Amazon: 70 municipalities to receive funds to monitor deforestation in 2025

By Ana Cláudia Leocádio – From Cenarium

BRASÍLIA (DF) – Fifty municipalities, belonging to six states of the Legal Amazon, have already joined the “Union with Municipalities” programme and are eligible to receive financial resources from the federal government to set up deforestation and fire monitoring offices in their territories. Among the three capitals on the list, only Manaus (AM) has not yet adhered. In total, 70 are expected to be covered.

In total, 81 municipalities are considered priorities, as they record high deforestation rates and must develop actions for the prevention, control, and reduction of deforestation and forest degradation, according to Ministerial Order GM/MMA No. 1,202, published in November 2024 by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MMA).

The states of Mato Grosso and Pará have the highest number of municipalities eligible to join the programme, with 30 and 29 cities, respectively. They are followed by Amazonas, with ten; Rondônia, with six; Acre, with five; and Roraima, with two municipalities.

Of the six Amazonian states with priority municipalities, only Acre has completed its adhesion with its five municipalities: Feijó, Manoel Urbano, Rio Branco, Sena Madureira, and Tarauacá. Of the ten in Amazonas, Apuí, Boca do Acre, Canutama, Humaitá, Itapiranga, Manicoré, Maués, and Lábrea have already joined. Manaus and Novo Aripuanã are yet to join.

Pará, which has 29 cities eligible for adhesion, has 22 in the programme, according to the MMA: Altamira, Anapu, Cumaru do Norte, Dom Eliseu, Itaituba, Itupiranga, Jacareacanga, Marabá, Medicilândia, Novo Progresso, Paragominas, Placas, Portel, Prainha, Rondon do Pará, Rurópolis, Santana do Araguaia, São Félix do Xingu, Trairão, Ulianópolis, Uruará, and Santa Maria das Barreiras.

Of Rondônia’s six municipalities, three have adhered: Candeias do Jamari, Nova Mamoré, and Porto Velho. In Roraima, only Mucajaí has registered in the programme, with Rorainópolis still pending.

The state of Mato Grosso, which has 30 priority municipalities for the federal government, already has 11 adherents: Bom Jesus do Araguaia, Cláudia, Comodoro, Cotriguaçu, Feliz Natal, Nova Bandeirantes, Nova Ubiratã, Peixoto de Azevedo, Querência, Rondolândia, and São José do Xingu.

Contract worth R$ 61 million

Last Thursday, the 20th, the MMA signed a contract worth R$ 61 million to structure the “Municipal Governance Offices”, which will monitor deforestation in 70 priority municipalities of the Legal Amazon. Since 50 have already adhered since the ministerial order was published in 2024, there are still 20 vacancies left to complete the 70 foreseen in the contract.

The deadline for adhesion closes on 30 April this year. “As soon as municipalities join the programme, they will be eligible to receive the benefits of this contract, as well as others that the programme will offer, such as land tenure regularisation, environmental regularisation, technical assistance, native vegetation recovery, and payment for environmental services,” the ministry reported.

In addition to setting up an office, municipalities will also receive vehicles, boats, computers, and drones, as well as training and technical assistance to strengthen environmental monitoring and control actions. “The goal is to qualify local teams to act more efficiently in combating deforestation and forest degradation and promoting sustainable practices,” the ministry highlighted.

According to the MMA, the Union with Municipalities programme is one of the implementation tools of the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon (PPCDAm) and is supported by the Floresta+ Amazônia Project. It will be implemented through a partnership with the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (Funbio) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

“The partnership with municipalities is a way of creating a link with society. The command-and-control agenda, which must become increasingly intense, is more effective when there is a National Environmental System functioning across different federative entities – Union, States, and municipalities,” declared Minister Marina Silva after signing the contract at the MMA headquarters in Brasília (DF).

Increase in deforestation

The contract is another initiative of the federal government in its strategy to reduce deforestation in the Amazon, launched in 2023. Concerns have grown following record fires recorded in 2024, when the biome suffered severe impacts from the flames.

According to Prodes, a system of the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), compared to 2022, deforestation in the Amazon decreased by approximately 46% in 2024. “In the last year, from August 2023 to July 2024, the reduction was 30.63% compared to the previous period. It is the highest percentage decline in 15 years,” the MMA reported.

According to the Extraordinary Secretary for Deforestation Control and Territorial Environmental Management of the MMA, André Lima, the partnership with municipalities in creating these governance offices aims to provide conditions for these federative entities to protect their territories and implement effective environmental policies.

Adherent municipalities:

• Acre: Feijó, Manoel Urbano, Rio Branco, Sena Madureira, Tarauacá.
• Amazonas: Apuí, Boca do Acre, Canutama, Humaitá, Itapiranga, Manicoré, Maués, and Lábrea.
• Mato Grosso: Bom Jesus do Araguaia, Cláudia, Comodoro, Cotriguaçu, Feliz Natal, Nova Bandeirantes, Nova Ubiratã, Peixoto de Azevedo, Querência, Rondolândia, São José do Xingu.
• Pará: Altamira, Anapu, Cumaru do Norte, Dom Eliseu, Itaituba, Itupiranga, Jacareacanga, Marabá, Medicilândia, Novo Progresso, Paragominas, Placas, Portel, Prainha, Rondon do Pará, Rurópolis, Santana do Araguaia, São Félix do Xingu, Trairão, Ulianópolis, Uruará, Santa Maria das Barreiras.
• Rondônia: Candeias do Jamari, Nova Mamoré, Porto Velho.
• Roraima: Mucajaí.

Municipalities yet to adhere:

• Amazonas: Manaus and Novo Aripuanã.
• Mato Grosso: Apiacás, Aripuanã, Colniza, Confresa, Conquista D’Oeste, Gaúcha do Norte, Guarantã do Norte, Juara, Juína, Marcelândia, Nova Maringá, Paranaíta, Paranatinga, Porto dos Gaúchos, Ribeirão Cascalheira, Santa Terezinha, São Félix do Araguaia, União do Sul, and Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade.
• Pará: Bannach, Moju, Mojuí dos Campos, Novo Repartimento, Pacajá, and Senador José Porfírio.
• Rondônia: Buritis, Cujubim, and Machadinho D’Oeste.
• Roraima: Rorainópolis.

Translated from Portuguese by Gustô Alves