Bio-diversity

Cerrado conservation and maintenance of its biodiversity have proved to be an effective means of keeping the small farmers in production in their lands, making them partners in this conservation effort, while at the same time presenting a series of alternatives for generation of income and renovation in the agricultural work. In the Caxambu community, municipality of Piren polis, state of Goi s, group of small farmers started, in 1997, to work toward recovering their lands through the production of organic vegetables. The smallholders currently see the need to expand this initiative to the environment as a whole, introducing biodiversity recovery and maintenance activities, as well as protection of the water courses. These resources are currently threatened and highly degraded. To reach this objective, a diagnosis of environmental conditions in the region will be undertaken, in conjunction with a biodiversity recovery and conservation plan. Furthermore, ecological management systems will be implemented in the small rural properties for sustainable production, agroecologic production units will be implemented, alternative energy generation will be installed, a fair trade system will be created, and community participation will be expanded.

Brazil