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120 Million Square Kilometers of Marine Reserve
Meeting of Grupo Mar in Brazil. From left
to right: Tatiana Neves of the Albatroz Project; AVINA partner
Manuel Sanches of IBG; AVINA partner José Martins of the Golfinho
Rotador Center/ICMBIO; Clayton Ferreira Lino of the Mata Atlántica
Biosphere Reserve (RBMA); Flávio Lima Silva of the Peixe Boi
Project; AVINA partner Antônio Poletti of the Agência Costeira;
AVINA partner Heloisa Dias of the RBMA; and Lídia Parente of
the SOS Mata Atlántica Foundation. The
participation of civil society leaders in international programs
is vital for the strengthening of socio-environmental proposals.
The UNESCO Man
and the Biosphere (MAB) program, launched in 1971 and
adopted by nearly 100 countries, is one such example.
The MAB program promotes improved environmental understanding
and greater commitment on the part of the global scientific
community to create policies that promote the more rational
use of biodiversity. Its aim is to select geographical areas,
referred to as Biosphere Reserves, whose protection is essential
for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
Their designation provides a clear signal to both industry
and governments to respect their boundaries.
AVINA supports 12 partners in Brazil who are active participants
in the MAB program and Grupo Mar, which is responsible for
providing guidelines on MAB marine matters. Grupo Mar, which
was established in 2007 and promoted by AVINA, was responsible
for the Brazilian government’s acceptance of the proposal
to recognize and manage the coastal marine areas associated
with Brazil’s Atlantic Rainforest (Mata Atlântica)
as part of the Mata Atlântica Biosphere Reserve. This
resulted in a near doubling of the area of the reserve from
444,332,000 km2 to 784,654,000 km2. The marine area within
the reserve, originally only 20,704,000 km2, now covers an
area of 161,467,000 km2, more than 20 percent of the reserve’s
total area.
AVINA partners constitute the majority of civil society participants
in the commission established to oversee the management of
the new marine-coastal area. The criteria adopted for the
demarcation of the marine-coastal reserves by the Brazilian
committee proved to be of such interest that UNESCO has recommended
their use in the future for the establishment of similar reserves.
Heloisa Dias, AVINA partner and technical coordinator of the
proposal’s review process, commented: “The participation
of AVINA partners and AVINA’s financial support for
the different steps in the review process were indispensable
in ensuring the viability of the conservation efforts in strategic
areas of the Brazilian coastline and its international recognition
as a Biosphere Reserve.” In addition to supporting informal
and formal meetings of Grupo Mar, AVINA also contributed to
the digitization of the cartographic data, used as the basis
for discussions in MAB council meetings.
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