GEO Brasil - UNEP

e) Not withstandy the increment in the use of rawmaterial
from native forests, environmental
restrictions and new technology continue to point
to a reverse in this trend in the short term, with a
consequent increase in the plantation areas. This
fact will contribute not only to the reduction of
pressure on native forests by the various production
segments but will also increase the recovery of
degraded areas by alternative use of soil;
f) Emphasis must be given to the action of Non-
Governmental Organisations – NGOs in striving for
increasing protected areas defined in the National
System for Conservation Units (Law 998500). This
is true for the main biomes, specially in the Amazon
and Atlantic Forest. These actions have found
resonance not only within organised civil society
but also within the government itself and results
will contribute to the improvement of the Brazilian
position regarding the volume of protected areas
and environmental quality in as well as biodiversity
conservation. An important result achieved thanks
to the efforts by NGOs in the last years is the
recovery of degraded areas of the Atlantic Forest.
This demonstrates a tendency towards the reversal
of the process of change in the forest cover of this
biome.
4.5.4. Recovery of Native Vegetation
In the 1970s, the expansion of commercial forests of exotic
species in Brazil promoted enormous advances in forestry
sciences, creating high-level research groups. From the
1980s onwards, a growing interest of these groups in native
trees rapidly consolidated the technology for the
dissemination and planting of some hundreds of Brazilian
native vegetation species. Despite the number being small
in relation to the total of species found in the country, Brazil
currently has knowledge and autonomous technology that
allows for the implementation of plantations for recovery
of native species, mainly in the Atlantic Forest biome
(Kageyama et al. 1992, National Council for Biosphere
Reserve Conselho Nacional da Reserva da Biosfera 1997,
Secretariat of the Environment of São Paulo Secretaria do
Meio Ambiente de São Paulo 2000).
Box 6 - Vegetation restoration
The São Paulo Energy Company (CESP - Companhianergética de São Paulo) has been planting heterogeneous
forest bodies since 1972 in its old construction sites and in the surrounding areas and islands of its hydroelectric
power plant reservoirs. The first plantations emphasised landscape restoration and protection against erosion, and
used mainly exotic species of aesthetical or economic value. Diversification of species, original native flora (and
fauna) restoration and functional ecological groups were gradually introduced as a result of a closer co-operation
with forest research institutions. In 1988, CESP established a co-operation agreement with the University of São
Paulo’s Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ/USP - Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz) for
the development of technologies to introduce mixed forests, based on the knowledge of of native tree species and
the ecology of tropical forests. The resulting plantations, in addition to being ecologically closer to natural forests,
reduced production costs by 63 percent. At the moment, costs are US$1,500 per hectare. CESP accumulates today
one of the largest areas of native vegetation restoration in Brazil. That is, about 10,000 hectares, or 25 percent of its
properties area can be restored.
Sources: Silva L.O. 1992. Recomposição de matas nativas empreendidas pela CESP - Evolução do programa e concepções norteadoras. Revista do Instituto
Florestal 4: 1054-1060; Noffs P.S. Galli L.F. & Gonçalves J.C. 1996. Recuperação de áreas degradadas da Mata Atlântica - Uma experiência da CESP. (Série
Cadernos da Biosfera da Mata Atlântica, no 3) Conselho Nacional da Reserva da Biosfera da Mata Atlântica, São Paulo; “Revegetação em Áreas de Preservação
Permanente no Entorno dos Reservatórios Hidrelétricos e de seus Tributários” página 11 do Boletim Informativo do IPEF de agosto de 1997.
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