Brazil Has 100,000 Caves and Very Little Protection for Them

Brazilian cave Brazil is starting a national program for conservation of caves this week. The Brazilian acting minister of Environment, Izabela Teixeira, signed an agreement on the matter. The idea is to adopt a national strategy for conservation of caves. According to estimates, Brazil has around 100,000 caves.

The program forecasts the creation of 30 federal conservation units, an inventory of cave assets in Brazil and the issuing of a publication on the matter. Brazil has a great number of caves due to the land being appropriate for Karst topography, geological relief whose characteristics include rock corrosion.

Despite estimates being for 100,000 caves in Brazil, there are just 6,034 registered in the National Center for Studies, Protection and Management of Caves (Cecav). Out of the total, 1,883 are within conservation areas. And of those in protected areas, just 25% are restricted to human presence.

The occupation of caves is a concern of environmentalists in Brazil, due to the pressure and degradation they suffer from human action. "We must define regulations for these activities. Apart from the society getting involved in actions for protection of Brazilian caves, alongside other sectors," explained Cecav head Jocy Brandão.

The Chico Mendes Institute for Conservation of Biodiversity (ICMBio) should coordinate the national program. For this reason, the organization should establish an advising committee, established by the Cecav, to help in the elaboration, implementation and monitoring of the program. The names to be included in the committee will be disclosed in 90 days.

Anba

Tags:

You May Also Like

For Greenpeace, Brazil Is Serious About Ending Illegal Logging in the Amazon

The Brazilian Federal Police carried out a full-size operation in Mato Grosso which resulted ...

Development with Justice, Job Number 1 in Brazil

Development will be Brazil’s battle cry for the next two years. According to the ...

Brazil’s Growth Recipe: Exports Up and Inflation Down

Brazil’s Institute of Applied Economic Policy (Ipea) released its Conjunctural Bulletin #68, with revised ...

In Brazil Voting Is Serious Business and Mandatory to Boot

Brazil’s Election Board, the TSE, which is actually a court consisting of federal judges ...

Lula Wants Brazil and Its Mercosur Partners to Patch Up Differences

In a statement to the press after his meeting Thursday, March 16, with the ...

Trump’s Brazilian Apprentice Has Become the Master

Ricardo Bellino, a young Brazilian entrepreneur  is the personification of that self-made man who ...

Brazil’s Gol Starts Low-Fare Airline in Mexico

Brazilian Airline Gol announced that it executed definitive agreements related to the joint venture ...

Brazil Starts to Plan How to Use Its New-Found Oil Riches

Brazil's minister of Planning, Paulo Bernardo, confirmed that the Brazilian government intends to change ...

Trying to Halt Brazil

Let us hope this display of bullying by the joint blue and white collar ...

IBRD Praises Brazil for the Way It Treats Handicapped Citizens

Brazil is advancing "hugely," compared with other Latin American countries, in measures for the ...