On 3 July this year the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) adopted the ‘Forest+ Program’ (Programa Floresta+) through an Administrative Ordinance n° 288/20. This ordinance aims to strengthen the preservation of the Brazilian natural forest.
The initial project activities will be carried out in the Legal Amazon covering all nine states in the Amazon basin.
Around R$500 million from the Green Climate Fund will be earmarked for activities that improve, conserve and recover natural forests.
The programme is aimed at supporting individuals, legal entities, community groups and others who conduct environmental service activities in areas of natural vegetation or support natural forest recovery. According to the MMA this is the largest programme of payments for environmental services in the world.
The Administrative Ordinance says that monitoring, surveillance, firefighting, research, tree planting, environmental inventory and agroforestry systems are considered environmental services that bring effective and relevant results for the improvement, conservation and protection of natural vegetation.
The next steps in the ‘Forest+ Program’ involve the definition of methodology, valuation and verification of environmental services, the creation of the National Register of Environmental Services and regulations governing payment for environmental services.