State Government launches largest reforestation project in the Jaguaribe region

April 3, 2024 – 09:05
environmental education Jaguaribe reforestation region SRH

The Government of the State of Ceará launched, this Tuesday (2), the largest afforestation, reforestation and environmental education project in the Jaguaribe River Basin; the Jaguaribe Eyelashes Project. The symbolic moment took place at IFCE in Iguatu, promoted by the Secretariat of Water Resources (SRH) and the Secretariat of Environment and Climate Change (Sema).

With an investment of R$ 2.8 million, coming from the environmental compensation initiative of the São Francisco Hydroelectric Company (Chesf), the project will recover 35.45 hectares – between Iguatu and Arneiroz – of degraded areas in the river’s hydrographic basin Jaguaribe with the planting and maintenance of native seedlings.

For the Project coordinator, the executive secretary of Water Resources, Aderilo Alcântara, this is a historic moment for the region.

“Today is an exciting moment of great achievement; We are launching the largest reforestation project in the Jaguaribe basin. We are sure that this is just the first step, in which we count on the union of forces of entities, public authorities, students and society in favor of preserving the preciousness that is the Jaguaribe River”

Proposing to reforest the riparian forest that protects the banks of the Jaguaribe River – vegetation as important to the river as eyelashes are to the eyes – the project was named “Cílios do Jaguaribe”.

Sema’s executive secretary, Gustavo Vicentino, expressed satisfaction with the accomplishment, which is also part of the program for the 2024 Annual Tree Festival, promoted by the department:

“It is a great privilege to be experiencing this event in this year’s annual tree festival. It is essential to protect the riparian forest to protect water bodies, avoiding floods and loss of biodiversity”, he pointed out.

In addition to reforesting the forest, the project aims to educate residents of the region on how to care for the vegetation. In total, the 35.45 hectares of forest that will be recovered will be equivalent to 47 times the area of ​​the Castelão arena.

In addition to the planned reforestation, Sema and SRH also made a donation equivalent to 450 seedlings to the municipality of Iguatu, which are displayed in the IFCE nursery.

The launch schedule for the Jaguaribe Cílios Project continues until Friday with training for Young Environmental Agents (AJA) who will collaborate with local publicity for the project, in addition to learning more about environmental education, solid waste, forest fires and tree planting.

Environmental compensation

The origin of the project is related to Chesf’s environmental liability towards Ceará, a condition relating to the implementation of a 175km line between Mossoró and Banabuiú. The work destroyed native forests and at the time, the environmental license was authorized, subject to the energy distribution company’s commitment to implement a reforestation action.