Brazilian Trails Network and Connectivity, Putting a Recreation Infrastructure to Work for Conservation Gains

ABSTRACT

In 2020, the Brazilian National Protected Areas System (SNUC) completed two decades. It includes 12 categories of protected areas as well as ecological corridors. Although its implementation has brought conservation gains to Brazil, the SNUC has been managed more as a group of protected areas than in the systemic way it was conceived. Among other gaps needed to be filled, there is an increasing fragmentation of habitats and the difficulty of establishing landscape connectors between protected areas. In this context, the Brazilian Trails Network and Connectivity (REDE) is being implemented in coordination with the CONECTA Brazil program, based on three pillars: conservation, job and income generation and recreation. REDE is a conservation tool with the long-term objective of connecting all the protected areas in Brazil through trails contained in natural corridors. This paper will discuss the governance and the protection status of REDÉs Trails in order to achieve its set objectives.

KEYWORDS:

• Recreation
• conservation
• corridors
• economics
• governance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The CONECTA program was established by Ordinance No. 75, of March 26th, 2018. The National Landscape Connectivity Program- CONECTA aims to promote ecosystem connectivity and landscape management in the Brazilian territory, through integrated public policies, providing sustainable development, stimulating the synergy between nature conservation, the maintenance of ecological processes and social, economic and cultural prosperity as well as contributing to the reduction of the effects of climate change on the environment (MMA, 2018a).

2 In Brazil, all private lands must preserve a natural tract equivalent to at least 20% of the property`s total area. In this fraction of the property, grazing or plantations are forbidden. Hiking trails, however are allowed. Permanent Preservation Areas are made up of riparian vegetation, steep hillsides and mountain tops. Similarly to Legal Reserves, where their natural vegetation cannot be suppressed and grazing or planting is not allowed however hiking trails are permitted.