COP28: Pará announces creation of ‘Recovery Unit’ – 12/02/2023 – Environment

The governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho (MDB), announced this Saturday (2), at COP28, the UN conference on climate change, in Dubai, the creation of the “Recovery Unit” in the state. The idea is that it will be a protected area, like the traditional conservation units in Brazil, intended for forestry concessions to restore deforested vegetation.

The project will begin with the Triunfo do Xingu Recovery Unit, in Altamira (PA). The area is located in the APA (Environmental Protection Area) Triunfo do Xingu.

Historically, it is the most devastated conservation unit in the Brazilian Amazon, annually leading deforestation among protected zones in the biome. The APA Triunfo do Xingu is surrounded by indigenous lands and federal conservation units.

Generally speaking, APAs are the least restrictive protection categories of the SNUC (National System of Nature Conservation Units). They are considered areas with a certain degree of human occupation and can be public or private areas. In them, it is possible, for example, to carry out commercial exploitation of natural products or services without prior authorization.

The government, however, states that the project will not be carried out on private land. It also says that public hearings and consultations will be part of the concession process, with the participation of the population residing in APA Triunfo do Xingu.

The Barbalho administration sees potential in the project for the carbon credits market and talks about revenue of R$400 million, creation of direct and indirect jobs in the region and return on investments within a decade.

In the area subject to the concession, in addition to carbon credits, there may be exploration of non-timber products, installation of nurseries and collection of seeds, for example.

According to the Pará government, the project is part of the Pará Native Vegetation Recovery Plan, which aims to recover 5.6 million hectares of state forests by 2030.

The state government states that it will launch a notice, in 2024, to grant the area for recovery purposes. The concession of around 10 thousand hectares — the equivalent of around 63 Ibirapuera parks, in São Paulo — could last for up to 40 years.

The state, which will host the climate conference in 2025, COP30, also announced in Dubai, on Friday (1st), a plan to track all cattle in the state by December 2026.

Historically, Pará leads the ranking of deforestation in the Amazon, and cattle farming has a close relationship with the devastation of the largest tropical forest in the world. Brazil is the largest exporter of beef in the world.