1. INTRODUCTION
After over two years of intense world changes in both forest and environmental areas, FAO Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources gets together again in Rome - Italy, to discuss the main events related to the area of forest genetic resources of the world. Definitely, the speedy rhythm of deforestation currently taking place in tropical regions, together with the advances of the proposition of use and conservation of forest resources in the past few years as well as the fast changes occurring in genetics, especially molecular genetics, imply a reflection on how to bring up forms of use and conservation of forest resources consistent with this new millennium scenario.
The Amazonian region, without a doubt the planet’s richest Biome in biodiversity, has undergone an intense deforestation rate, and the total cleared area in the Brazilian Amazonia in the 1999-2000 biennial per year is approximately 2 million hectares (1998-99: 1.73 mi ha and 1999-2000: 1.98 mi ha), pointing that the policies for use and conservation of these ecosystems have not been effective. Comparing these data to the total deforestation in South America, of around 4 million hectares per year, in that same period (FAO, 2001), the situation is observed to be practically general in all tropical America. In that sense, it means that the situation remains critical for the forest genetic resources, mainly the tropical ones, in South America.
The deforestation of primary forests have been performed to give rise to the use of clear land, especially for beef-cattle settlement, although several researches have pointed that the Amazonian Forest is qualified for forestry or with a standing forest management. The interest for the wood of a few species, very valuable in primary forests, together with the fact that the clear lands represent valuable areas for the implementation of agricultural projects, profitable in a short term, or even for speculation, has prevented the decrease of the predatory deforestation in the past years, even with the advance of international and national movements toward use and conservation of tropical forests.
On the other hand, the knowledge on tropical forest biodiversity has undergone a large advance lately, with the formation of an individual critical mass in developing countries, thus enabling the creation of tools suitable for the analysis and quantification of the genetic diversity in tropical ecosystems. Brazil, for instance, has entered into the group of countries with high genetic technology, with complete genetic sequencing projects on several organisms, such as bacterium Xyllela fastidiosa (a microorganism that attacks orange plants). Currently several projects are in progress in the forestry area, with highlights to those dedicated to eucalyptus genetic mapping, Brazil’s major planted forest species. A project on transgenic eucalyptus is under development by CENARGEN/Embrapa, in cooperation with a forest company, viewing improved characteristics of wood, mainly the lignin.
Although the high technology of genetics is directed to industrial species, such as eucalyptus, projects on the knowledge of the tropical forest viewing scientific management and conservation have also been developed by research institutions in Brazil. Emphasis should be given to the Dendrogene project (1998-2002), coordinated by Eastern Amazon Embrapa (Brazil), financed by the DFID-England, viewing sustainable management of the Amazonian Tropical Forest, with the participation of researchers of Brazil and the French Guiana. In the area of tropical forest conservation one can point the "Conservation, Management and Sustainable Management of Forest Genetic Resources" (1999-2002), coordinated by the IPGRI-Rome, with the participation of researchers of Brazil (University of Sao Paulo and Federal University of Parana and others) and Argentina (IINTA-Bariloche). Other projects, with resources financed by developed countries, as for instance the G7 (GEF/World Bank), have been financed aiming the use of sustainable use of these tropical ecosystems.
Multidisciplinary and wide scope research projects have been developed regionally, as that of ex situ conservation of species in Andean tropical countries, with the cooperation of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela (Regional Strategy for Biodiversity for the Andean Countries). Likewise, the Conservation and Genetic Breeding of Prosopis project in Argentina, with the cooperation of several research institutions and universities in Argentina, views the genetic study of several Prosopis species.
In the dispute for the suitable use of the tropical forest, the lumbering industries, especially the foreign ones previously established in Asia and tropical Africa, started to settle in Amazonia, mainly in Brazil, but also in Bolivia, Peru, French Guiana and Surinam. Much predatory management has been conducted in Amazonia, with no technical care dedicated to the exploited resource and to the biodiversity. Some companies, however, are endeavored to fit the international and national appeals for sustainable management. In Brazil, several of them have begun the process of forest certification, aiming the more demanding international market, with at least three certifying agencies acting. On the other hand, small landowners in Amazonia, organized as community associations, have proposed sustainable community management systems. Many experiences have been conducted, which will only prove to be or not to be sustainable at medium and long terms.
Concurrently with an international and national movement toward the rational use of tropical forests and deforestation reduction, political actions and law propositions have been presented in different countries by governments and NGOs, all viewing the restriction the misuse of tropical forests and supporting the so-called sustainable management of these ecosystems. Thus, in international terms, one can highlight the launch of the new list of the world’s 25 Hotspots in 2000, or regions richer in biodiversity and more endangered of the world, three of them in Tropical South America (Tropical Andes, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado - the last two exclusively in Brazil). Nationwide, the Ecological-Economic Zoning under establishment in several Brazilian states in Amazonia, as well as the review of the main national law of the area, the Forestry Code, can be emphasized.
In my judgment the highlights pointed in this introduction encompass the main events regarding the area of genetic resources in Brazil and neighboring tropical countries, and further details will be given in the coming topics. We would like to stress the importance of the collaborators to this report, both to national ones and those from neighbor countries in Tropical America, who were fundamental for this document to be taken into effect. The list of collaborators follows at the end of this report.
2. MAIN EVENTS IN BRAZIL AND REGION
2.1. Research and Development Projects
The research projects related to the forest genetic resources under development in Brazil have advanced, in function of the increased interest in themes associated to the sustainable use of the tropical forest resources, as well as more financial resources, especially after the RIO-92 (CNUMAD). The main programs with higher economic and/or social and/or ecological scope will be emphasized.
The National Biodiversity Program - PRONABIO, of the Ministry of the Environment, with funds of the GEF/World Bank, has financed projects toward the use and conservation of Biodiversity throughout the national territory, focusing Amazonia and the Atlantic Forest. The several institutions developing these projects have sought partnerships with organized humane communities, as well as with NGOs, with emphasis on the combination of the economic, social and ecological aspects. In a Seminar presenting the main results of these projects in September 2000, about 29 projects were verified, in a total of approximately US$ 10 millions, in that period of 1997-2001. These projects basically focused the Sustainable Management and the Fragmentation of Forest Ecosystems.
The Ministry of Environment - Brazil has a programme Pro-Management, with funds from G7, to support the development of research projects on Community Forest Management. These projects have the participation of NGOs and community associations, in small areas of Amazonia.
The Embrapa Amazonia Oriental, with headquarter in Belem-PA, has developed a research project focusing the sustainable management of the tropical forest, the Dendrogene, including the understanding aspects of reproduction, structure and dynamics of the community, with genetic tools of molecular markers as the fundamental issue for the monitoring of the impacts of exploitation, and propositions of sustainable management of valuable arboreal species in Amazonia. The research was based on the model presented by Bernd Degen on tempered forest in Germany and the adaptation of the model for tropical forest species is being sought, with 10 species of 3 different ecological groups selected to test the model. Led by Eastern Amazonia Embrapa in a joint effort of several research institutions and universities, the project - started in 1999 - is now at the stage of assessment of the study areas, with and without management, for further collecting of material for genetic analysis. The project is surely a research mark in tropical forest management, in which ecological, reproductive and genetic variables have been considered in the model.
The CENARGEN/Embrapa - Brasília has a research programme on Genetic Conservation of Native Tree Species, with a very organized laboratory of molecular markers. This laboratory has one project supported by PROBIO/MMA called: "Conservation and sustainable utilization of Brazilian biological diversity". One project supported by Embrapa is: "Development and application of molecular markers with high performance for forest tree species natural populations studies". Another project is: "Genetic structure of Forest tree native species" also supported by Embrapa. The Laboratory of Plant Genetics of CENARGEN/Embrapa is contributing for the development of genetic studies in Brazil, because they are developing microsatellites primers for some important species.
The ESALQ - University of Sao Paulo, has developed a research project viewing the evaluation of the impact of small producers in forest genetic resources, financed by the German Government (GTZ), with international coordination of IPGRI-Rome. This research has been developed with farmers in Pontal - Atlantic Forest, and with rubbertappers in Acre - Amazonia, with the partnership of Acre’s National Council of Rubbertappers (CNS) and the Landless Movement (MST), as well as local research institutions. Four tree species in Pontal and four in Acre, representative of the local diversity, are studied as to the genetic, ecological and social aspects. The project is connected with the Federal University of Parana (UFPr) and INTA of Argentina, focusing the Araucaria angustifolia (Brazil) and A. araucana (Argentina). The project will terminate in 2002, and is likely to be continued.
In the Brazilian Cerrado region, where there were no genetic studies underway, the Federal University of Goias (UFG) in Goiania has fortunately set up in the past couple of years (1998-2001) a program of genetic study on natural populations of valuable species of that ecosystem. In that region there are still extensive cerrado areas in scarce anthropization conditions allowing these studies. About 5 arboreal species (fruit and medicinal) have already been studied as to the genetic variation between and within their natural populations aiming the domestication and breeding with graduation thesis and scientific paper publications, pioneer ones in this ecosystem.
At the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil, the Federal University of Santa Catarina runs a research program viewing the sustainable management of the Palmiteiro (Heart of Palm Tree), with ecological and genetic studies on the natural and managed populations of the species in primary and secondary forests. More recently, medicinal and ornamental species have been included into the research program, focusing the sustainable management in which the biodiversity is considered the core, with a perspective of its maintenance, in addition to the exploitation resources.
The Forest Institute of Sao Paulo - IFSP, of the State Government, in its forest improvement program has conserved native forest species ex situ since 1979, with an evaluation of the entire program being made in 2001. The conservation bank has today 24 species conserved as progeny and population tests, with progenies ranging from 4 to 28 and populations of 3-15, with a total area of 34 hectares. The adequate experimental design planting provides quantitative genetic parameters and production of seeds representative of the natural populations.
In the French Guyana, SILVOLAB Laboratory with many researchers is working with forest genetic resources and biodiversity, with many important projects. In the Dendrogene Project, coordinated by Embrapa-Belém/Brazil, there is a special participation. Silvolab also develop projects supported by the European Unit; one has the objective of "Distribution of genetic diversity of tree species from the Neotropics, based on DNA fingerprints assays and another" is the "Sustainable management of Neotropic Tree Genetic Resources". Another project of Silvolab is on functional biodiversity. There is also a research project on chemical diversity and evaluation of genetic resource of Aniba rosaedora and its conservation in French Guyana.
The Andean Countries have a proposal of a research project on ex situ conservation of the genetic resources from the Andean Tropic Countries. The project involves the five Countries which have tropical Andean ecosystems: Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia and Peru, and proposes the establishment of Germplasm Banks, Centers of Wildlife and Microorganisms cultures. The connection to in situ conservation is stressed.
As to the use of the molecular genetics and biotechnology, two projects of eucalyptus sequencing are in progress in Brazil. One in state of Sao Paulo, supported by forest companies and the State Government Research Foundation (FAPESP), with duration of 5-6 years and cost of approximately US$ 3 to 4 millions, with mapping forecast of 100 000 ESTs and identification of 15 000 genes, for commercial purposes of the sequencing. At the first stage, with a cost of US$ 900,000, the companies respond for US$ 200,000 (22%) and the State Government Foundation for US$ 700,000 (78%). The goal of the other project, called Genolytus, is the discovery, sequencing, mapping and determination of the function of the economic importance genes of eucalyptus species, viewing the incorporation of the genomic genetics technologies in forest improvement programs. The latter is also financially supported by 12 forest companies (28% of the cost), in addition to the funds of the Federal Government (Science and Technology Ministry) (72% of the cost), with a total cost of US$ 3 millions.
An important fact to be pointed is that these projects are almost exclusively interesting for companies producing eucalyptus pulp and paper, and most of the project is paid with government funds or money of the taxpayer population. That would not be so critical if the funds were not scarce as they actually are, thus leading to a high competition toward these funds for research projects. Moreover, one must emphasize that this is not a research project so to speak but more of a rendering of accounts to a commercial project.
2.2. Scientific Events
At first, regarding the scientific events in the 1999-2001 period, countless important Congresses, Symposia and Workshops to report the scientific results in the area of forest genetic resources have been taking place in Brazil and the more important ones will be stressed. These events deal with genetic conservation, natural forest management and restructuring of degraded areas.
In 1999 two major symposia related to the forest genetic resources were carried out: i) Symposium: Genetics and Reproduction of Arboreal Species, July 1999, at the National Congress of Botany in Blumenau-SC; participation of national researchers and two international guests: Dr. Kamaljit Bawa - University of Massachusetts - Boston-USA, and Dr. Alberto Ken Oyama - National University of Mexico-UNAM - Mexico; ii) Symposium: In situ Conservation of Tropical Arboreal Species - Tribute to Abdou-Salam Ouedraogo; September 1999, at the National Congress of Genetics in Aguas de Lindoia-SP; participation of national researchers and special guest MSc Christel Palmerg-Lerche; FAO-Rome; iii) Symposium on the Restoration of Degraded Areas, in July 1999 in Piracicaba-SP; participation of national researchers and special guest Dr. Miguel Martinez-Ramos - UNAM - Mexico; iv) Symposium on Genetic Resources in Latin America - SIRGEALQ, November 1999 in Brasilia-DF; with special guest Dr. Gene Namkoong to make a lecture on Genetic Structure of Forest Populations.
In 2000 another two symposia were carried out with related themes: i) Access to Genetic Resources and Byproducts Symposium, April 2000, at the Biologists Meeting in Sao Pedro-SP; participation of national researchers; ii) Symposium on Brazilian Ecosystems: Conservation, in October 2000, in Vitoria-ES; the management of natural forests was highlighted, whose author presented a conference on the Use and Conservation of Tropical Forests: Which Paradigm?
In 2001 two important symposia were carried out: i) Latin-American Meeting of Plant Biotechnology, June 2001, in Goiania-GO, with Latin-American researchers getting together to present the biotechnological advances in plants. The meeting was unanimous in searching top agriculture and forestry technology, with emphasis on the genetic sequencing and Genetically Modified Organisms (OGMs). At the arboreal species Symposium, a disagreement as to the use of molecular approaches for the conservation and OGMs occurred, and the representative of the Cenargen/Embrapa showed the starting point of the transgenic project for eucalyptus. This author and a researcher of Embrapa presented the use of molecular approaches for conservation and use of tropical forests. ii) Symposium on Genetics of Natural Populations, September 2001, at the Brazilian Congress of Genetics, in Aguas de Lindoia-SP, with the presence of national researchers who presented experiences on Tropical Forest Management, Domestication of Medicinal Species, Cerrado Species Breeding, and Use of Metapopulations in Arboreal Species.
In September 2000 French Guyana had an international Symposium "Modelling and experimental research on genetic processes in tropical and temperate forests", with the participation of several researchers from FG, Brazil and other Countries. The results of this symposium held in Kourou - French Guyana is available on:
http://kourou.cirad.fr/genetique/Symposium_e.html
It was created a Work Group for Mahogany by Convencion sobre el Comercio Internacional de Especies Ameaçadas da Fauna e Flora Silvestre - CITES and the first meeting was in Santa Cruz de la Sierra - Bolivia on October 3-5, 2001. The major preoccupation was about the differences among the statistics of exported and imported Mahogany wood from the Countries. The other point raised in the meeting was the necessity of population studies of the species to guarantee the sustainable use of the resource, suggesting that the Countries that have the species could finance this project, with the support of FAO and OIMT.
2.3. Laws and Public Policies
Several Laws and Public Policies have occurred in Brazil in the past two years as a result of the excitement of the happenings and changes occurred, on the one side in the advance in primary forest areas for timber removal purposes and to obtain fast profit, and on the other side in the organization of the community towards a more sustainable use for these forests.
A Federal Government Program which caused a great impact in the forestry sector was the launch by the Ministry of the Environment, in 2000, of the National Forest Program - PNF, aiming to give a clear direction to the use of both natural and settled forests, promoting the sustainable development. The plan has advanced goals and targets, proposing a conciliation between exploitation of the resources and protection of the ecosystems, making the Forest Policy compatible with the remaining Government Policies and encouraging the institutional strength of the forestry sector. Since this policy is recent, its repercussion is not known yet in terms of conservation of the forest genetic resources.
Also in 2000, the launch of the National System of Conservation Units - SNUC caused a great impact, which intended to systematize the Conservation Units nationwide with the goal of protecting the areas representative of the national territory regarding biodiversity. Criteria were defined and made uniform for the establishment and management of the different types of conservation units. The target of the program is to reach the protection of 10% of each Brazilian biomass, which would total approximately 80 million hectares or 10% or the country’s area. The total conserved area today is probably below 10 m million hectares.
A great controversy occurred in 2001 with the launch of an interim measure (MP) by the Federal Government, proposing a review of the Forestry Code or a higher law for the forestry sector, dating from 1945. The concepts were updated through this interim measure, however, what caused great opposition among great land owners in Amazonia was the proposition of deforesting only 20% of the area of a property in Amazonia, assuming that the Amazonia is qualified for forestry. Representatives of great landowners in the parliament demand 50%, to which the scientific and environmental communities opposed violently. The final result of this episode is still to come.
In French Guyana, there are no legal restrictions about forest extraction in French Guyana. There is an initiative to create a large National Park in the south of FG by the National Forest Office, that is in charge of 7,5 million ha of forest in FG, that is 90% of the territory area. They also have created the "Zones of General Ecological Interest" those are delimited in each forest to create large areas (from 10 000 to 50 000 ha) not subject to felling. They represent from 40 to 50% of the total area of the forest and include areas impossible to log as well as forest areas deliberately removed from logging.
In Bolivia, due to the great discussion on the management and conservation of the tropical forest, it was published in 1996 a New Forest Policy, giving directions for the use and conservation of the biodiversity. Recently, this policy was under analysis showing that 7 mi ha was legally with sustainable management projects, mainly in Bolivian Amazonia; it has to be emphasized that this Country has around 1 mi ha with certification. The situation in Bolivia is similar to Brazil in relation to this assumption.
2.4. Highlighted Species
The lists of arboreal species of Maximum Priority and high Priority for FAO’s actions were passed to the several collaborators, national and South American neighbors, for review. The collaborators were asked to justify any suggestion of change. There was a series of suggestions, which was carefully analyzed, trying to meet the coherent claims without exceeding the number of 10 species for the Maximum Priority list and 40 to the High Priority one.
We present the old (1999) and reviewed (2001) lists both for Maximum Priority and High Priority (ANNEX).
3. Final Considerations
In these past years it has been verified in Brazil and South America a significant increase of financing resources for research and development projects in the area of conservation and use of the forestry biodiversity. This has also generated a significant increase in the critical mass, and in the ecological-genetic knowledge of the forest species, as well as in the interactions between plant and animal/microorganism species. Nevertheless, even though all this, the tropical forest continues to be intensively exploited in a predatory and disordered way, taking us to believe the problem is less technical and scientific than political. On the other hand, the pressure of international and national environmental groups on tropical forest deforestation has also strongly increased in these last period, that reinforces the idea that the dominant political forces are in favor of the people that exploit the areas in a predatory way.
It also must be emphasized that innumerable research groups from South America have advanced in their research programmes, viewing the ecological, reproductive and genetic understanding of the tropical species, in the sense of proposing adequate strategies for the sustainable management of tropical forest. However, the knowledge that has been produced is more advanced than the management projects can incorporate. Add to that, as the knowledge that has been produced dismisses many paradigms and imposes conditions that need more elaborated and complex practices of exploitation, still there is a strong resistance of the managers to incorporate that information.
In relation to conservation, it is verified a general preoccupation in organizing the Protected Areas Systems, establishing more reserves in the Biomes with significant primary areas. In the more degraded regions, and where the population density is higher, the preoccupation is in relation to the restoration of these ecosystems, with significant advances on the models of mixed forest implantation with high species diversity. It also has been emphasized for the ex situ genetic conservation, as in Seed banks or Progeny tests.
4. List of Collaborators
I have to thank all the collaborators from Brazil and South America that give very important information for writing this report.
Brazil
- Ademir Reis - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Florianópolis-SC.
- Alexandre D. de Souza - Secretaria de Florestas e Extrativismo. Rio Branco-AC
- Alexandre M. Sebbenn - Instituto Florestal de São Paulo. Piracicaba-SP
- Alexandre Silva - Universidade Federal de Viçosa. Viçosa - MG.
- Ana Ciampi - CENARGEN/Embrapa. Brasília. DF
- Antonio A. Carpanezzi - Embrapa Florestas. Colombo-PR
- Carlos F. A.Castro - PNUD. Brasília-DF
- Francisco Elias Ribeiro e Edmar R. Siqueira. Embrapa Tabuleiros Costeiros. Aracaju-SE
- Flavio B. Gandara - ESALQ. Universidade de São Paulo. Piracicaba-SP
- Lázaro Chaves - Universidade Federla de Goiás. Goiânia. GO.
- Luiz Gonzaga da S. Costa - Faculdade Ciências Agrárias Pará. Belém-PA
- Ricardo R. Rodrigues e Natalia M. Ivanauskas - ESALQ. Universidade de São Paulo. Piracicaba-SP
- Walter S. Jacob - Votorantin Celulose e Papel. S. José dos Campos-SP
South America
- Bernd Degen, C. Julliot, D. Bonal, L. Maggia, M. Fuhr and M. Fournier - Silvolab. Kourou. French Guiana
- Carlos Llerena - Universidade de la Molina. Peru.
- Carlos Lopez - Universidade de Santiago del Estero. Argentina
- Fimo A. Daza - Basfor. Bolívia
- Jorge Mariaca - University of Wageningen. Holand.(Bolivia)
- Raul Nina - Banco de Germoplasma Agroforestal. Convenio FAO-Holanda.
5. Bibliography (cited and important)
Amaral, P. e M. Amaral Neto. 2001. Manejo Florestal Comunitário na Amazônia Brasileira: Situação atual, Desafios e Perspectivas. IMAZOM/GTZ
Contreras-Hermosillas, A. e Vrgas-Rios, M.T. 2001. Dimensiones Sociales, Ambientales y Economicas de las Reformas em la Politica Forestal de Bolivia. Forest Trends - CIFOR. Boplivia. 53 pp.
Diegues, A.C. e V. Viana (org). 2000, Comunidades Tradicionais e Manjo dos Recursos Naturais da Mata Atlântica. NUPAUB. São Paulo. 273 pp.
Conselho Nacional Reserva da Biosfera Mata Atlântica.2000. I Seminário Nacional Recursos Florestais da Mata Atlântica - Anais. 170 pp.
Garay, I. e B.F.S. Dias. 2001. Conservação da Biodiversidade em Ecossistemas Tropicais. Editora Vozes. 323 pp.
Conservation, Management and Sustainable Use of Forest Genetic Resources - with reference to Brazil and Argentina. IPGRI. Rome. Italy. Dec. 1999.
Nass, L. L. et al. (eds). 2001. Recursos Genéticos e melhoramento de Plantas. Fund. MT. Rondonópolis,MT. 1183 pp.
M.M.A. 1998. Primeiro Relatório Nacional para a Convenção sobre a Diversidade Biológica - Brasil. 283 pp.
Rodrigues, R.R. e H.F. Leitão Fo. 2000. Matas Ciliares - Conservação e Recuperação. Edusp e FAPESP. 320 pp.
Senado Federal. 1999. Seminárioa Internacional sobre Biodiversidade e Transgênicos - Anais. Senado Federal. Brasília. DF. 236 pp.
Reis, M.S. e A. Reis. 2000. Euterpe edulis - Biologia, Conservação e Manejo. Herbário Bnarbosa Rodrigues. Itajaí,SC. 335 pp.
SOBRADE. 2000. IV Simpósio Nacional de Recuperação de Áreas Degradadas: Silvicultura Ambiental - Anais. Blumenau.SC. 273 pp.
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