Collapse of national protected areas in brazil: The example of Minas Gerais state

Abstract

Historically, Brazil has played a prominent role as a member of the Convention on Biological Diversity and as a signatory to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and several other international environmental agreements. Aiming to evaluate the management of investment in protected areas during the past 12 years, we have analysed the annual budgets of National Protected Areas located in Minas Gerais. This state comprises three different biomes, including two hotspots. In all years, investments in sustainable use units were substantially lower than in areas of integral protection. For both groups, investments were particularly low in 2019, around 74 per cent lower than in 2018. Although we cannot say that this is a future trend, the current crisis in Brazil and the world leads us to believe that protected areas may be compromised if these areas are not adequately valued as sources of socio-environmental health.