The Brazilian flora comprises >35,000 native plant species, of which c. 20,000 are endemic (The Brazil Flora Group, 2022, Taxon, 71, 178–198). The extinction risk of c. 7,500 of Brazil's plant species has been assessed and, of these, 3,209 species are currently categorized as threatened on the National Red List. Amongst these, the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes in Brazil are home to two tree species categorized as Endangered because of habitat loss and fragmentation, urbanization and a low number of adult individuals: Dimorphandra wilsonii (faveiro-de-wilson) with 441 known adult individuals, and Dimorphandra exaltata (faveiro-da-mata) with 451 individuals.
The Brazilian National Centre for Plant Conservation (Centro Nacional de Conservação da Flora) of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden Research Institute (Instituto de Pesquisa Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro), together with collaborators and institutions from various sectors, has developed a conservation Action Plan for threatened faveiros species, including faveiro-de-wilson and faveiro-da-mata. The Action Plan is a national management and public policy instrument designed to define and guide actions for the conservation and recovery of threatened species. Its development occurs through workshops involving stakeholders from various sectors of society (NGOs, civil society, universities, Indigenous people and traditional communities, the private sector and government) whose activities are directly or indirectly linked to the conservation targets. These stakeholders are committed to the development of the Action Plan and the implementation of the defined conservation actions and strategies.
The Action Plan aims to expand the conservation and recovery strategies for populations of faveiros and their habitats. It comprises 25 conservation actions, with four specific objectives among research, monitoring, capacity building, communication, management and public policy topics. Approximately 56 stakeholders from 21 institutions are engaged in contributing to the implementation of these conservation actions. The Action Plan will have a 5-year cycle, which started in June 2023, with annual monitoring. It has been approved by Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden and formalized through Ordinance N°14 of 12 May 2023, published in the Federal Official Gazette. This initiates the implementation stage, which includes the execution of conservation strategies through actions to mitigate impacts on the target species and their habitats.
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