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Research-based conservation and capacity building in Mato Grosso, BrazilConservation in the southern Amazon
Fundação Ecológica Cristalino (FEC)The Cristalino Ecological Foundation is a non-governmental organisation based in Alta Floresta, working to promote conservation and environmental education in the region. FEC also runs an environmental education programme, Escola da Amazônia. FEC's private reserves
Collaboration and researchWith support from Kew, FEC is working alongside the Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso (UNEMAT) to develop a vegetation research programme in the region. The programme (Programa Flora Cristalino) forms part of a larger institutional and regional capacity-building initiative developed in collaboration with Fauna and Flora Iternational (FFI). The programme's aim is to inform and promote conservation planning and action, with a particular focus on the Cristalino State Park and surrounding areas, and to develop information resources for environmental education and awareness-raising. ProgressIn 2006, with joint resources from Kew and FFI, a young botanist from São Paulo (Denise Sasaki) was employed at FEC to oversee the botanical research and project development. Kew staff William Milliken and Jovita Yesilyurt undertook a training and orientation visit in July 2006, during which Denise and her counterparts from UNEMAT, SEMA (Secretaria Estadual do Meio Ambiente) and ICV (Instituto Centro de Vida) were trained in collection, survey and mapping techniques, whilst establishing a preliminary fieldwork programme in the proposed reserve. The research programme for the first year focused primarily on the proposed RPPNs (private reserves). This included quantitative vegetation surveys (point-centre quarter transects), vegetation mapping and botanical inventory (over 700 species to date). Preliminary identification was undertaken at INPA (Manaus), where duplicate specimens have been deposited in the herbarium. Further work was undertaken by Denise Sasaki in collaboration with Kew staff in June 2007, during a visit funded by the Bentham Moxon Trust. Outputs to date
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The southern fringe of the Amazon basin, sometimes referred to as the 'arc of deforestation', is experiencing rapid habitat loss due to the pressures from logging and soya farming. The Cristalino State Park in Mato Grosso, one of the most biodiverse reserves in the region, remains under serious threat from fire and illegal logging due to current lack of management capacity. Completion of the Management Plan will provide the State and Federal governments of Mato Grosso and Brazil with the tools to establish a proper management entity and infrastructure for the Park. 
FEC is already responsible for the management of a small private forest reserve (RPPN) on the right bank of the Cristalino River, a tributary of the Teles Pires. It is currently in the process of establishing a larger reserve on the left bank of the Cristalino. Between them these reserves will help to secure the long-term conservation of a significant tract of forest adjacent to the larger, state-managed Parque Estadual Cristalino. The vegetation in the area includes terra firme forest, seasonally flooded forest and, on granitic outcrops, patches of seasonal dry forest and rupicolous vegetation.