Commitment signed by the governors of Cosud states foresees 7 million seedlings planted in the state by 2026.
In compliance with the Atlantic Forest Treaty and through environmental licensing, the State Foundation for the Environment (Feam) manages and monitors the planting of seedlings through various reforestation and restoration programs, projects, and actions that include authorizations granted by the agency.
Within four months of the commitment being signed by the governors of the states that make up the Southern and Southeastern Integration Consortium (Cosud), Minas Gerais has already achieved more than 10% of the goal of planting 7 million seedlings of native species by the end of 2026, approximately 184,000 seedlings per month. Of this total, Feam was responsible for directing the planting of more than 416,000, as well as ensuring the conservation of more than a thousand hectares of forests.
To account for the plantings, Feam concentrates information in different areas: environmental compensations imposed in licensing processes; environmental interventions in Permanent Preservation Areas; removal of trees protected by law; Forest Mining Environmental Compensation; execution of Degraded or Altered Area Recovery Project; and conservation of areas of environmental relevance.
Preservation Areas
Although the agreement considers only the number of plantings directed towards the Atlantic Forest biome and does not include areas of environmental preservation and/or conservation, Sisema also manages, in this monitoring, the areas that are preserved, in other words, the forests kept “standing.” This monitoring work of Sisema data is coordinated by the State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainable Development (Semad).
“This is an important mechanism for territorial management, as well as for mapping these areas with the connection between them, in the formation of ecological corridors, associating protected areas with the plantings to be carried out,” explains the Superintendent of Environmental Territorial Management and Economic Instruments of Semad, Ricardo Campelo França.
Atlantic Forest Treaty
The Atlantic Forest Treaty, signed in October 2023, foresees the commitment of the seven states in the Southern and Southeastern regions (ES, PR, MG, SC, SP, RS, and RJ) to restore 90,000 hectares of the biome and plant 100 million native seedlings by December 2026.
In addition to being one of the most important measures adopted by the group in the area of environment and sustainable development, Minas’ commitment is even greater, as it is the state with the largest area of Atlantic Forest in Brazil.
Evandro Rodney
