Murici, Alagoas

The Project for the conservation of the Murici Forest Complex was initiated in March 2000. At that time, the BirdLife Brazil Programme, in partnership with the Sociedade Nordestina de Ecologia (SNE), initiated a campaign at various levels of the Brazilian government (the Ministry of the Environment, and IBAMA) for the creation of a public protected area in Murici. This campaign developed at both the national and international levels, resulted in the creation of the Murici Ecological Station (ESEC Murici), with 6.116 hectares, in May 2001.

After successful though insufficient initial results at Murici, other NGOs joined BirdLife and SNE in the challenge of protecting these forests to enhance political strength, and bring more attention to this little known and highly threatened region.  In May 2004, 8 NGOs: BirdLife/SAVE Brasil, Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas Ambientais do Nordeste (CEPAN), Conservação Internacional, Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica, Instituto Amigos da Reserva da Biosfera da Mata Atlântica (IA-RBMA), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Sociedade Nordestina de Ecologia (SNE) and WWF Brasil gathered to sign the Murici Pact, an agreement to develop integrated activities towards the conservation of forests and biodiversity in the region known as “Pernambuco Centre”, where the Murici Forest Complex is located.  This agreement was signed at the Brazilian Senate, with the presence of authorities from the Ministry of Environment (MMA), the Brazilian Environment Institute (IBAMA), and the Senate, among other participants. 

The partnership among these organisations resulted in the creation of Amane (Associação para Conservação da Mata Atlântica do Nordeste), in September 2005. AMANE is a partner institution of the Murici Pact and leads the implementation of field activities.

Project objectives: Promote the long-term conservation of the threatened species in the Northeastern Atlantic Forest and improve the quality of local communities' lives through the implementation of integrated measures, both at local and regional levels.

Date project began: 2000

Project duration: ongoing

Partner organisation: Associação para a Proteção da Mata Atlântica do Nordeste (Amane) – www.amane.org.br

Principal accomplishments to date: Together, the organisations of the Murici Pact are developing several actions aiming the conservation of the Murici Forest Complex and the “Pernambuco Centre”. Among key actions in the region are: bird inventory and monitoring, studies and activities to support the implementation of the ESEC Murici, socioeconomic assessment of the communities that live within the reserve, reforestation of the reserve surroundings and development of environmental education and capacity building activities involving two rural settlements in the reserve's surrounds. A piece about the Murici Pact and the state of the Northeastern Atlantic Forest was produced by the journalist Beatriz de Castro Serra and the team of the “TV Globo” (the largest TV broadcasting company in Brazil). The piece was transmitted in November 2005 in the programme “Nordeste Viver e Preservar” and won the 2006 Atlantic Forest Biodiversity Reporting Award, in the Television Category, promoted by the Aliança para a Conservação da Mata Atlântica (Alliance for the Atlantic Forest Conservation) (check the piece on http://pe360graus.globo.com/nevp/videoteca.asp).

Project Funders: British Birdwatching Fair, Council of Agriculture of Taiwan, Beneficia Foundation, American Bird Conservancy, Overbrook Foundation, Marshall-Reynolds Foundation, Natuurpunt, Belgian Government, and private donations from individual donors. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds donated the equipment for bird monitoring.