The constant search for innovative techniques and best quality for the management of environmental impacts guided the project "Techniques of Ecological Economic Zoning of Productive Arrangements for Mineral Small Producer”, developed in partnership with the Federal Government. Brandt has demonstrated that a good methodology ensures quality, safety planning and sustainable development and could be applied to different regions.


Developing new techniques

Pirenópolis, Cocalzinho de Goiás, Corumbá de Goiás Goias; Guararema, Santa Isabel in the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo; Salto do Jacuí, Estrela Velha, Julio de Castilhos in Rio Grande do Sul have been chosen as experimental areas of the project developed, because they are areas where the environment was being degraded.

The project, coordinated by the Alexander Brandt Foundation (FABrandt), had a team of students of the chosen regions, called by the Federal Govermment and selected by the MCT (Ministry of Science and Technology), who have been trained at the office of FABrandt, in Belo Horizonte, to learn about the techniques that would be used in fieldwork. From this training, the coordinator of the project went to each region to begin practice.

The maps prepared by satellite images at 1:10,000 scale, have been made compatible with the fieldwork diagnosis of each region in the physical, biotic and social economic aspects, which allows the understanding of the ecological aspects of the landscape mapped, which may then be managed from guidelines described.

"It was a challenge to Brandt Meio Ambiente, because they have been analyzed at the same in time three distinct regions. Proving that it is possible to map and compare different areas, using a standard methodology, " said Markus Weber, forester engineer, environmental analyst and project coordinator.

The study also defines guidelines of improvements in favour of social and environmental issues, and is more detailed is understandable to an ordinary citizen. This different technique, standardized and effective, has resulted in an amazing job. "We are able to compare the south of Brazil with the northern region" said Weber.

As results of the contract between the MCT (Ministry of Science and Technology), FINEP (Financier of Studies and Projects), CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) and the Alexander Brandt Foundation, the report presents maps of economic-ecological zoning turned to the regional planning, with marks that have become an extremely useful tool, reaching, mainly, informal miners and small miners.

As soon as these studies are used, the benefits of planning will be sought for implementation of APL's (Local Productive Arrangements) and social inclusion, as in Goiás, where the APL's are already in planning based on maps made in this study.

In Weber’s evaluation, the investment is low and accessible to municipalities: "diagnoses with good maps describe the best activities for each region"