2010 - International Year of Biodiversity
The United Nations declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. It is a celebration of life on earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives. The world is invited to take action in 2010 to safeguard the variety of life on earth: biodiversity.
Join us in this celebration!
Iracambi book reviewed in the New York Times and the Washington Post
Where the Road Ends, the book by Binka Le Breton about the creation of Iracambi, was reviewed in the New York Times and the Washington Post on 6 June. The book is published by thomas Dunne Books and is, of course, available from Amazon.com.
Meeting of Private Reserve Owners
Iracambi took part in the meeting of the Association of Private Reserve Owners of Minas Gerais (ARPEMG) help in the Ipitipoca State Park on 1-2 May 2010 and was elected to the board of directors as well as the audit committee.
New Forest Monitoring Project for 2010
With help from Ted Karfakis and Kristy Rasmus, we have been setting out our Permanent Sample Plots and started the long-term forest monitoring project that we have been dreaming of for a long time. From the periodic moitoring of these three plots we willl collect data on forest growth and be able to see how our forests are doing in relation to others. Such studies have been under way for several years in the Amazon forests and elsewhere but, as far as we know, very litttle of this work has been carried out in the Atlantic Forest.
Iracambi Guide to Butterflies goes on line
The Field Museum in Chicago has put the Guide to the Iracambi Butterflies on line as one of their on-line Tropical Plants Plants and Animals guides. The study was done by Gareth Ventress, with guidance from André Freitas of the National History Musem at the University of Campinas. It is based on earlier studies by Lizzy Coleman and Nina Baliga.
Iracambi was there:
Partners of the Americas, with whom we have been working for ten years, organized an international conference on Higher Education and International Volunteer Service in Washington DC on November 12-13, 2009. This is a subject dear to our hearr, and Iracambi director Binka Le Breton was able to attend and also got to moderate the closing panel discussion on Volunteer Programs and Positive Impact on the Ground.
Environmental Protection Areas
Over the past eighteen months as part of our Community Skills Project, Amigos de Iracambi haws been organizing community meetings in the two Environmental Protection Areas of Rosário da Limeira to work with local farm families to analyze resource use in the communities. This is part of the process that will result in drawing up a management plan. At the same time, Iracambi staff are working with the County Government to ensure that these protected areas are properly protected and managed.
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Evaluation of natural resources |
São Bartolomeu Community |
Binka Le Breton's new book
At last, what so many have been asking for - the Inside Story of Iracambi. Binka´s latest book, "Where the Road Ends - a Home in the Brazilian Rainforest," published by St Martin's Press, New York, came out on May 11th 2010 to critical acclaim. You can find it on amazon.com
Updates on the Mining Saga
In February 2007 the judge in Muriaé issued a court order suspending all bauxite mining activities in the buffer zone of the Serra do Brigadeiro Park on pain of a penalty of R$10,000 per day on the grounds that the correct licensing procedures were not followed. This order continues in force until such time as the case is judged.
Previous News on the Mining Saga
Bauxite Mining Proposal: In November 2006, in response to Irçacambi´s request, the government arranged public meetings - not the legally the same as hearings, but nevertheless significant - in the towns of Divino, Miradouro and Muriaé. These were attended by State and Federal Government agencies and by a representative of the Minas Gerais State Legislative Assembly. It was an historic occasion, the first in which a mining company has taken the trouble to explain publicly its plan and discuss the consequences.
In the meeting, two important declarations were made by Government: firstly, that they will require the mining company to seek the approval of the State Park authorities for all mining undertakings within the Park buffer zone and, secondly, the Park Authority stated that it would not give such approval without the agreement of the State Park council, which is composed of representatives of the local communities and other concerned bodies (including Iracambi). This is a major step forward in recognizing the necessity of more serious discussion on protecting our extraordinary ecosystem - did we tell you that the Atlantic Forest is one of the world´s top five biodiversity hotspots?
For more information on the mining
issue, click
here to download a report. |
