São Paulo – Extrema, in Minas Gerais, is one of the winners of Dubai International Award, granted annually to initiatives that improve people’s quality of life while preserving the environment. The award to project "Water Conserver" was announced in December 2012 and the prize was granted on Wednesday (6) in Dubai. In the programme, the city transfers funds for farmers to preserve the springs of waterways that may be in their land. Extrema won US$ 30,000, a trophy and a certificate.
According to the deputy mayor of Extrema, João Batista da Silva, project "Water Conserver" started being implemented some 20 years ago in Extrema. The city started providing grants to farmers through the Environmental Payment Programme (PSA), an instrument of the National Water Agency (ANA).
Farmers participating in the project cannot deforest riparian forest that protects streams and springs, making it impossible for them to make use of that area of their land for cultivation. The funds granted by the city work as compensation. The programme also distributes saplings for planting in the sites that have already been deforested.
According to Silva, 105 farmers have already joined the project in an area that cover the equivalent to 20% of the city’s arable land. Since implementation, the project has resulted in the plantation of over 240,000 saplings and in the installation of over 150 ,000 linear metres of fences around the springs. Extrema houses part of the water basins of the Piracicaba, Jundiaí and Capivari rivers.
"What was most gratifying in winning this award was the recognition of our initiative. All those visiting our project want to know why it works out. It works because it has political support and has never been interrupted by any city administration,” said Batista, who went to Dubai with the city mayor, Luiz Carlos Bergamin, and the city’s Environment secretary, Paulo Henrique Pereira. Ever since the project was implemented, the same political group has been managing the city.
According to Batista, the project was one of the 20 finalists of the 2011/2012 edition of the "Caixa Best Practices in Local Management Programme”, which was based on a sustainable practice initiative of the United Nations: The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), which develops projects for improvement of settlements world over.
The best programmes of the Caixa project also ran for the UN-Habitat award, Dubai International Award for best practices for better quality of live, which is organized by the UN -Habitat and Dubai Municipality. The 2012 edition had 12 winners, from Brazil, Kenya, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Cambodia, China, Spain, Portugal, Uruguay, Canada, Burkina Faso and Chile.
*Translated by Mark Ament
