GEO Brasil - UNEP

4.1. Biodiversity Responses
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On September 28, 2001, the Brazilian Government
established that provisional measure by means of
a decree. On February 21, 2002 tne Government
created the Generitc Resources Management
Board through Decision no. 69. The board operates
under the Ministry of the Environment and recieves
inputs from several government agencies. The
Over the ten years that have elapsed since the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development took place in 1992, there have been noticeable
advances in the knowledge base of Brazilian diversity. From 1992 to 1997, initiatives
to identify and catalogue existing species were carried out both at local and
national levels. Some of these were spontaneous, such as scientific meetings
(Bicudo & Menezes 1996) and the registration of specialists by scientific societies
(SEB & SBE 1994). Others were promoted by NGOs or governmental organisations
or sectors, several of which were created as a response to the Biological Diversity
Convention. This happened either at federal level (Probio) or at state level, with
the Biodiversity programme of the State of São Paulo, for instance.
Board´s goal is to regulate acess and uses the
genetics resources. By establishing the Board, the
Government ignored a draft law that was under
consideration by the scientific community and by
the Lower house of the National Congress in
Brasília. The Deree of September 2001 goes into
much detail to regulate the access to and
availability of genetic resouces for scientific
research purposes. Howver, its coverage of
business access to genetic resources is quite poor.
This became a responsability of the Board. The
Government is still working on the regulation of
the use of genetic resources in Brazil, but there is
little hope that the measures adopted by the
government will match the concerns of society and
the scientific community. This are continues to be
weak and poorly supported both from the technical
and legal point of view.
The World Conservation Union (WCU) recognises the need to preserve
biodiversity on three levels: genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem
diversity. Genetic diversity is essential for species to endure because it allows for
their adaptation to environmental change. This diversity is strategic to man in
areas ranging from medicine to the production of food. The maintenance of
genetic diversity is fundamental for long-term conservation of ecological
communities. Several ecological processes, from the extinction of a species to
the existence of highly diversified taxonomic groups, intimately depend on
genetic diversification within and among species. This is what sustains biological
diversity.
Brazil has adopted a few strategies in the past 10 years for the protection of
biodiversity on the three levels mentioned above. The ones presented here are
the advances in legislation, planning, and programmes for the management of
species and recovery of native vegetation.
4.1.1. Advances in legislation
The accelerated loss of biodiversity and the adoption of measures to protect it
are connected to the creation of public policy and tools for intervention (Leitão
et al. 2002). Among the existing policies and public tools for intervention, three
are directly linked to the maintenance of native forest coverage and,
consequently, to the in-situ conservation of biodiversity. These are the National
System of Conservation Units – SNUC, the Forest Code, the National Forest
programme – PNF, and the Environmental Crimes Law.
Perhaps the area that has advanced the most is legislation, in the wake of of the
Constitution of 1998. It deals specifically with the protection of biological diversity
and genetic resourses in article 225. The most significant changes in legislation
are described below:
a) SNUC Law – National System of Conservation Units
Law no. 9.985 of the 18th of July, 2000, which established the National
System of Conservation Units – SNUC, was a major accomplishment
for the environment in the country. The law organises and updates the
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