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Brazil is implementing some initiatives for integrated landscape management, such as the development of regional and state Ecological-Economic Zoning, ecological corridors and watershed committees. The degree of integration of these instruments into local and regional planning and development vary from state to state but, where applied, constitute important elements contributing to increase environmental sustainability.

Ecological-Economic Zoning (EEZ): Brazil developed in 2001 and revised in 2003 and

2006 the methodological guidelines for the preparation of Brazil‟s Ecological-Economic Zoning, to be developed by state or region. The methodology was initially applied to regional EEZ efforts such as the Rio Parnaíba Watershed and the Macro-EEZ of the Legal Amazon, and was later applied by individual states, although few states have already concluded this planning tool. The state of Acre (in the Amazon Region), for example, concluded its EEZ in 2007 and is applying it as a guiding tool for state development. Acre is currently detailing its EEZ to the municipal level and including the ethnological zoning of the indigenous lands in the state. The state of Rondônia has also concluded its EEZ, currently under implementation. The other seven states of the Legal Amazon (Amapá, Amazonas, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Pará, Roraima, and Tocantins) have also prepared or are preparing EEZs at least at the 1:1,000,000 scale. Some are detailing the EEZ to the 1:250:000 scale and are applying it at varying degrees for strategic decisions such as environmental licensing. In most of the other 17 states and the Federal District EEZs are being developed for specific priority portions of the territory, usually for the major watershed or the coastal zone, or a different crucial area. By 2010, approximately 48-50% of the national territory was addressed by ecological-economic zoning, currently ready for implementation. These EEZs were developed at the 1:250,000 scale, but some projects were detailed to the 1:100,000 or 1:50,000 scale. The remaining EEZ projects under development address approximately 13% of the national territory.

Ecological Corridors: The Ministry of the Environment (MMA) also coordinates, since

2002, the Ecological Corridors Project with the objective of demonstrating the viability of these corridors as instruments for territorial management. The project is working with two pilots, to be concluded in 2011: the Central Atlantic Forest Corridor (21 million hectares, including 8 million hectares of marine area) and the Central Amazon Corridor (52 million hectares). The Central Amazon Corridor is entirely located within Amazonas state, along the Solimões and Negro Rivers, in one of the most preserved areas of the Amazon Forest.

Therefore, the strategy of the project for this corridor is to maintain forest integrity and invest in alternative activities for income generation with the sustainable use of biodiversity. The Atlantic Forest Corridor crosses two coastal states (Bahia and Espírito Santo) with high human occupation and encompasses mostly private lands, requiring a strategy that involves reforestation, incentives for the maintenance and restoration of permanent preservation areas and registration of legal reserves, and incentives for the creation of new protected areas, especially Private Reserves of the Natural Heritage (RPPNs). Starting in 2009 the 8 million hectares of marine area in the Atlantic Forest Corridor was designated the Marine Corridor, given the need to plan specific actions for this marine portion. The strategy for the Marine Corridor includes a focal area (the Abrolhos Complex Focal Area) and the implementation of mini-corridors through actions related to protected areas; interstitial areas; and enforcement, vigilance and monitoring. The corridors are implemented through partnerships among the three levels of government and NGOs. Decisions are made with the participation of the decentralized committees in each state, and the project receives financial support from the Brazil-Germany Cooperation. The project also developed integrated enforcement plans with the participation of several public agencies, including IBAMA, the Public Ministry, military police, and state agencies. Based on the experience of this project, the Ministry of the Environment, through its Department of Protected Areas, is developing a manual on instruments for territorial management for conservation: ecological corridors, mosaics of protected areas, and Biosphere Reserves.

Mosaics of Protected Areas: This management model seeks the participation, integration

and involvement of the managers of protected areas (PAs) and the local population in the management of these protected areas, to harmonize biodiversity conservation and the valuation of socio-biodiversity with the regional sustainable development. The recognition of a mosaic occurs where there is a group of PAs that are closely located, that share borders, or that overlap, belonging to different governmental levels or not. The establishment of a mosaic contributes to overcoming one of the major challenged in PA management, which is the interaction among local population, local government and the management agencies at different governmental levels to promote the protection of the natural areas. The mosaic has the primary objective of harmonizing, integrating and optimizing the activities developed at the member PAs, regarding particularly: the land uses and resource uses at the border between PAs; access to the PAs; enforcement; monitoring and evaluation of management plans; scientific research; and the allocation of resources originating from environmental compensation fees from the environmental licensing of ventures with significant environmental impact. To achieve these objectives, the management of a mosaic is monitored by an Advisory Council presided by one of the PA managers, which should propose directives and actions to harmonize the management of these areas, with the participation of local communities. The Ministry of the Environment is responsible for recognizing the mosaics, responding to requests from the PA management agencies. To- date, six mosaics were recognized: Capivara-Confusões; São Paulo and Paraná Coast; Bocaina; Central Atlantic Forest of Rio de Janeiro State; Mantiqueira; and Sertão Veredas- Peruaçu. Instruments to bring resources to the mosaics and to other territorial management tools in Brazil are being developed through international cooperation between France and Brazil (Ministry of the Environment).

Watershed committees: Watersheds constitute effective geographical units for landscape

management. Brazil has currently 159 participatory watershed committees, in addition to 8 interstate committees, acting with various degrees of effectiveness. The National Water Agency (ANA) trained approximately 6,000 people in 2009, on themes related to water resources projects; fund raising; measurement of water flow and discharge; water quality; enforcement; licensing the use of water resources; Cadastre of Water Users; sediment production and transport in water resources; and information systems. Watershed committees play an important role in the implementation of mechanisms such as payments for water use, implemented in two regional watersheds (Paraíba do Sul; and Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiaí), where the totality of collected fees revert to projects approved by both watershed committees. These committees are also instrumental to the implementation of the Water Producer Program [Programa Produtor de Água] in rural areas holding headwaters or ground water recharge areas, where the payment for water environmental services is applied. ANA also created “watershed rules” establishing the rules to regulate the allowed uses of water in watersheds where water availability does not meet the demand.