The Stockholm Conference, held in 1972, marked the first discussion about the relationship between Man and the Environment. Promoted by the United Nations Organization (UNO), the debate gave origin to The World Environment Day. The date is celebrated all over the world, and this year, the United Nations has alerted about the risk of global food waste. The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, pointed out through a message the importance of seeking out solutions for the enormous loss of food. For him, the waste is “an offense for those who are hungry and represents an enormous cost for the environment in terms of energy, land and water.”

Water planet 
The United Nations elected 2013 the International Year of Water Cooperation, as a way of allowing for reflection on the importance of this natural resource. In the Bahia Southern Lowlands, farmer Valdete do Nascimento also shares this concern. “I began reforestation on my property, primarily around two water sources I have here,” said Nascimento, a resident of the Mata do Sossego Settlement, located in the municipality of Igrapiúna. “The sources may dry up, and in order to prevent this from happening, I decided to help them.” “Dona Dete,” as she is known, is one of the participants of the Payment for Environmental Services Program (PSA). 

PSA is coordinated by the Land Conservation Organization (OCT), an institution that is part of the Bahia Southern Lowlands Environmental Protection Area Mosaic Program for Development and Growth Integrated with Sustainability (PDCIS), supported by the Odebrecht Foundation and public and private partners. The initiative makes it possible to plant native Atlantic Forest species in the Permanent Preservation Areas and maintain these for the 24-month period, without any cost for the landowners.

On the lands of Antônio Brito (also known as “Neto”), resident of the community of Fartura, located in the municipality of Piraí do Norte, the attention paid to natural resources is no different. When he noticed the low level of the river, he sought out the support of OCT. “I always wanted to reforest, but I didn’t have the knowledge or financial resources,” said Brito. “There were many obstacles, since people said that I was crazy to get an area filled with nicelooking grass and reforest it.” “Neto” is considered a model farmer in the region for generating the demand for forest recovery on his property. At age 36, “Neto” is participating in the project “SAF: An AgroConservation Strategy in the Juliana River Basin – Pratigi Environmental Protection Area (EPA),” led by OCT.

Financed by the Brazilian Fund for Biodiversity (FUNBIO), the initiative seeks to reestablish the environmental services of an area considered to have high environmental productivity, but which had been degraded due to local economic needs. The project includes the installation of demonstrative Agroforest Systems (SAF) – a cultivation method that gathers different crops, such as cacao, rubber and fruit bearing trees. “The SAF is inserted without cost, allowing for a way to guarantee the income of the family unit,” explained Volney Fernandes, Leader of the Strategic Environmental Services Cooperative at OCT. “It serves as a counterpart for the rural producer who directs part of his or her land toward conserving the native forest,” he said.

For Dona Dete, who also joined the project, this is yet another opportunity to collaborate toward the environment. “We receive orientation on how to develop the crops while protecting the soil,” she said.

Want to participate?
Calculating how much carbon gas is released into the atmosphere and reducing this emission through compensations are the proposals of the Pratigi Neutral Carbon Program. Coordinated by OCT, the initiative allows any person or company to measure how their actions impact the environment and seek to compensate such impacts. Simply access the OCT website – www.oct.org.br – and enter the number of airline trips you take per year, the type of fuel you use in your vehicle and whether or not you separate recyclable waste, among other information. The result is displayed in numbers of trees and the values in reais of how much it would cost to plant these. This is how it is possible to finance the service so that OCT can offer it. 

The funds are directed at reforesting the water sources located in the Pratigi Environmental Protection Area (EPA), located in the Bahia Southern Lowlands. The seedlings are planted on the properties of the family farmers from the region, where each producer earns R$ 1 per unit. In this way, the worker can earn more than R$ 1,500 per year as payment for the environmental service provided, since it is possible to grow up to 1,666 trees per hectare. One of these water sources is located on the property of farmer Jeovan Nascimento, resident of the community of Juliana in Piraí do Norte. He is being compensated for allowing for the generation of an environmental service, such as the planting of native species near the source. “My children and grandchildren need to know what a forest is,” he said. “My father found the region devastated and opened up a pasture, but cattle doesn’t bring a profit here because it rains so much.

When the OCT opportunity emerged, he freed up areas for us to work.In all, 155 hectares were restored with native species of Atlantic Forest and SAFs and 97 water sources in the project areas were conserved and recovered.