|
|
|||
|
|

On July 25-27, 2006, rural producers and representatives from universities and research institutions from the region of Santarém and Belterra, Pará, in the Brazilian Amazon, participated in a workshop on techniques to restore degraded areas and riparian zones in the Amazon. The training was given by experts from the Ecology and Forest Restoration Laboratory at the University of São Paulo- ESALQ. The workshop was attended by 60 participants who learned how to identify areas that should be protected under Brazil’s Forest Code, such as Areas of Permanent Preservation (APPs) and how to restore degraded areas. The course was hosted by the Conservancy in collaboration with the local rural producer’s union, SIRSAN.
The training was one of the first to be offered on the topic as part of the Responsible Soy Project and focused on the theory and practice of techniques in ecological restoration, how to bring properties into compliance with environmental legislation, landscape planning to create ecological corridors, and how to monitor the restoration of degraded areas on rural properties. Aside from local producers who participate in the project, representatives from various federal and state governmental institutions were present.
According to José Benito Guerrero, Field Coordinator for the Responsible Soy Project, ‘’the course represented a milestone of a major program for the restoration of degraded APPs on agricultural properties of the region.”
As next steps, the Conservancy and SIRSAN are assisting producers to prepare and submit farm restoration plans for state government approval. Six farms have also been chosen to serve as implementation models.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): © Benito Guerrero (soy farm); © Steve Niedort (tree nursery).