One year ago, the municipality of Paragominas in the Brazilian state of Pará celebrated its removal from the Environment Ministry’s blacklist of municipalities with the highest rates of deforestation in the Amazon region. On the anniversary of this achievement, in March the state government launched its Green Municipalities Program, inspired by the experience of the Vale Fund together with NGOs The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Amazon Institute of People and the Environment (Imazon) in the region since 2009.
The Vale Fund helped to design the new program and will participate in its management council. In addition, the Fund has approved a new supplementary project for the region: “Livestock farming – social, environmental and productive improvements.”
The purpose of this project is to show how it is possible to develop a new model for an activity identified as a major cause of deforestation. Coordinated by the Paragominas Rural Farmers’ Association (SPRP), in due course the aim is to extend the initiative to other states in the region.
A good deal for everyone
The municipality of Paragominas has gone from being a villain to providing a model of sustainability thanks to work involving local society. The Vale Fund joined with rural farmers, NGOs and the municipal government to prove that it is possible to achieve development while preserving the environment.
After one year of work, 92% of rural properties in Paragominas had been entered in the Rural Environmental Register (CAR), surpassing the Environment Ministry’s target of 80% to enable removal from the Amazon deforestation blacklist. The municipality also cut its deforestation rate by 90%.
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