the smallest possible. What we saw is that in this scenario, among the 17 populations analyzed, only two are viable in the long term (100 years, equivalent to 13 generations), especially due to the number of individuals. Six populations can become extinct on average in 25 years due to a combination of factors involving: isolation, low genetic variability, and threats. Based on the analysis of all these variables, the minimum population to guarantee the species’ viability is 800 individuals”, he highlights.

In Francy’s opinion, the study reinforces the importance of the continuity of IPÊ’s actions, both related to habitat recovery and the management of small groups. “The smaller the tamarin populations and the more isolated due to the fragmentation of the landscape, the greater the risks. Long-term conservation of the species is related to increased connectivity between fragments. This action has the potential to contribute to gene flow. In the same measure, we need to implement effective management strategies involving individuals, especially small populations isolated in small fragments”. Francy is also a Master in Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development, by ESCAS/IPÊ – School of Environmental Conservation and Sustainability.

Francy is co-authored by Gabriela Rezende (UNESP/IPÊ), Kathy Traylor-Holzer (CPSG/UICN), Cláudio Valladares Padua (ESCAS) and Arnaud Desbiez (ICAS/IPÊ).

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Six years ago, she left the city of Assis/SP to live in the Haroldina settlement, located in Mirante do Paranapanema/SP, in the extreme west of the state of São Paulo. As soon as she completed one year in the settlement, she was awarded the Agroforestry Systems (SAF) project in Mirante do Paranapanema (SP), in the far west of São Paulo.

In the Project, researchers and technicians from IPÊ – Institute for Ecological Research – work together with farmers who trusted the proposal to implement SAFs in 2015 and 2016 – combining the planting of native tree species with fruit trees and coffee.

Near the entrance of Sonia’s family settlement, 600 native trees of the Atlantic Forest, of 25 species, are distributed. There are 400 fruit trees, such as orange, lemon and soursop, which provide shade for the 2,600 coffee trees. This is the proposal of the SAF, to plant a line of native trees and a line of fruit trees, spaced eight meters apart. In the space between the two lines, shady and agroecological coffee is planted. Sonia, however, uses the area to also cultivate foods with shorter cycles, such as sweet potatoes, peanuts, corn, string beans, caxi, okra, etc. Working in the shade is a great benefit, says Sonia.

“In a hot region like Pontal do Paranapanema, where thermometers reach 40 degrees, planting and harvesting in the shadow of my SAF is seeing God’s hand in the perfection of nature”.

Part of the production is sold to the National Supply Company (Conab), responsible for the Food Acquisition Program (PAA), which contributes to increasing the inclusion of settlers in public policies aimed at rural development. The surplus goes to the table and provides Sonia and her husband, Nivaldo Antônio Moura, with food that is totally free of pesticides. The abundance is such that the couple donates food to family members, friends and neighbors.

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A study carried out by a group of 30 scientists, with the participation of Rafael Chiaravalloti (IPE), reveals that around 17 million vertebrate animals died in fires in the Pantanal in 2020. They counted the carcasses through sampling in the burned areas. The study was led by Walfrido Tomas, from Embrapa Pantanal.

The impact of this loss of biodiversity is significant, as mentioned by Rafael, who is also a researcher at Imperial College London and professor of the Professional Master’s Degree at ESCAS IPÊ. He highlights that the number of 16,952 million vertebrates refers to animals that died immediately as a result of the fires, but the effects on wildlife are even more drastic. “In the study, we emphasize that despite being a high number, it does not include animals that died seeking refuge in burrows and also does not count the animals that died as a result of fires, such as the difficulty in finding resources such as water and food.”

The study highlights that the intensification of fires is among the most visible consequences of climate change. In 2020, for example, the biome registered a 40% reduction in the volume of rain and an increase in the average temperature of 2°C, since 1980; this combination created the ideal conditions for the 2020 destruction scenario. “Actions such as deforestation and inadequate use of fire combined with climate change make the Pantanal an extremely vulnerable biome to human actions”, highlights Chiaravalloti.

The results of the study impress even those who have been in the field, counting carcasses, such as Gabriel Oliveira, who’s taking a master’s degree in Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development at ESCAS. “Whenever there was a big fire spot, the next day we were in the field, we would make transects – straight-line trails in the burned area where we walked counting the carcasses. This must be done the next day because carcass degradation is very fast due to predators such as hawks, for example. In the field, we already had an idea that small mammals and reptiles would have been hit hard, but the numbers of the study were shocking”.

Strategic plan for the Pantanal

In order to prevent future fires in the Pantanal from having the impact observed in 2020, Rafael Chiaravalloti is at the head of a group of more than 70 researchers seeking to advance an agenda with potential for the conservation of the biome.

“In June, we met in two Virtual Workshops that assessed the bases for strategic planning for protected areas in the biome. Together with the participants, we developed two Reports with guidelines for conservation: protected areas, livestock, fishing and ecotourism in the Pantanal (in Portuguese). The documents show the importance of working with an integrated management plan for protected areas, thinking about landscape management. It is worth highlighting the alternative mechanisms for creating protected areas, such as through the Sustainable Use Authorization Term (TAUS)”, as the researcher points out. The Pantanal, despite being considered a Natural Heritage of Humanity and Biosphere Reserve by Unesco, has a small area protected by public or private Conservation Units.

Among the measures with the potential to increase the size of the protected area in the biome is the creation of RPPNs – Private Natural Heritage Reserve. Currently, according to the report, the Pantanal has 22 protected areas in this category. Of these, 45% belong to private owners and 55% to institutions. Among the challenges is the updating of the Management Plan, as 36% of the RPPNs have the plan, however only one RPPN (4%) updated the document in the last five years.

The reports also highlighted the need to expand plans to promote sustainable meat production in the Pantanal, strengthen the fishing chain and professionalize community-based tourism in the region.

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