evidoria

← Back to browse

Good practice Imported

Extrema Conservador das Águas — Brazil's First Municipal Watershed PES

Brazil · Extrema · See the Brazil profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 33% 53/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Brazil's first municipal PES law (Lei 2.100/2005): Extrema, Minas Gerais pays 53+ landowners R$195/ha/yr to restore native forest and adopt conservation practices in 7 sub-watersheds feeding São Paulo's Cantareira system (~9M beneficiaries). Peer-reviewed: 19.77% vegetation-cover

19.77 %
Vegetation cover increase (Posses pilot sub-watershed) (2005-2015)
195 R$/ha/year
Payment rate for native-forest restoration (since 2005)
73 R$/ha/year
Payment rate for soil and water conservation practices (since 2005)
1,200 ha / 53 properties ha / properties
Posses pilot sub-watershed area and properties (2005-2015)
200+ municipalities
Municipalities with analogous watershed PES schemes (by 2016)
~9 million people
Downstream population served by Sistema Cantareira (current)
Extrema Conservador das Águas — Brazil's First Municipal Watershed PES

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Municipality of Extrema, Minas Gerais / Agência Nacional de Águas (ANA)
Period
2005–present
Keywords
government, municipal, watershed, water security, forestry

Context

The Conservador das Águas programme, established by Municipal Law 2.100/2005, was Brazil's first municipal Payment for Ecosystem Services scheme. The municipality of Extrema, Minas Gerais, pays landowners annual conservation bonuses to restore riparian buffers, plant native forest and adopt soil-conservation practices across seven critical micro-watersheds of the Jaguari River, a key tributary feeding the Sistema Cantareira, which supplies roughly half the water consumed by Greater São Paulo (about 9 million people).

Objectives

To restore native forest and adopt soil- and water-conservation practices on private land upstream, protecting water quality and reducing downstream water-treatment costs.

Activities

Payments are tiered by action: R$195/ha/year for native-forest restoration and R$73/ha/year for soil and water conservation practices. The scheme is co-implemented with TNC Brasil and Brazil's National Water Agency (ANA). The Posses pilot sub-watershed (1,200 hectares, 53 properties) was independently monitored between 2005 and 2015.

Results

Peer-reviewed independent monitoring in the Posses pilot documented a 19.77% increase in vegetation cover, significant reductions in suspended sediment, and improved water infiltration between 2005 and 2015. The Extrema model was integrated into ANA's national 'Produtor de Água' (Water Producer) programme, and by 2016 more than 200 Brazilian municipalities had launched analogous watershed PES schemes under ANA guidance.

Conclusions

The broader Cantareira watershed includes many upstream municipalities, so Extrema's individual contribution to system-wide water security is proportionate but not dominant. No carbon credits are sold under the scheme, and biodiversity outcomes have not been formally audited at species level.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Tiered annual payments of R$195/ha/year (forest restoration) and R$73/ha/year (conservation practices); no aggregate municipal budget figure is disclosed in the source — a conservative low-cost estimate given the municipal scale of the scheme.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Running continuously since Municipal Law 2.100/2005, now two decades old, with the model replicated nationally via ANA's Produtor de Água programme since 2016.
Staffing & skills
Co-implemented with TNC Brasil and Brazil's National Water Agency (ANA), Municipal government of Extrema administers payments to landowners

Conditions for success

  • Tiered payment structure aligned to the type of conservation action taken
  • Partnership with a national water agency (ANA) that enabled the model to be replicated across the country
  • Independent, peer-reviewed monitoring validating impact in the pilot sub-watershed

Common failure modes

  • Small individual-municipality scale limits Extrema's contribution to system-wide Cantareira water security, since the wider watershed includes many upstream municipalities
  • No carbon credits are sold under the scheme
  • Biodiversity outcomes have not been formally audited at species level

Where it fits

Governance type
Municipal government-led PES with national water-agency partnership
Scale
Municipal / sub-watershed
Income level
Middle-income (Brazil)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

Do you run this practice? Claim it — verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

Similar practices you may find useful