Bolsa Floresta Program facts for kids

The Bolsa Floresta Program (which means "Forest Grant Program" in Portuguese) was a special project in Amazonas, Brazil. It was run by the Amazonas Sustainability Foundation. The program aimed to protect forests by encouraging people to use them in a way that doesn't harm them for the future. It gave money and other help to families living in protected forest areas. In return, these families agreed to help protect the forests.

How the Program Started

The Amazonas Sustainability Foundation

The Amazonas Sustainability Foundation (FAS) is a private group based in Manaus, Brazil. It works to protect the environment by helping people live in a way that uses nature wisely. FAS was created in December 2007. Its main job was to manage the Bolsa Floresta program and other environmental projects.

FAS gets its money from different groups, including other non-profit organizations, government bodies, and private companies. Many big companies like Coca-Cola, Samsung, and Marriott International helped fund the program.

The Bolsa Floresta Program's Beginnings

The Bolsa Floresta Program (PBF) started from ideas in 2003 to help people use natural resources in a way that benefits the environment. The Amazonas State Secretariat of the Environment and Sustainable Development (SDS) began the program in September 2007. In March 2008, they gave the program to FAS to manage.

The main money for Bolsa Floresta came from Banco Bradesco and the Amazon Fund. The Amazon Fund gets support from the Brazilian Development Bank and the government of Norway. FAS, SDS, and other groups used satellite images to check how much deforestation was happening each year.

Who Could Join the Program?

The Bolsa Floresta program was for families living along rivers in special protected areas in Amazonas. Joining the program was completely voluntary. At first, it focused on these protected areas because rules were already in place for them. The plan was to expand the program to other areas later.

Many families who could join the program had very low incomes. However, they also got food and other things from farming, hunting, fishing, and collecting forest products. This helped them live better.

What Participants Agreed To Do

Families in the program received social benefits and support for their community groups. In return, they had to:

• Attend workshops about protecting the environment.
• Promise not to clear new areas of the old, untouched forest for farming.
• Make sure their children went to school regularly.

The main goal was to make life better for these families by showing how valuable the standing forest is. The program had slightly stricter rules than the general rules for the protected areas. For example, families had to join their local reserve association and pay a small fee. They could only clear newer, secondary growth for their crops, not the old forest. Even with these rules, almost all eligible families chose to join the Bolsa Floresta program.

Where the Program Operated

By the end of 2008, the program covered several protected areas. These included the Uatumã, Mamirauá, Piagaçu-Purus, Uacari, and Cujubim sustainable development reserves, and the Catuá-Ipixuna Extractive Reserve.

By 2016, the program was working in fifteen protected areas. These areas covered more than 100,000 square kilometers (about 38,600 square miles). One of these, the Juma Sustainable Development Reserve, was part of a special project called REDD+. REDD+ helps reduce deforestation and forest damage. The other fourteen areas were getting ready to join REDD+.

Parts of the Program

The Bolsa Floresta program had four main parts: income, family, association, and social.

Income Component

This part of the program helped families find ways to earn money without harming the forest. This included:

• Processing local products to make them more valuable.
• Ecotourism (tourism that focuses on nature).
• Fish farming.
• Making natural honey.
• Raising small animals.

Family Component

This part gave a small monthly payment (about US$30) to each family. This money was given to the mothers in the families as a reward for helping to protect the forest.

Association Component

This part gave money to the groups or associations of people living in the protected areas. These groups could decide how they wanted to use the money. This helped make the communities stronger and gave them more control over the program. The money for this part was about 10% of what families received.

Social Component

This part worked with government groups to improve things like education, clean water, health, communication, and transportation. Health was a very important part of the program. The program worked with other groups to improve health for people in Bolsa Floresta areas.

Common health problems in these areas included Malaria, diarrhea, influenza (flu), and helminthiasis (worm infections). These made up about 95% of the diseases. FAS helped train health workers to prevent these diseases. For example, giving out water purification packets in the Rio Gregório Extractive Reserve in 2015 greatly reduced cases of diarrhea.

End of the Program

In 2018, the Bolsa Floresta Program was replaced by a new program. The new program is called "Programa Floresta em Pé," which means "Standing Forests Program."

Sources

• . Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

See also

In Spanish: Programa Bolsa Floresta para niños