Serra do Salitre promotes the conservation of water resources with the CCA.

PIPC Workshop brings together producers and institutions to discuss water resource conservation and environmental preservation strategies.

Through the PIPC, a workshop brought together a diverse audience for discussion and proposals on the care of water resources.

Since November 11th, the Cerrado das Águas Consortium has begun implementing the expansion of its methodology to the municipality of Serra do Salitre. On that day, the first PIPC Workshop – Investment Program in the Conscious Producer – was held in the municipality, whose main economic activity is agriculture. The workshop brought together various sectors for a debate and proposals for actions to conserve water resources.

During the morning, rural producers, local and neighboring municipalities' public authorities, entities linked to water supply, companies, and banking institutions participated in two important sessions for discussing water issues.

“With adverse events and climate change, this is the time to take concrete actions to solve the problem. The CCA (Community Environmental Control) started in Patrocínio and is now arriving in Serra do Salitre, as it already has other municipalities with proposals to join, thus creating a large green corridor here in the Triângulo Mineiro and Alto Paranaíba regions, bringing about a general and positive change in our ecosystem, improving the quality of life of the population, with more efficient production processes, soil conservation and water resource management. It has come to bring about a general change in the region as a whole,”

Assesses Augusto Peres Arruda, Secretary of the Environment of Serra do Salitre.

ZAP – Productive Environmental Zoning

The ZAP - Productive Environmental Zoning, a consolidated instrument in Minas Gerais that contributes to territorial planning aimed at the sustainable use of natural resources, was developed in partnership with SEBRAE/INAES and presented by SEBRAE's technical consultant, Fabiana Vilela, to the participants. The ZAP study helps in understanding the dynamics of these basins as well as in identifying areas with greater potential for restoration, thus guaranteeing the provision of important ecosystem services.

“With the first PIPC workshop in Serra do Salitre, the work of building sustainable productive landscapes within the Ribeirão Grande basin was launched. In this first workshop, we learned more about the state of conservation of the basin, listened to the producers, and presented the strategies that the CCA has to improve the productivity of their properties,”

Said Fabiane Sebaio, executive secretary of the Cerrado das Águas Consortium.

Facilitating Dynamics

The second part of the workshop promoted interaction among participants, sharing experiences, visions for improvements, and possible actions for the conservation of water resources. Participants understood the working methodology of the Cerrado das Águas Consortium and supported its initiatives, considering the results already presented in the pilot project in the Feio stream basin, in Patrocínio, a neighboring municipality.

The workshop also presented an experiment on Soil Conservation: infiltration and surface runoff demonstrated by the CCA team. In a didactic way, the importance of land use planning was demonstrated, allowing water to infiltrate the soil, replenishing the water table and preventing erosion processes and, consequently, the loss of the arable layer of the soil.

The experiment reflects the importance of implementing smart agriculture practices in controlling soil and water losses in arable areas, maximizing productivity, making tangible the way the Cerrado das Águas Consortium operates, and drawing the attention of the producers present at the event.

“The event was a starting point and very important for the preservation of springs and the soil in general. It is a very important process because it will be done together with the producer, the private sector, and the city hall, which has offered to provide machinery and equipment to do what is necessary to plant and restore the conditions of the springs. The point that deserves highlighting is the chain that the CCA proposes, uniting the producer and companies for the same objective. This partnership will show us how we can improve what we already do to take care of the springs and the soil,”

Assesses rural producer Osmar Pedron.

PIPC and Individual Workshops

The CCA's great differentiator is its ability to establish an inclusive partnership between the sectors involved, understanding the needs of rural producers and helping them to think about and execute actions according to their possibilities.

The CCA offers specialized services for the environmental development of properties in the basin in three areas: restoration, climate-smart agricultural practices, and efficient water resource management. Thus, by joining this Program, the producer receives the PIP – Individual Property Plan, developed by the CCA's technical and specialist team for each producer to implement specific strategies for their farm, aligned with the platform's main objective: climate resilience of production.

Between November 12th and 26th, the CCA team met with producers to present the PIP – Individual Property Plan. A total of 13 producers adhered to the methodology and the agreed-upon strategies and actions, and will now promote the construction of a sustainable productive landscape for the Ribeirão Grande basin.

“The Ribeirão Grande basin has a total APP (Permanent Preservation Area) of 1,410 hectares, of which 568 hectares require restoration strategies, according to a SEBRAE diagnosis. In the priority area for conservation defined by the SEBRAE studies, which is the upper Ribeirão Grande and the Ribeirão Cachoeira sub-basin, 158 properties were surveyed. Of this total, 44 properties are already registered and 20 have had their diagnoses finalized with the PIP (Individual Property Plan), totaling 50 hectares indicated to producers for restoration in this cycle (December 2021 and March 2022). In the negotiation workshop, we obtained the acceptance of 13 producers to restore 30.09 hectares on 18 properties. Next year (2022) we will expand the registration and diagnosis, and this potential area will increase,”

Says Fabiane Sebaio.

About the Cerrado Waters Consortium

Created in 2015 in Patrocínio, Minas Gerais, the Cerrado Waters Consortium aims to raise awareness among producers in the region about the importance of their environmental assets through diagnosis and investment in them, ensuring their long-term preservation.

The initiative has the following companies as associate members: Nescafé, Expocaccer, Nespresso, Lavazza, Cooxupé, Cofco, Volcafé, Stockler, in addition to supporting institutions such as the Cerrado Coffee Growers Federation, CerVivo, Imaflora, and IEB – International Institute of Education of Brazil.

In 2019, the pilot project received US$410,000 from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) to implement the program that initially promoted investment in and protection of natural ecosystems in the Córrego Feio basin.

The amount is the largest grant ever awarded by the CEPF, which has demanding donors such as the French Development Agency (AFD), the European Union, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Government of Japan, and the World Bank.

________________ Image credits: CCA Archive