Agroforestry in Belo Horizonte
- ©
Fabio Lima
Agroforestry in Belo Horizonte - ©Fabio Lima
Agroforestry in Belo Horizonte - ©Fabio LIma
Urban Agroforestry
Status
ongoing
City
Belo Horizonte
Main actors
City Government, Community / Citizen Group
Project area
Whole City/Administrative Region
Duration
Ongoing since 2019
The Urban Agroforestry project aims to enhance ecosystem services by implementing agroforestry systems in socially important, degraded, or environmentally preserved areas. This approach restores the ecological attributes of these areas through the planting of native trees and ensures food security for local communities via food production.
Belo Horizonte City Hall embarks on a selective procedure to initiate support for agroforests, which falls under a more extensive program that aids 157 production units, encompassing community, institutional, and school units. By offering technical assistance, infrastructure, seedlings, and resources, we can facilitate the sustainable use of spaces that were formerly degraded or underused.
This case study part of CLEARING HOUSE project, funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Grant Agreement 821242.
Sustainable Development Goals
City
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Size and population development
Belo Horizonte is the sixth largest city in Brazil. According to the 2010 census conducted by IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), there were 2,258,096 people residing in the city. The Greater Belo Horizonte Region is the 3rd most populous of Brazil after Greater Sao Paulo and Greater Rio de Janeiro. The city covers a total area of 330.9 km2, while the metropolitan region expands out to 5,156.21 km2with 5,156,217 million residents. Portuguese in the official language of the city. The 2020 IBGE census has been postponed until July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however the IBGE 2019 population estimate for Belo Horizonte was 2,512,070 people.
Population composition
The 2010 census data recorded the population of Belo Horizonte was 53.1% female and 46.9 male. The ethnicity breakdown recorded 46.7% White people, 41.9% Pardo (Multiracial) people, 10.2% Black people, 1.1% Asian people and 0.1% Amerindian people. Belo Horizonte has a notable population of Italian origin, approximately 30% and people of German, Spanish and Syrian-Lebanese ancestries also are sizeable groups. Census data collected on religion showed 59.87% of the population identified as Catholic, 25.06% as Protestant, 8.02% as no religion, and 4.07% as Spiritist.
Main functions
Belo Horizonte is the capital city of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazils second most populous state. The city lies on the western slope of the Espinhaco Mountains, at an elevation of 830 metres and occupies a wide plateau encircled by the Curral del Rey Mountains. Belo Horizonte was one of the first planned cities in Brazil and was designed in a grid pattern with a focus on orderly growth and development. The planning of the city, with street blocks inspired by Paris and architecturally by New York, started in the late 19th century and it was officially founded on December 12, 1897.
Main industries / business
The service sector plays a very important role in the economy of Belo Horizonte, being responsible for 80% of the city's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The city has a developed industrial sector, being traditionally a hub of the Brazilian siderurgical and metallurgical industries, as the state of Minas Gerais is very rich in minerals, particularly iron ore. The city’s older established industries include publishing, textiles, furniture, auto parts and food processing. More recently a large number of small enterprises in the technological sector, particularly in the fields of computing and biotechnology have emerged.
Administrative structure
Belo Horizonte is governed by a mayor and vice mayor with the assistance of secretaries who head administrative departments. Since 1984 the mayor has been popularly elected to a four-year term. The Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte comprises 34 municipalities.
Website
While Belo Horizonte has a significant number of green spaces across the municipality, many of these areas have sparse tree coverage and low biodiversity indices and are often dominated by weed-like plant species such as brachiaria, colonião, and leucaena. This project has a crucial environmental role by replacing these species with others that are better for the environment, particularly in terms of managing green areas and Permanent Preservation Areas (APP).
The project objectives are:
● Increase plant biodiversity in degraded green areas and permanent preservation areas.
● Promote the protection of water resources and the reoccupation of riparian forests and production of water in springs and water sources.
● Improve soil quality in degraded green areas and permanent preservation areas
● Provide food security for local populations through the production of agroecological foods.
● Generate employment and income for urban farmers involved in food production.
● Revive genetic diversity by promoting the use of native and creole seeds and seedlings.
● Carry out an environmental education program with a focus on ecological interactions and successions, agroecology.
The implementation of Agroforests has three distinct phases:
1. Accreditation, selection and qualification
2. Implementation
3. Registration and maintenance
In the first phase, orders are received and production units are established based on the project's requirements. As of June 2021, 157 units have been registered all initiated through social mobilization and have proven to be technically viable and without impeding factors. If the demand is greater than the service capacity, prioritization criteria ia applied. The criteria focuses on the vulnerability and social profile of the groups the participation of women, young people, black people and/or traditional peoples and communities, in addition to potential impact and the technical feasibility of each project.
Once the proposal is approved, it is directly monitored by technicians from the Undersecretariat for Food and Nutritional Security. Even though there are specific stages for implementation, each agroforestry is unique and designed to meet community needs and address the challenges for improving the environmental standards of each location.
Each seedling costs around USD 40.00. Below is a table with the schedule of plantings carried out by SMMA across the city:
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
5,800 9,510 11,932 15,476 16,310
The mini forest implemented at the Lagoinha roundabout, with approximately 230 seedlings, cost approximately R$ 30,000.00. The mini forest implemented in Ribeiro de Abreu, with 570 seedlings, cost around R$ 100,000.00.
The project supports 9 community production units that generate both biological and social benefits for approximately 200 people directly involved. The initiative is dedicated to promoting family farming in the region and supplying produce to the city of Belo Horizonte
During site visits conducted between May and July 2021, the project’s impact and significance were confirmed, particularly amid the pandemic. In some instances, the project played a crucial role in combating hunger and addressing other socioeconomic challenges arising from the isolation experienced during the pandemic.
To ensure the continuity and expansion of the project, 1,204 hours of training and technical assistance was provided. Furthermore 62 infrastructure initiatives were introduced addressing opportunities in public policy development, such as community composting. The project bolstered exiting efforts such as the Community Riparian Park of Ribeirão Onça.
General objectives/results:
● Tree replacement of suppressed trees
● Creation of shading areas and attractions for fauna
● Greater community engagement and awareness of the surroundings
● Contribution to the research for environmental balance
● Beautification of the city
● Transformation of urban voids
Today, after several years since the project’s inception, noticeable improvements have been observed in the soil quality of the targeted areas, increased water production in the local springs and the preservation of genetic diversity among the native species.
● Institutionalization of the program
● Reduced technical equipment
● Mobilization of communities
● Support structures for Production Units
● Monitoring and control
● Need for alignment and community participation for better results
● Need to develop environmental education actions for awareness
● Need for support from the government to pro-forestation urban collectives, through courses, lectures or donation of inputs
● Need for incentives for seedling nurseries (shortage in the market and increasingly smaller seedlings)
● Need for greater training and knowledge of service providers
The projects activities are replicable in other cities.
External links / documents
Want to know more about this project?
Photo gallery
