Agency suspends installation of development in Boipeba – 07/04/2023 – Environment

The SPU (Union Heritage Secretariat), linked to the Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services, paralyzed the installation process of a tourist mega-enterprise on the island of Boipeba, in Cairu, Bahia.

The project, which should occupy an area of ​​1,651 hectares of Atlantic forest, is the target of protests from local communities, who claim that traditional peoples live in the region.

In an order signed by the secretary, Lúcio Geraldo de Andrade, sent this Thursday (6) to the company Mangaba Cultivo de Coco, the SPU suspends the effects of the “transfer of ownership” of the property for 90 days until “possible defects” are clarified of the process”.

The region is a federal public area and ownership was transferred to Mangaba, responsible for the work, in April last year. Andrade took the post at the end of February this year. He is a lawyer, was a career civil servant at Incra (National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform) between 1982 and 2005 and worked for the Ministry of Fisheries from 2008 to 2012.

The secretariat also determines that no work or improvement is carried out on the site until it is determined whether the enterprise “complies with heritage legislation” and that an ordinance is published that delimits the perimeter of the traditional territory of the community of Cova da Onça.

When contacted, the managing partner of the project, Marcelo Stallone, commented in a statement stating that the company strives “for unrestricted compliance with legislation and due process of law” and that it will seek to “demonstrate the regularity of occupation of the area by Mangaba”.

“We hope that everything will be resolved as soon as possible, in compliance with everyone’s rights”, he concludes.

The license for the development was granted by Inema (Institute for the Environment and Water Resources) at the beginning of March and provides for the construction of a residential condominium with 67 lots, two inns (one with 25 rooms and the other with 25 houses), road infrastructure , pier and airstrip.

The total area (1,651 hectares) is equivalent to ten Ibirapuera parks, in São Paulo.

The use of two lots for activities of social interest, such as a cultural center, sports equipment and waste treatment plant, was also authorized.

The project is the subject of an action by the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) in Bahia, which questions the impacts of the project on the local community, since the region is in the process of being recognized as a reserve for traditional communities. The agency requests that the environmental license be revoked and claims that Inema’s work is an obstacle to the way of life of traditional communities.

At the time of the MPF action, Mangaba said that the project was submitted to several public bodies and that the license is linked to the fulfillment of 59 socio-environmental conditions.

He also stated that the Fazenda Ponta dos Castelhanos project foresees construction in less than 2% of the total area of ​​the property, and vegetation suppression in 0.17%, which would guarantee “the natural preservation of the APA of the islands of Tinharé-Boipeba”.

Inema manifested itself in a note on the dispatch from the SPU reaffirming “the correctness and fairness of the environmental license issued” and emphasizing that “the enterprise was licensed based on the law”.

“It is important to clarify that the Property Registration Act at the SPU is from 2008, when the occupation was recognized, and only now, 15 years later, is it being revised to investigate possible defects in the process”, says the text.

The body also states that the license granted already provided for the restriction on the beginning of interventions until the term was issued that delimited the area destined to the Cova da Onça community.

A public hearing on the case is scheduled for April 18 at the Legislative Assembly of Bahia.