The Caatinga, a uniquely Brazilian biome covering 11% of the country and home to 27 million people, faces significant human pressures. It will receive USD 5.5 million for a new project, Conecta Caatinga (Integrated Landscape Management for Biodiversity Conservation in the Caatinga). The initiative, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), aims to establish ecological corridors connecting public and private Protected Areas, essential for reconnecting isolated populations of threatened species.Spearheaded by Brazilian Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, the project focuses on conserving biodiversity, restoring vegetation, and rehabilitating water bodies. It is being implemented by the GEF Agency FUNBIO.

Set to launch in the second half of 2025, Conecta Caatinga will benefit approximately 14,000 people across 500,000 hectares over an estimated five-year duration. The initiative bolsters efforts to protect one of Brazil’s most threatened and least protected biomes, home to endangered species such as the Spix’s macaw. The implementation will be carried out in close collaboration with another project also funded by the GEF: Protected Areas of the Caatinga (ARCA). Announced in June, ARCA allocates USD 10 million to the biome from the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), managed by the GEF and executed by FUNBIO.

Conecta Caatinga will operate in a biome where 80% of the surface has already been altered by human activity. The project will be implemented in territories connecting the following Protected Areas: Boqueirão da Onça Environmental Protection Area (Bahia), Boqueirão da Onça National Park (Bahia), Sobradinho Lake Environmental Protection Area (Bahia), Dunas e Veredas do Baixo Médio São Francisco Environmental Protection Area (Bahia), Serra das Confusões National Park (Piauí) (supported by the ARCA project), and Serra do Areal State Park (Pernambuco).