Fifteen farming families will each earn 100 to 260 dollars a month over the next three years for maintaining the forests on the banks of the Cubatao River, which provides water for the half-million residents of the city of Joinville in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. The local agreement between the Municipal Environment Foundation and the Rural Workers Union is a pioneering effort in Brazil.

This “environmental financial compensation” will vary according to the size of the agricultural properties, which range from 900 to 30,000 square meters, in the Sierra Dona Francisca Environmental Protection Area, explained municipal environmental chief Norival Silva.

The aim is for the small farmers to make a commitment to conserve the river and forests, he told Tierramérica. The program began with 15 families that live upriver from the water extraction point, but will be expanded to include more families in the future, said Silv