PHILIP M. FEARNSIDE
In addition to large-scale efforts in mapping and prioritization, the existence of field studies on biodiversity and ecological processes at specific sites can sometimes result in study sites gaining protected status. An example is the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP) area, north of Manaus, where this large-scale project carried out by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA) has been working since 1979. [1-3]. A much smaller example where the presence of research has contributed is INPA’s Ouro Preto do Oeste Ecological Research Reserve, located in a heavily deforested area in the state of Rondônia. [4].
Research is important in identifying gaps in biodiversity protection and the relative values of one area against another. However, the actual decision to create a protected area is often the result of opportunism, rather than being directed towards a special priority area identified by research. An example of the importance of research in providing the justification for transforming an opportunity into a reserve, in fact, is provided by the six reserves created in “Terra do Meio” (not considering “areas of environmental protection”, or “APAs”, which have negligible protection).
Forest people attend the funeral of missionary Dorothy Stang in Anapu. (Alberto César, in 2005)
Terra do Meio is an area in central Pará the size of Switzerland that has largely remained outside the control of the Brazilian government (e.g., [5, 6]). The opportunity arose in 2005, following the murder of Sister Dorothy Stang, who was a Catholic missionary, defender of the poor and the environment, in the area of Anapú, Pará, on the Transamazon Highway. She was murdered by a gunman hired by local farmers (later convicted). The momentary peak of public concern for the environment in the Amazon in the following weeks opened up an opportunity to create reserves in Terra do Meio.
A study had already been prepared by the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) proposing a “mosaic” of protected areas in Terra do Meio [7], but the proposal had not been implemented because it was considered politically unfeasible. Once we had the technical justification in hand, at the critical moment, it was possible to create the reserves. The existence of studies makes it possible to “run with the ball when you have it”. Protected areas appear to have had some effect in preventing deforestation and discouraging “grilagem”, that is, the illegal appropriation of land by large ranchers and speculators. [8, 9].
GRADES
[1] Bierregaard, RO; Gascon, C.; Lovejoy, TE & Mesquita, R. (Eds.) 2001. Lessons from Amazonia: The Ecology and Conservation of a Fragmented Forest . Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, USA 478 p.
[2] Laurance, WF & Bierregaard, RO (Eds.). 1997. Tropical Forest Remnants: Ecology, Management, and Conservation of Fragmented Communities . University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, USA 616 p.
[3] Laurance, WF & Peres, CA (Eds.). 2006. Emerging Threats to Tropical Forests. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, USA 563 p.
[4] Fearnside, PM 1984. Ecological research reserve for Brazil’s Amazon Rain-Forest established in Ouro Preto do Oeste (RO). Environmental Conservation 11(3): 273‑274. doi:10.1017/S0376892900014375
[5] Ladder, MIS; Vieira, ICG; Amaral, S.; Araújo, R.; da Veiga, JB; Aguiar, APD; Veiga, I.; Oliveira, M.; Gavina, J.; Carneiro Filho, A.; Fearnside, PM; Venturieri, A.; Carrielo, F.; Thales, M.; Carneiro, TS; Monteiro, AMV & Câmara, G. 2005. Patterns and processes of occupation in the new frontiers of the Amazon: The Xingu/Iriri Interfluve. Advanced Studies 19(54): 9-23. doi: 10.1590/S0103-40142005000200002
[6] Taravella, R. 2008. La frontière pionnière amazonienne aujourd’hui: socio-environnemental project of forest conservation against dynamique pastorale of déforestation. A 2000-2006 strategic analysis of the action collective in «Terra do Meio» (Pará, Brésil). Doctoral thesis in environmental sciences, sciences, AgroParisTech, Paris, France. 636 p.
[7] ISA (Socio-environmental Institute). 2003. Conducting Preliminary Studies and Formulating a Technical Proposal for the Implementation of a Mosaic of Conservation Units in the Middle Xingu . Final Activity Report, ISA, São Paulo, SP. 207 p. + attachments.
[8] da Silva e Silva, C. 2013. Protected Areas as a Deforestation Containment Tool: Case Study of Terra do Meio . Master’s dissertation in management of protected areas, National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA), Manaus, AM. 79 p.
[9] This is an updated partial translation of Fearnside, PM 2014. Conservation research in Brazilian Amazonia and its contribution to biodiversity maintenance and sustainable use of tropical forests. P. 12-27. In: 1st Conference on Biodiversity in the Congo Basin, 6-10 June 2014, Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo . Consortium Congo 2010, Université de Kisangani, Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo. 221 p. The author’s research is funded by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (proc. 304020/2010-9; 573810/2008-7), by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas (FAPEAM) (proc. 708565). ) and the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA) (PRJ1).
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P hilip M. Fearnside he received his doctorate at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan (USA) and is a researcher at the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (Inpa), in Manaus (AM) since 1978. Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, he also coordinates the INCT (National Institute of Science and Technology) of the Environmental Services of the Amazon. He received the Nobel Peace Prize by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007. He has more than 500 scientific publications and more than 200 dissemination texts of his authorship that are available through
