Diagnóstico de pesquisas realizadas em unidades de conservação: subsídio ao programa de monitoramento da biodiversidade de manguezais

Abstract

This article presents a diagnosis, as part of the planning process of the project entitled "Mangrove
Biodiversity Monitoring Program of Federal Protected Areas - MoMa", supported by ICMBio. The aim was
to identify and evaluate researches on the biodiversity of the mangroves that have the potential to contribute
to monitoring of these ecosystems within protected areas (UCs). The methodology involved searches on the
"Cadastro Nacional de Unidades de Conservação - CNUC" and on the "Sistema de Autorização e Informação em Biodiversidade - SISBIO", as well as a survey through interviews with representatives of UCs, which wasdone by using structured questionnaires. A total of 50 UCs with mangroves were recorded; 32% of which were
strict protection UCs while 68% were sustainable use ones. From a total of 48 UCs that had their questionnaires
filled, the majority (56%) still lack data on mangrove coverage. According to managers, 48% of the UCs have
never carried out any scientific research on mangrove biodiversity. In addition, 162 registered researches with
potential for use in monitoring programs were poorly distributed geographically, with a higher concentration in
the states of Para and Paraíba. This could hinder the formation of a national network of monitoring programs. The
researches had a greater focus on particular species, especially those ones that are threatened by overexploitation
(eg. mangrove crab, Ucides cordatus) or facing extinction risk (eg. manatee, Trichechus manatus). This fact can
promote the formation of a network of monitoring actions that are expected to benefit these species. On the other
hand, there is a concern about the lack of studies on important species for conservation such as congregatory
birds (eg. scarlet ibis, Eudocymus ruber). Because 60% of existing research is performed by universities, they
are indicated to be important potential partners for the UCs that undertake monitoring actions. However, we
observed that a trend for these researches is that they have a short-term duration (average of two years), probably
due to limited time frame of the studies (mostly PhD and Master thesis) and/or limited financial resources, which
prevent long-lasting monitoring programs. So, it seems that a major challenge for developing and implementing
the biodiversity monitoring program for mangroves is not only the establishment of feasible and standardized
methods, but also the continuity of follow-up studies conducted by sequential researchers within UCs. For this
purpose, the fundraising process by linking monitoring programs with the environmental licensing of companies
for resource exploitation as well as the investment on participatory monitoring programs are two promising
strategies that can promote the Monitoring Program implementation.