Since the Rio 92 Earth Summit the world has placed great hopes on the sustainable use of biological diversity for promoting sustainable development in the Tropical Forests for its potential capacity to trigger a powerful synergy between poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation.

The project Jauaperì Biodiversity Mapping is first of all an exercise in Sustainable Development and has the aim to instantiate sustainable use of biodiversity to alleviate poverty and, with mutual reinforcement, conserve biodiversity.

Species, populations, habitats, communities, ecosystems, processes are geo-located and documented.
The resulting map, will then transform the Lower Jauaperì basin into a catalogued in-situ Germplasm collection.

It is hoped that, it will be then possible

• to provide services to world agriculture, within the framework of the new International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO, November 3, 2001)
• to contribute to the development of sustainable agriculture in Amazonia., with an eye to the rediscovery of the permaculture of the forest , which according to accumulating evidence seems to have been extensively practiced before the arrival of the Europeans.

The Knowledge and Competence of the Indigenous and Local Communities have been recognized by the UN Convention on Biodiversity and the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity have requested respect for it, advocated its application and have asserted its equivalence with modern science.

The Extractivist Reserve developed by Chico Mendes will provide the perfect framework. The extraction from the forest will then include also biological data, a commodity predicted to be in much demand in the near future..

The project participates to the International Biodiversity Observation Year 2001-2002 IBOY -. A DIVERSITAS initiative

Methodology

The GIS maps are populated with information obtained from interviews with local experts.
Ground truth expeditions are made to provide "true" data, test the reliability of the data obtained from the interviews, test the predicting capabilities of the GIS.
The collected data is recorded using (palmtops, digital cameras , minidisc recorders and GPS).The equipment is time-synchronized to provide data congruence. On return from the expedition the equipment will be delivered to the Information Technology department where the collected data will be loaded into the database and the GIS. Collection of data is driven by ecology and phylogeny to increase its efficaciousness. Provision will be made for the presence of scientists and technicians from IBAMA, EMBRAPA, INPA, University of Amazonas.

Infrastructure in the Reserve Xixuaù

• Solar Electricity
• 24 hours a day 256 KBS Internet connection
• Office premises
• Computers LAN, Unix server, MS Windows Server, Linux Server
• Rio Jauaperi GIS
• Satellite imagery
• Data Base
• Inventories of Plants and Animals
• Software: GRASS, gstat
• Digital Cameras
• GPS equipment
• Voice Recording Equipment

Current Status of the project

The initial feasibility study, mainly aimed at demonstrating the capacity of the traditional communities to execute the project, was successful.
The project has then been paused while waiting for the creation of the Extractive Reserve of the Baixo Rio Branco - Rio Jauaperi, an indispensable fundamental component of the project.
As soon as President Lula decrees the creation of the Extractive Reserve we shall request to CGEN (Conselho de Gestão do Patrimônio Genético) the necessary authorizations to become operative.