プロジェクト概要

This project aims to protect forests located in one of the regions having the highest deforestation rate in the Amazon biome: the municipality of Lábrea. The "Arc of Deforestation" has already reached the southern region of the Lábrea municipality, making it one of the most deforested municipalities in the Amazon biome over the past ten years. Besides the damage caused to natural ecosystems, land-use changes have provoked severe social conflicts due to land grabbing and the implementation of agriculture and cattle ranching activities, contributing to expulsion of family-scale forest extractives from that region.
Deforestation pressure in Lábrea originates from the neighboring states of Acre and Rondônia, which have already undergone intense deforestation processes in the past, mainly due to the expansion of agriculture and cattle ranching. According to Vitel (2009), the deforestation in Lábrea is highly related to the proximity of roads: The increased deforestation rate observed in recent years can be attributed primarily to the Jequitibá and do Boi (or do Baiano) roads. The latter is about 100 km long and reaches the Ituxi waterfalls, located within the project area (Fazenda Nossa Senhora das Cachoeiras do Ituxi). Here, professional land-grabbers and even politicians have already organized illegal occupation, which has been denounced by the landowner and controlled by authorities. Given the deforestation pressure and financial difficulties in the project area, farm sale to private investors is considered the most plausible baseline scenario.
In recent years, the project area landowner has already been approached to sell the land (some offers are documented). In this scenario, the regional business as usual is probably the most plausible future scenario (deforestation above Brazilian Forest Code limits for implementation of cattle ranching). With project activity approval, the landowner intends to improve the mechanisms of surveillance inside the project area, as well as implement activities that will result in climate, community, and biodiversity benefits.
The project area holds sustainable forest management activities, which also help to maintain the areas under supervision of the farm staff. The harvest activities are predominantly carried out by clients, who possess all equipment and personnel needed to perform low-impact logging/harvesting activities.