No abstract

The species Vellozia sincorana L.B.Sm. & Ayensu is key to biodiversity conservation in the tropical mountain region of Brazil. The massive post-fire flowering of this endemic species provides a large, episodic supply of floral resources, mostly nectar, to animals.

No abstract

The overharvesting of a plant can disturb population dynamics, threatening the species (Ticktin 2004, Rolland et al. 2011). This is especially true for narrowly restricted ones (IUCN 2017), such as the ‘candombá’, endemic to the Chapada Diamantina National Park (CDNP), northeastern Brazil. The extent of occurrence of the candombá is less than 200 km2 (Conceição et al. 2017), and the plant has been traditionally used to ignite fires in wood stoves (Ministério do Meio Ambiente 2007, Oliveira et al. 2013, 2015), with this use continuing today.

The Brazilian Biodiversity Monitoring Program (Monitora Program) is a long-term largescale program aimed at monitoring the state of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services in the protected areas (PAs) managed by Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio). Encouraging qualified social participation is one of Monitora Program's guiding principles. In this case study, we describe how citizen participation occurs in various stages of the Monitora Program, including planning, data collection, interpretation, and discussion of results. Aspects that are crucial for a legitimate and continuous involvement and participation are described. We also illustrate some of the results from the Program and discuss how the program can contribute to Brazil's achievement of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2022, the program was implemented in 113 of the 334 protected areas managed by ICMBio, most of them in the Amazon. The program results are aligned to 12 of the 17 SDGs, influencing changes that move society closer to these goals at the local scale. Data from the Monitora Program can be used to support Brazilian SDG reporting, but this requires further developments. Social participation in Monitora Program has strengthened links between institutions and people of different profiles, enhancing participation in protected area (PA) management and generating multiple local impacts, while producing quality biodiversity information to inform decision-making in conservation.