SPVS - Wildlife Research and Environmental Education Institute

Founded in 1984 by a group of researchers and experts on nature conservation, SPVS has been uninterruptedly working on the development of innovative strategies and projects aiming at the maintenance of a specific Brazilian natural heritage: the Atlantic Forest. SPVS is a civil society organization that has been recognized by the Brazilian government as an OSCIP entity - meaning a civil society organization for public interest. SPVS has three major acting areas. First, the organization aims to promote the value of nature conservation within Brazilian society through environmental education, campaigning, and advocacy actions. Second, the organization has also long-lasting activities for the protection of threatened species such as the Red-Tailed Amazon Parrot that had it status evolved from “endangered” to “nearly threatened” in 2014 thanks to 20 years of conservation actions led by SPVS. Another example is the actions aiming at the conservation of the black-faced lion tamarin, classified as “critically endangered”, a species that can be found only in coastal areas of the Paraná and São Paulo States. Third, SPVS is also implementing actions related to the preservation of natural areas. For instance, the organization owns and is responsible for the management of more than 19,000 hectares of Protected Areas on the north coast of Paraná State. The maintenance of these natural areas benefits local communities thanks to at least 30 direct employments, water supply for the population of two municipalities. And, most importantly, a revenue of approximately 500,000.00 dollars, for the fiscal year of 2017, for two municipalities (Antonina and Gurarequaçaba) from an environmental fiscal mechanism called in Portuguese “ICMS Ecológico” that allows municipalities to receive fiscal revenues due to the existence of protected areas within their limits. Arguably, there are more benefits such as other ecosystem services provided by the maintenance of these Protected Areas managed.