At last month’s United Nations biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia, the Brazilian delegation proposed an ambitious program: Under its newly revised initiative to restore native ecosystems, it would reforest 12 million hectares of land — about 30 million acres, or half the size of the U.K. — by 2030. Experts interviewed by Mongabay have welcomed the initiative, known as Planaveg, but noted the challenges of restoring an area this vast within such a short period. Marcelo Elvira, executive secretary of the Observatory of the Forest Code (OCF), said his NGO is “optimistic about the new Planaveg,” describing it as the result of a collaborative process led by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. “We expect this initiative to get the Forest Code off the ground,” he said, but added that “Planaveg is a direction … it’s not only an initiative of the federal government, it also needs the state governments [on board].” The Forest Code Thermometer, an index that monitors the implementation of Brazil’s Forest Code and developed by NGOs and research institutes including the OCF, shows widespread noncompliance with the code. It records 20.7 million hectares (51.2 million acres) of native vegetation on private land that should have been preserved but wasn’t. This includes areas designated as permanent conservation areas (APPs) and legal reserves. According to the OCF, legal reserves — the area of native vegetation on a rural plot that must be preserved — account for the largest share, with 17.8 million hectares (44 million acres) degraded.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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