Brazil government announces program for the Pantanal’s economic recovery

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Ministry of Agriculture presented on July 12 a set of initiatives to mitigate, prevent and fight forest fires and patch burning in the rural areas of the Pantanal.

Developed in partnership with other entities, such as the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the state governments of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, the “Pro-Pantanal” project will allocate R$30 (US$5.8) million to foster economic recovery in the biome and reduce the impacts caused by fire on the region’s municipalities and entrepreneurs.

“These are actions of education, of entrepreneurship, in order for people to help us because they know that it is important to preserve the biome, they know that fire is the worst possible scenario, because it affects income,” said Minister Tereza Cristina during the online event to launch the measures. “We are anticipating, preventing fires,” she added.

According to her, the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, which encompass the Pantanal wetlands, will be granted R$15 million each to implement the actions. “We are likely to see many fires, because we are experiencing a water crisis and a great drought,” she alerted.

The Minister said she will talk with Defense Minister Braga Neto and with president Jair Bolsonaro about the need to establish new partnerships with the Armed Forces to operate in these states this year in order to assist local Fire Department teams in fighting the fires.

Tereza Cristina also said that she is trying to expedite the release of resources from earmarked parliamentary riders for the purchase of water trucks by cities in Mato Grosso do Sul to help in the fight against fires and patch burning.

The agreement between the Ministry of Agriculture and SEBRAE for the development of Pro-Pantanal was discussed in late April. The goal is to reduce the impacts of fires on the local economy by 2023, focusing on entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainability, and bio-economy. There are 32,000 small businesses, 20,000 rural properties and 3,500 fishermen in the Pantanal region.

“This biome is very dear to us. Our role will be what SEBRAE does, to be educative, to provide entrepreneurial education, to provide guidance, to improve territorial governance, which will be extremely important for us, to prevent and to be more strict in terms of criminalization,” stated the president of SEBRAE Carlos Melles.

Mato Grosso do Sul governor Reinaldo Azambuja said that the greatest challenge for prevention work and firefighting in the Pantanal is access to remote areas, only accessible by helicopter, which is why it is necessary to train the teams and improve the structure.

He stressed that fires are common in the region, but that the drought is worse this year and that frosts have contributed to worsen the scenario.

According to the governor, everyone’s action is needed. “These riverside populations deserve support and attention and will be our allies in reducing and mitigating the fires in the Pantanal,” he said.

Some 2,600 rural properties in the biome will soon have electricity through the installation of solar panels. The governor said the measure will improve the “quality of life” and “access to technology” for Pantanal producers, which will also help in the actions to prevent and fight forest fires.

During the ceremony, the National Institute of Meteorology’s (INMET) director Miguel Ivan Lacerda introduced the Fire Risk Panel, a digital tool that monitors and reports the areas with the highest probability of fire occurrence in Brazil, based on a Russian algorithm (Nesterov), which evaluates humidity, temperature and rainfall data and shows the index, ranging from 1 to 5.

The feature is currently available on INMET’s website and in apps that may be downloaded on smartphones.

INMET’s director also said that fire alerts will no longer be issued by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), and that reports will be disclosed by the National Meteorology System (SNM), which includes the Management and Operational Center of the Amazon Protection System (CENSIPAM).

Source: Valor