Protected Areas

ForewordThe Brazilian Ministry of the Environmenthas the mandate to coordinate theimplementation in Brazil of thecommitments made under the Conventionon Biological Diversity (CBD). Thisresponsibility falls with the Secretaryof Biodiversity and Forests, establishedin 1999 to coordinate policies relatedto the conservation and sustainableuse of biodiversity, forests, fisheries,agrobiodiversity and protected areas aswell as the policies for the access togenetic resources and the associatedtraditional knowledge and the sharing ofbenefits derived from such access.In 2003 the Coordinating Committeeof the National Biological DiversityProgram, established in 1994, wasreformed and upgraded into the NationalBiodiversity Committee – CONABIO withan expanded mandate to coordinate theimplementation of the CBD in Brazil andto coordinate the implementation of theprinciples and guidelines of the NationalBiodiversity Policy, established in 2002.This committee, with representativesfrom 10 governmental sectors and from10 sectors of the civil society, has sinceadopted the National Biodiversity ActionPlan, the National Priority Areas forBiodiversity and the National BiodiversityTargets for 2010, among other policydecisions of relevance.The Secretary of Biodiversity andForests (SBF) operates in a matrixstructure with a focus on major thematicagendas and on the major biomes ofthe country. It operates through fourNational Departments, the Departmentof Biodiversity Conservation (DCBIO),the Department of Forests (DFLOR), the