Project news
The Checklist of the Plants of Northeast Brazil was published in March 2006. This Portuguese-language checklist is the first of its kind for Brazil, and represents a significant advance for Brazilian botany.
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Plantas do Nordeste (PNE)
The Northeast of Brazil
The Northeast of Brazil covers an area of some 1.5 million square
kilometres, equivalent to 18.3% of the total landmass of the country.
The region supports more than 46 million people of whom approximately
50% live in rural areas and 40% work primarily in the agricultural
sector. This vast expanse of land, with an extensive flora comprising
around 25,000 species of flowering plants, is of global biodiversity
significance.
Geographically the Northeast of Brazil is very diverse. It is much
drier than the surrounding regions and regularly suffers drought.
There is considerable pressure on its natural vegetation due to
the increasing requirements of agriculture and livestock and the
growuing need for wood (both for domestic fuel and charcoal).
In addition to its intrinsic biodiversity value, the natural vegetation
provides essential sources of food, fuel, forage, medicine and many
other commodities. Thus the livelihoods of the people of Northeast
Brazil are intricately linked to the fate of their native flora.
When the vegetation is lost the land quickly deteriorates, leaving
people with little option but to clear yet more land or to leave
for the cities, adding to the crises of housing and sanitation in
large urban areas.
PNE's objectives
 Originally
developed as a pilot programme in 1992, PNE is a multidisciplinary
research enterprise whose purpose from the outset has been to promote
the sustainable use of plants for the benefit of local people. The
stated aims of PNE are:
• To improve the existing knowledge base of the region's
plant life, as well as the methods for its sustainable management,
and to coordinate this information and disseminate it to those working
in the area of environmental protection.
• To strengthen botanical expertise, research and management
of biological data within Northeast Brazil through training and
exchange of personnel between Brazilian and UK institutes.
• To contribute to an improved quality of life for the
region's people by ensuring that new knowledge is put into practice
at the grass-roots level, by the establishment of close links with
local communities and organisations concerned with rural development.
A collaborative initiative
Whilst Kew played an instrumental role in the establisment and
funding of PNE and continues to contribute important specialist
expertise to project activities, the programme's overall success
has only been possible due to the involvement and commitment of
a large number of Brazilian institutions. These have included a
range of Federal and State universities, research institutes, non-governmental
organizations and local communities. Over the years this success
has earned the programme strong support from the Brazilian National
Research Council (CNPq) in the form of training grants, offering
research opportunities to a number of students whose work contributes
towards the project's goals.
In 1994 the non-governmental organization Associação
Plantas do Nordeste (APNE), was established to take over the
administration and development of the PNE Programme in Brazil. APNE's
brief was to realise the stated goals of the PNE mission statement,
especially with respect to the management of local activities and
the establishment of links with the most relevant communities in
Northeast Brazil. APNE, which has since increased substantially
in size and scope, currently focuses on three main areas of activity
- Research
- Training & Capacity Building
- Information Dissemination
The research comprises three main disciplines
- Biodiversity & Conservation
- Ecosystem Management & Economic Botany
- Plant Information
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