FAS launches book that tells the trajectory of the payment program to riverside families for environmental services

Guilherme Oliveira – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – For almost 15 years, the Sustainable Amazon Foundation (FAS) has put into practice the Bolsa Floresta Program (Forest Aid – PBL) for families who live in or use 16 Conservation Units (UCs) in Amazonas. The project consists of a bonus for environmental services. In order to share the fruits of the work developed and highlight the obstacles encountered in the development of the action, FAS has launched a book to divulge the performance of the largest program of payment for environmental services in tropical forests in the world. The book is the result of more than 970 participative planning workshops held between 2008 and 2021.

Entitled “Bolsa Floresta Program: history, lessons and challenges of an innovative public policy for the Amazon”, the work is organized in four parts. The chapters discuss themes such as the origin of the Bolsa Floresta Program; the program’s evolution; knowledge acquired about the socio-environmental realities in the protected areas; and perspectives for new public policy paths for sustainable development.

How it was born

Since its creation, the program annually benefits, in cash, more than 37 thousand people. Around 9 thousand families, in 582 communities, are helped by the PBL. The beneficiaries are volunteers linked to participation in capacity-building workshops on climate change and environmental services, in addition to not opening new areas for planting in native forests.

How to reward the forest guardians for the benefits generated to Brazil and the planet by the ecosystems they protect? How to reverse climate injustice, where those who are least responsible for climate change are the most affected? These are the questions raised by the creators of the project at the time of conception of the program, and that reappear in the body of the recently released book as a way of recalling the main motivations for the action.

Perspectives for Amazonas

According to the statement of Virgilio Viana, general superintendent of FAS, the goal was to “conceive an innovative program within the Amazon logistics context, with the capacity to engage and mobilize everyone”. According to Viana, the challenge of keeping the forest standing would only come from this engagement.

The expectation is that the exemplar will add even more contributions to the success of the program’s expansion in the state. “We hope that this will ensure an even more successful future. After all, this is the largest payment program for environmental services in tropical forests in the world and the best evaluated internationally. We hope that this book will contribute to this future, as a record of a fundamental period in the history of the program,” said the superintendent.

United for the Amazon

In the acknowledgments segment, the program fosters gratitude for the support of the Amazonas State Government and other partners, the FAS professionals who committed themselves to come to the deep Amazon to take care of those who take care of the forest and, primarily, to the benefited families, who “show that the forest is worth more standing than cut down and that one can associate life quality improvement to the conservation of the Amazon biodiversity”.

The PBL is a branch of the Floresta em Pé Program (PFP/FAZ) focused on income generation, entrepreneurship, community infrastructure, and empowerment of Amazonian communities. Through the project, the beneficiaries have access to complementary actions in the areas of income generation, improvement of community infrastructure, and empowerment of associations.

About FAS

The Sustainable Amazon Foundation (FAS) is a non-profit organization that disseminates and implements knowledge about sustainable development. In this way, it contributes to the conservation of the Amazon and works with projects focused on education, entrepreneurship, sustainable tourism, innovation, health, and other areas. By valuing the forest and socio-biodiversity, the Foundation develops work that promotes the improvement of the quality of life of the riverside, indigenous and peripheral communities of the Amazon.