GEO Brasil - UNEP

Pantanal areas (www.bdt. fat.org.br/
workshop/cerrado/br). 57 were
Caatinga priority areas (www.
biodiversitas.org/caatinga), and 379
were priority areas for the conservation
of the Amazon (www.socio
ambiental.org/web site/bio) In
addition, there are coastal
environment areas that are still being
organised (www.bdt.org.br/work
shop.costa).
Priority areas are also being used by IBAMA and by non-governmental
organisations to guide the creation of ecological corridors all over Brazil. This
happens through partnerships with local organisations, universities, and research
institutions.
policies feedback
The workshops were developed
through associations between nongovernmental
organisations,
governmental agencies, universities,
and research institutions. It is a
milestone in the integration of these
different institutions.
As a result of the Cerrado workshop,
efforts are being made in order to
increase the protected area in the
Cerrado by 46% through the creation
of new conservation units. The
creation of the Serra Geral do
Tocantins Ecological Station, with an
area over 700,000 ha, the expansion of
the Chapada dos Veadeiros National
Park, and the implementation of the
Cerrado-Pantanal Ecological Corridor
are actions that are already in
progress.
Important actions for the
implementation of the areas and
activities prioritised by the Probio
workshop are also in progress in the
Atlantic Forest. The creation of the
Descobrimento National Park and of
the Pau Brasil National Park and the
actions for the implementation of the
Atlantic Forest Central Corridor have
already become reality. The creation of
the Serra da Bodoquena National Park,
in Mato Grosso do Sul, and that of the
Restinga de Jurubatiba National Park,
in Rio de Janeiro, are also a
consequence of the results of the
workshop.
4.1.4. Incentives To Research
The greatest risk for most species is becoming extinct in total anonymity. This is
true not only for invertebrates but also for groups of plants and vertebrates that
are harder to study. There are certainly thousands of small, inconspicuous species
that exist in very special habitats and/or in very small geographic areas. It is clear
that in Brazil, as well as in other countries with a huge diversitythe continuous
work of gathering, recordig, studying and describing new species is doomed to
failure in the race for species that disappear due to loss of and change in habitat.
The most promising actions to complement lists of species are studies that
establish co-relations between the diversity of different taxon species and the
length, place, characteristics and level of integrity of different ecological units.
These include habitats, ecoregions and biomes. Extensive inventories with a
large number of survey items will be an indispensable tool to establish these
co-relations. In response to this demand the programme for the Conservation
and Sustainable Use of Brazilian Biological Diversity (Probio) issued a
document for the development of biological inventories in priority areas on
which scientific knowledge is still lacking.
Other important conservation initiatives have been developed in the country
based on other prioritising methods that identified the richest and most
endangered regions of the planet, the so-called hotspots (Myers et al. 2000). It is
important to point out the creation of the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund
(CEPF). The CEPF resulted from an alliance between the World Bank, the World
241