Iracambi lies in the area that has the largest remnant of the Atlantic Rainforest in Minas Gerais, the core of which is the Serra do Brigadeiro State Park, about 15,000 hectares. In addition, there are three municipal conservation areas, plus Iracambi's own private reserve.

To date, no systematic plan has been made as to how these areas should be conserved and of what could or should be done to conserve the many other fragments outside the declared conservation areas. Iracambi is working with local farmers to identify existing land use and catalog the forest fragments with the object of supporting local government in the elaboration of a land use plan. It is also building the Iracambi Geographic Information System (GIS) as an information resource for users in all the Serra de Brigadeiro Territory.

Objectives

To map the region according to land use and soil types, and to inventory the biodiversity in remaining forest fragments in order to create a land management scheme for rehabilitating degraded lands.

Activities

• Mapping current land use and potential; identify remaining forest fragments and land and water resource degradation hot-spots;see below
• Evaluating alternative uses that enhance the potential for rehabilitation;
• Identifying critical fragments and patches of degraded lands with a view to acquiring them and putting them under conservation management;
• Studying population dynamics and do inventories of existing forest fragments to determine which patches hold the largest biodiversity and population sizes;
• Assisting local Government in preparing a plan that indicates measures and policies that will synchronize sustainable smallholder livelihoods and conservation.

Outcome:

• A sustainable development land use plan;
  
• A biodiversity conservation plan;
  
• A snapshot of current land use;
  
• A snapshot of the current state of biodiversity conservation, both to be a baseline for monitoring future changes.

Research Opportunities:

• biological studies
• socio-economic context of the forest
• the bauxite mining issue
• environmental protection areas

Projects

• Community Skills Project

Tools

• Geographic Information System

Click here to to see research papers on this topics

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