NINE YEARS OF WORKSHOP: OVERVIEW ON RESULTS OF DEFINITION OF PRIORITY AREAS FOR CAATINGA CONSERVATION

Abstract

Nine years after the Workshop “Avaliação e Ações Prioritárias para Conservação da Biodiversidade na Caatinga” [Evaluation and Priorities for the Conservation of the Caatinga Biodiversity”, and seven years after the publication of the results, its implications for the establishment of Caatinga protected areas, in the biome were analyzed. Using geoprocessing tools, we measured the extension of federal and state protected areas within the biome and evaluated the main advances since the event. Eight conservation units have been created, with a total area of 1.079.007 hectares. Of these, only four are fully protected, covering 39.277 ha, or 3,64% of the total area. Paraíba with two was the Brazilian state with the most units. Sergipe and Bahia also created two protected areas, but one of these is shared between them and also with Alagoas. Bahia had the largest area under protection, with 1.024.308 hectares, being 1.018.000 ha in a single area, the Ambiental Protected Area of the ‘Lago de Sobradinho’. Six of the eight new protected areas were partly or wholly within areas identified by the workshop as top priority for conservation, with a total area 680.702 ha. Despite the significant establishment of units in priority areas, the workshop recommendations were not entirely applied, concerning the type of protected area to be established. Differences in attainment between both governmental spheres analyzed were also verified.