The first Brazilian municipal initiative of payments for environmental services and its potential for soil conservation

It has become evident that policies aimed at mitigating the growing water resources and water use conflicts in Brazil are crucial. The municipality of Extrema in Minas Gerais state in Brazil pioneered the first Brazilian municipal PES initiative (Conservador das Aguas program), based on the relationship between forests and the benefits they provide. This study aimed to assess soil loss in the Posses sub-basin, where the Conservador das Aguas program began. Additionally, we aimed to determine the potential that this PES initiative has for soil conservation, as well as to minimize the soil losses as a function of forest area size and location in order to propose a technical approach for implementing PES. In this sense, considering the prescribed conservation practices, land use situation, and soil cover in the Posses sub-basin, we analyzed the effectiveness of the Conservador das Aguas program before and after implementation in relation to reduced soil loss under 36 different land use and soil cover scenarios. We used a geographic information system (GIS) for spatializing and producing different information plans and the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) for estimating soil loss. As a result, we found that minimization of soil loss may be obtained by adopting pasture conservation practices. Additionally the expected average soil loss in the Posses sub-basin under conditions of land use and soil cover, before and after implementing the water conservation program was 30.63 and 7.06 Mg ha(-1) year(-1), respectively. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Environmental fragility evaluation and guidelines for environmental zoning: a study case on Ibiuna (the Southeastern Brazilian region)

Environmental fragility models are important decision tools for policy makers as they help quantify environmental sensitivity and understand the relationship between human activities and environmental quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate three different environmental fragility models within the Brazilian rainforest region and to use the results to develop environmental zone classes. Two rural river basins located in Ibiuna, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, were studied. Input variables, including slope class, relief dissection rate, soil class, lithology, land cover, and climate data, were used to compute environmental fragility classes using three standard models. The model outputs were evaluated on their ability to accurately predict the most sensitive and least sensitive areas. The best models for each region were used to derive environmental zoning maps, including restoration priorities, best regions for agriculture, and areas with high needs for soil management. These maps will help support land use strategies for environmental restoration. This study provides insight into territorial ordering and management of environmental services with a regional perspective.

Mudanças no Código Florestal e seu impacto na ecologia e diversidade dos mamíferos no Brasil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Minimização da erosão em função do tamanho e localização das áreas de floresta no contexto do programa conservador das águas

Com os crescentes conflitos de uso da água no Brasil, a implantação de políticas para a mitigação desses problemas tornou-se crucial. Nesse sentido, o conceito de Pagamentos por Serviços Ambientais (PSA) tem se difundido ao redor do mundo e, consequentemente, no Brasil. O município de Extrema, em Minas Gerais, implantou a primeira iniciativa municipal brasileira de PSA, conhecida como programa Conservador das Águas. Neste trabalho, objetivou-se avaliar a perda de solo na sub-bacia das Posses, onde se iniciou o programa Conservador das Águas, visando determinar a potencialidade que o conceito adotado nesse programa terá para a conservação do solo e otimizar o provimento desse serviço ambiental em função do tamanho e da localização da área de floresta. Quatorze diferentes cenários de uso e cobertura do solo foram analisados, utilizando-se um Sistema de Informações Geográficas e a Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation. A expectativa de perda de solo na sub-bacia das Posses antes e após a implementação do programa Conservador das Águas foi de 30,63 e 7,06 Mg ha-1 ano-1, respectivamente. A otimização da conservação do solo pode ser feita adotando-se práticas conservacionistas na pastagem e alocando-se a área de floresta de maneira mais otimizada.

Ecological and evolutionary consequences of living in a defaunated world

Defaunation, the loss or population decline of medium and large native vertebrates represents a significant threat to the biodiversity of tropical ecosystems. Here we review the anthropogenic drivers of defaunation, provide a brief historical account of the development of this field, and analyze the types of biological consequences of this impact on the structure and functioning of tropical ecosystems. We identify how defaunation, operating at a variety of scales, from the plot to the global level, affects biological systems along a gradient of processes ranging from plant physiology (vegetative and reproductive performance) and animal behavior (movement, foraging and dietary patterns) in the immediate term; to plant population and community dynamics and structure leading to disruptions of ecosystem functioning (and thus degrading environmental services) in the short to medium term; to evolutionary changes (phenotypic changes and population genetic structure) in the long-term. We present such a synthesis as a preamble to a series of papers that provide a compilation of our current understanding of the impact and consequences of tropical defaunation. We close by identifying some of the most urgent needs and perspectives that warrant further study to improve our understanding of this field, as we confront the challenges of living in a defaunated world. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Análise do uso da terra nas áreas de preservação permanente dos corpos d’água da bacia do córrego espraiado como subsídio para pagamentos por serviços ambientais

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Carbono orgânico no solo e sua relação com os compartimentos morfológicos representativos do estado de São Paulo

Pós-graduação em Geociências e Meio Ambiente - IGCE

A comunidade perifítica e suas relações com a qualidade da água no reservatório de Itupararanga (SP, Brasil)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

O conceito de ecossistema na produção acadêmica brasileira em educação ambiental: construção de significados e sentidos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Avaliação quantitativa do uso dos recursos hídricos em unidade de conservação e entorno: estudo de caso do Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Civil e Ambiental - FEB

Proposta de restauração de mata ciliar utilizando técnicas de nucleação no município de Regente Feijó

This monograph, presented in order to obtain the title of Environmental Engineer, proposes the use of nucleation techniques for the restoration of permanent preservation areas formed by three springs that contribute to the formation of Santo Anastacio river, city of Regent Feijo – São Paulo. Through Mine Water Project, landowners are encouraged to restore and conserve springs that contribute to the public water supply, being paid through the fees for environmental services. Once the simulation of this payment was reached at R$ 630.00 per year. Nucleation techniques will be proposed in order to facilitate the ecological succession, through techniques known as transposition of the soil, transposition of the branches, artificial perches and planting in groups of Anderson, totaling 81 cores covering an area of 208.3 m2 which corresponds to 1.9% of the total area to be restored. Made the survey of forest fragments in the watershed, it was found that only 12.39% of the total area has remnant vegetation

A importância da reserva legal para a preservação da fauna e flora existentes nas propriedades rurais de Botucatu

The main objective of this study was elaborating a diagnosis of technical conditions of Legal Reserves situation on the rural properties in Botucatu. In addition, considering the characteristics of fauna and flora and the economic aspects of these areas, it was presented alternatives to encourage the correct implantation and the effective preservation of the Legal Reserves. Because these areas contribute to the maintenance of local biodiversity and to availability of environmental services essential for all living creatures. In this study it was observed the presence of native vegetation in 13% of the rural properties’ areas in Botucatu, it is therefore necessary the recovery (reforestation) of 7% of all the rural properties’ areas, to be achieved the 20% of native vegetation (minimum area to be preserved as Legal Reserve, as disposed in Federal Law nº 12.651/12) on rural properties. A viable and significant alternative for recovery these areas, reinforced by the new forestry law, is the practice of sustainable management, that must be carried in harmony with conventional farming practices existing in the remaining areas of rural properties

Produtores de Água na Microbacia do Manancial Córrego do Veado – Presidente Venceslau, São Paulo: potencialidades em questão

The programs Water Producer and Water Mine are the starting point for the research, whose the main objective is to develop a study on the necessity and possibility to forming water producers in the Veado Creek Watershed Deer, located in Presidente Venceslau - Sao Paulo, in order to improve the quality and quantity of water from the spring. To this end, the implementation of programs in the spring, especially the Water Mine, developed by the State of Sao Paulo, could help change the situation in which degradation is the area of the watershed. The main methodological procedures were performed: survey and literature review, interviews with employees SEAAMA, CATI, interview with the president of the Association of Owners of Rural Watershed of Deer Creek; interview with landowners of the Fountain Creek Watershed Deer; work in the search field at the landfill to the DAE and the Association of Collectors of Recycled. We are dealing with issues such as the importance of the Code of forests with regard to the protection of water resources, decentralized management and participatory of water resources, Payment by Environmental Services, production of water, characterization and diagnosis of the environmental Microbacia of Wealth Córrego do Veado, sanitation of the municipality of Presidente Venceslau. Analyzed the current situation of the watershed of the spring, highlighting the main actions that have been performed by the municipality through the watershed program of the State of São Paulo City Hall and through the resources FEHIDRO. The obtained results allowed to demonstrate the need and the possibility of setting up the Project Mine Of Water in the watershed of the fountain and the interest of owners interviewed by adherence to the Project and the protection of the source

Pagamento por serviços ambientais: estudo de caso: simulação da aplicação do programa do “Produtor de Água” na bacia do Rio Pirajibu

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

O desenvolvimento sustentável e o controle social da natureza e do trabalho: um estudo a partir da Fábrica de Preservativos Masculinos de Xapuri (AC)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)