The Pró-Mata Project has been developed at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul from the idea of creating a Conservation Area, intended primarily for research and nature conservation, as proposed by the University of Tübingen, Germany, a partner having cooperation agreements with PUCRS since 1983.
At the request of the President’s Office, Dr. Jeter Jorge Bertoletti, then Director of the Science and Technology Museum, took the responsibility of developing the Project, which was completed in 1991 with the support of Dr. Dieter Wittmann, from the University of Tübingen.
Once the project was approved, there was a period of exhaustive search for areas and financial resources, promoted by then President Norberto Francisco Rauch and Dr. Jeter Jorge Bertoletti. In April 1993, using its own resources supplemented by a significant donation of the Andreas Stihl company, located in Germany and developing industrial activities in Rio Grande do Sul, PUCRS finally purchased several contiguous properties totaling approximately 3,100 ha.
The area chosen is located in São Francisco de Paula and is mostly covered by primary and secondary forests, with two small stretches of native grasslands that, despite many years of exploitation, are well preserved.
The Project then moved to a phase of detailing, especially regarding infrastructure, with the preparation of construction projects. With the support of the municipal administration of São Francisco de Paula, through former mayors Decius Colla and Moacir Castelo Branco Albuquerque, roads were built and access was improved over more than 20 km. On October 5, 1994, a solemn event marked the laying of the cornerstone of the headquarters, in a place with magnificent views of the coastal area between the Itapeva and Quadros Lakes.
Over the next two years, facilities were built, machinery and equipment were installed, fences and old houses were removed, personnel was hired and, in April 1996, the area was officially inaugurated by then PUCRS President, Norberto Francisco Rauch, under the name PRÓ-MATA Center for Research and Nature Conservation.
Human beings are custodians of the planet’s natural resources. Thus, we must use such resources for our benefit without losing sight of the fact that our descendants are also entitled to them. Everyone must know how to handle them in a rational way, so that life is perpetuated following the principles of sustainable development.
While humanity changes the environment to build and foster social and economic well-being, it also causes degraded, inadequate and unhealthy environmental conditions.
In this context, PUCRS Pró-Mata Project, has worked effectively alongside several other universities, governmental and nongovernmental institutions, taking part in an integrated strategy at national and international level, aimed at finding and defining the most adequate ways for humans to interact with the environment. The Project embraces and supports the ethics that reconciles development with nature conservation.
The overall objectives of the project coincide with those proposed in the National System of Conservation Units – SNUC, the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources – IBAMA/Pró-Natureza Foundation – FUNATURA (1989), approved by the National Environment Council – CONAMA in July 1990:
