As the case study of the Morro do Diabo State Park, environmental education programs can be effectively implemented in Brazilian Federal protected areas. Here is some background information of the protected areas in Brazil.

     Brazil has several classifications of protected areas: national parks, ecological stations, biological reserves, national forests, extractive reserves, and environmental protection areas. Additionally, states and private landowners may set aside areas for protection. The federal government has 86 conservation areas under strict preservation, covering almost 160,000 km2 (table 5.1). Of these, 36 are national parks, 23 are ecological stations, 23 are biological reserves, and four are ecological reserves (WWF 1999).

Table 5.1 Federal Protected Areas in Brazil
Category/Units	Number	Total Area (km^2)	% of Country Territory
Strict preservation	103	158895.43	1.87
National parks	36
Biological reserves	23
Ecological stations	21
Ecological reserves	5
Areas of relevant ecological interests	18
Sustainable use	81	231786.68	2.72
Environmental protection areas	24
National forests	46
Extractive reserves	11
TOTAL	184	390682.11	4.59

    The World Bank outlined the following problems with Brazil's protected area system:

1. Understaffing of management agencies. Amazonian parks, for example, have only one park field agent for every 6,000 km2, as compared to one agent for every 82 km2 in the United States (Peres and Terborgh 1995).
2. The complexities of populations residing within the boundaries of protected areas. As of 1994, about 20 percent of the lands within national parks, biological reserves, and national forests was in private hands (World Bank 1994).
3. Few alternative strategies have been pursued for management of protected areas without removal of human populations (World Bank 1994).
4. The lack of necessary funding and implementing capacity to sufficiently protect and manage conservation units.
   

Further specifics to look into that would help our education/park management solutions:

• Mamiraua State Park and Jau National Park, both in the state of Amazonas, are two success stories of achieving forest protection with resident communities (Verissimo, personal communication 1999).
• There is a movement within IBAMA to give greater administrative autonomy to conservation units, allowing managers the opportunity to use part of the revenues that are generated locally through, for example, ecotourism.
• NGOs themselves are likewise increasingly involved in the preparation of management plans for and in the management of protected areas. In Jau National Park, for example, the nongovernmental organization Fundacao Vitoria Amazonica is quite successfully assisting IBAMA in this manner.
• Brazil has parks that have high potential for tourism (Iguassu, Orgaos, and Itatiaia) and many that do not. Mobilizing domestic and international expertise would be very helpful in bringing to bear experience in making parks financially viable and determining the roles of the private sector and NGO partnerships based on concrete examples of successful experiences elsewhere.
  

Source: Lele, Uma, Virgilio Viana, Adalberto Verissimo, Stephen Vosti, Karin Perkins, and Syed Arif Husain. (2000). Brazil Forests in the Balance: Challenges of Conservation with Development. Evaluation Country Case Study Series. Retrieved November 7th, 2002, from http://www.worldbank.org/html/oed

    The management agency of protected areas in Brazil is IBAMA, which is then organized into five directorates: Directorate of Ecosystems (DIREC), Directorate of Natural Renewable Resources (DIREN), Directorate of Incentive to Research and Promotion (DIRPED), Directorate concerned with Monitoring and Control (DIRCOF), and Directorate of Administration and Finances (DIRAF).

1. National Parks and Biological Reserves- hunting, collecting or the introduction of wild of domestic fauna and flora species was prohibited. (managed by DIREC)
2. Ecological Stations- representative areas of the Brazilian ecosystems, for the purpose of basic and applied research in ecology, protection of nature and development of education concerned with conservation. (managed by DIREC)
3. Environmental Protection Areas- established to assure the quality of life of human populations and conserve local ecological conditions.  (managed by DIREC)
4. National Forests- (managed by DIREN)
5. Extractive Reserves- sustainable exploitation by contractors with conservation of the renewable natural resources. (magnaged by the Ministry of Environment)

   PRONEA set no specific policies concerning the implementation and development of systematic aprroaches of environmental education in federal protected areas.

    Here is some background information on environmental education in the protected areas in Brazil.

    Problem: Hardly any national parks have formally established environmental education programs as part of their work structure. (Padua and Jacobson, 1993).

Source: Filho, Walter Leal, Cristina A.R. de Carvalho, and William H.G. Hale. (1998). Environmental Education in Protected Areas. Ch. 6 Environmental Education and Protected Areas in Brazil. p103-120. Carnforth, UK: The Parthenon Publishing Group Limited.


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