The Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development approved, on the last 17, the change in the limits of the National Park of Serra do Pardo, which currently comprehends 447,000 hectares in the municipalities of Altamira and São Félix do Xingu, in Pará. The bill (PL 6479/06), proposed by the Deputy Zequinha Marinho (PMDB-PA), excludes from the perimeter of the park an area of approximately 182,000 hectares, occupied by 2,500 traditional inhabitants –  seringueiros (sap collectors), fishermen, farmers, among which there are some who own property titles on the land.

The committee approved the proposal for a substitution bill by the rapporteur, Deputy Wandenkolk Gonçalves (PSDB-PA). It compensates the loss of the area of 182,000 hectares with the incorporation of another area, in the North, with the equivalent dimension to the park, which will be  taken from the Ecological Station Terra do Meio. According to the substitution bill, the station will lose three more areas, which amount to 405,000 hectares. Those areas will be exchanged with new areas of equivalent dimension in the West.

According to the rapporteur, these exchanges will not affect the territorial continuity between the park and the station, nor bring losses to the common work of preservation of the fauna and the flora. “The forests located in the new areas present a high degree of integrity and are surrounded by Indian land, and the preservation of the traditional river population will also foster the conservation of ecosystems, by means of the sustainable activities performed by them”, says Wandenkolk Gonçalves.

Integral protection
Created by a decree in 2005, the park and the station are integral protection areas, which, by their own definition, do not admit human presence inside them. The park is part of the Program for Protected Areas of the Amazon (Arpa), in which only the indirect use of natural resources is permitted.

The author of the Bill, Deputy Zequinha Marinho, sustains that the communities had already been living in the region, and argues that the bill has the objective to solve “severe conflicts” which have arisen after the institution of the park.

Procedure
The bill is being processed in conclusive character and follows to the Committee on the Constitution and Justice and Citizenship.