Gov’t unveils conservation units selected for “Adopt a park” program

Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment on Monday (Mar. 1) published a list with federal conservation units in the Legal Amazon region selected for the first stage of Adote um Parque (“Adopt a Park”) program.

The full list with all 131 conservation units in the Legal Amazon has been published as Portaria n° 73/2021 and can be seen in Brazil’s Official Gazette.

Established by Decree number 10,623, dated February 9, 2021, the initiative aims to “promote the conservation, recovery, and improvement of federal conservation units by natural and legal persons, national or foreign.”

In addition to unveiling the list with the selected units, the document stipulates the minimum values for the adoption of the units. For national companies, proposals can start at R$ 50 a hectare; for foreign firms, € 10—which should be converted to real by the Central Bank’s system on the day the deal is signed.

The Federal Government intends to attract resources with the purpose of sponsoring the conservation of national parks. The area in these units goes from 2,574 and 3,865,172 hectares. Therefore, the initiative is believed to have the potential to channel R$ 3.2 billion a year in the conservation units. Funds will be put towards monitoring, protection, and prevention efforts, as well as efforts to combat wildfire, prevent and fight illegal deforestation, and the recovery of degraded areas.