What it is the Ecoplan?

The Instituto Ecoplan is a "civil society organization on public interest" (OSCIP in Portuguese, a category of NGO), not-for-profit private legal entity, that executes projects, research and planning to promote social and environmental improvements in coastal, agricultural and urban areas since 1991.

Our mission is to develop sustainable solutions which will promote the social inclusion, the environment protection and biodiversity.

Ecoplan - Institutional Relations Office

Padre Agostinho st, 1114 - Mercês - Curitiba/PR - Brasil / Zip code: 10430-05 / Phone: +55 41 3339-1100

Since 1997, the Ecoplan works on carbon sequestration in partnership with the Paraná Federal University (UFPR in Portuguese). These entities had already accomplished two symposiums and had edited three books on the subject. Presently, a team is working on feasibility studies and projects in the energy and forestry areas that will generate carbon credits. Moreover, the Ecoplan offers evaluation of social and environmentalperformance in CDM Projects, courses on carbon quantification in forests and consultancy for formulation of Project Design Document (PDD).

This project is considered to be the first complete system of carbon quantification in forests. The methodology quantifies the carbon in trees, leafs, roots, soil and burlap. The formula can be applied in forestry projects of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) regulated by the Kyoto Protocol. This study is a result of research accomplished by the Ecoplan and the Forest Inventory Laboratory (LIF in Portuguese) from UFPR and supported by the Petrobras.

The program works with the rural community of the South of Paraná State and is financed by the Fundo Nacional do Meio Ambiente (FNMA), the Brazilian's national fund for the environment. The program's objective is to help small and medium agriculturists to improve its income and quality of life by the implantation of forest and agroforestry systems, which will be financed by the Banco do Brasil through "Pronaf Florestal".

The Marine Artificial Reefs (RAM in Portuguese) program is one of the programs in marine artificial reefs of Latin America. It has been developed by the Ecoplan and its partners in the coastal area of Paraná and other states since 1997. Besides two ships launched especially to form reefs,more than 2,000 concrete structures had already been installed using the most advanced technique. The program is continuous and, besides the implantation of new structures, the specialists make a continuous monitoring of the RAMs and work in the development of new technologies and giving technical assistance to projects all over the country.

The Matrix for Evaluation of Social, Environmental and Economic Performance (MADSA in Portuguese) was developed by the Ecoplan for diagnosis accomplishment. The MADSA® can evaluate social, environmental end economic aspects in an integrated way, that generates sustainability indicators. The methodology can be used for the analysis of companies and governmental actions, social and environmental projects or projects on the basis of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), as well as the elaboration of improvement plans.