Ecosystem Profile
Atlantic Forest Biodiversity Hotspot (Brazil)
The CEPF's niche is the opportunity to increase the number and size of conservation priority areas under protection and management in the two defined corridors through innovative public/private alliances and partnerships. An important element of this niche is the opportunity to complement existing corridor efforts such as the PPG-7.
The threats to biodiversity, and investments in conservation, in the Central and Serra do Mar biodiversity corridors reflect a complex situation where many programs lack integration and synergy. Furthermore, insufficient resources are directed to key conservation priorities, such as corridor-scale conservation planning; creation and maintenance of protected areas; and conservation of individual species. CEPF can address these needs not only by addressing key conservation issues directly, but also by influencing important large-scale projects, which will start soon or are still in a final design and operationalization phase.
CEPF intends to encourage NGOs to increase their participation in conservation in the corridors through innovative public/private alliances and partnerships. NGOs are particularly capable of promoting and enforcing regulatory mechanisms in protected areas, such as national parks, biological reserves and natural patrimony private reserves (RPPNs); of identifying economic incentives; of mediating conflicts; and of disseminating information to users and stakeholders. Furthermore, NGOs have shown the capacity to attract substantial financial support; those participating in CEPF projects in the Atlantic Forest will be required to demonstrate leveraging opportunities to complement the CEPF effort.
The recommended CEPF investment will focus, preferentially, on key projects determined by the Atlantic Forest Priority-Setting Workshop in the Central Corridor and the Serra do Mar Corridor, which aim to secure corridor systems, protect microcorridors, consolidate key protected areas and create new ones, and protect reference sites for long-term scientific study.
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