By Rhuan C. Soletti
The governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho (MDB), said on Monday (15) that the state government intends to hold auctions of forest area concessions starting next semester.
“Initially, we should put on the market about 4 million hectares of public forest areas for private concession,” he said during a seminar of the Esfera Brasil group.
The governor emphasized the importance of preserving the forests and restoring areas that were deforested in the past. He highlighted that the state is a signatory of the United Nations (UN) pact to achieve the neutralization of carbon emissions.
Pará has established an ambitious goal, seeking to reach this objective by 2036, while Brazil’s goal is to zero out the production of pollutant gases by 2050.
According to the governor, 10,000 to 20,000 hectares of anthropized areas will initially be made available, i.e., territories in which the original vegetation has been modified.
“We will be innovating by offering restoration areas so producers can plant seeds and recompose the forest area,” said Helder.
SO WHAT?
According to Helder, this initiative seeks to sustainably create job and income opportunities.
“Pará can be an example of reconciliation of its original vocations, of reconciliation of its forest assets,” he said.
In addition, he defended the opportunity being studied by Petrobras to explore oil in the Amazon River Mouth Basin, located on the border between Pará and Amapá.
“I defend that Ibama allows Petrobras to research and from there establish in the environmentally correct criteria which methodology and mechanism that can be done the exploration with the least impact possible and, consequently, can allow this opportunity to arise,” he said.
“I can admit that France has been exploring for oil in this same basin for 10 years, and Brazil does not allow itself to research so that a company the size of Petrobras can do the same? Between research and ideology, I’ll take research,” he declared.
Questioned if he had already shared this idea with the federal government, Governor Helder affirmed that he had already had a conversation about it with the current occupant of the presidency, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
According to Helder, Lula committed to mediating the matter with the environmental regulatory agencies.
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