Earlier this year, the forest planted on the Copaíba site through the Verde Novo project sponsored by Petrobras through the Petrobras Socio-environmental program won the title of RPPN – Private Natural Heritage Reserve. But the commitment of having a reserve goes beyond planting trees, it is also necessary to have the Management Plan, a technical document used as an instrument for the implementation of activities and care, establishing its zoning and norms for the use of the area and the management of natural resources. , including the implementation of the physical structures necessary for the management of the unit. The plan is described in SNUC - Federal Law No. 9,985/2000.

Knowing this need, the Master's students in Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development at ESCAS, located in Nazaré Paulista, combined the useful with the pleasant and decided to help Copaíba in the preparation of the plan. In the Master's, one of the subjects is Challenge Resolution and what was supposed to be just an introduction to the plan has become an effective and complete plan that can be used by other conservation units.

The first step in preparing the plan was to divide the 12 master's students into groups to carry out activities collecting data, information and observing the surroundings of the RPPN Copaíba. “I find this class of results of challenges interesting! This is the moment we had to put into practice everything we learned in the course and the most interesting thing was to carry out a real and useful challenge, something that will serve as a model for other conservation units.” Comments Francy Frorero, Master's student at Instituto Ipê and a volunteer at Copaíba.

After collecting information, the students met at the Ipê Institute to analyze the data and complete the plan. After a week of intense work, the Master's students finalized the Management Plan, which is in the process of review and analysis. As soon as this last stage is completed, the plan will be sent to Fundação Florestal, the body responsible for promoting and executing integrated actions aimed at environmental conservation, biodiversity protection, sustainable development, among other activities aimed at the recovery of forests and the management of Units. of Conservation in the state of São Paulo.