IV Railway Workshop, Brazil

In October 2019, the IV Railway Workshop was held in Brazil, with the theme “Evaluation and monitoring of impacts on wildlife in railway companies”, organized by the Center for Ecology of Roads and Railways (NERF) and held at the headquarters of the National Association of Railway Transporters (ANTF), in Brasília-DF.

This workshop brought together experts from the federal environmental licensing agency (IBAMA), government agencies responsible for railway construction, and concessionaires in charge of operating the railways, including some of their consultants. The workshop had two objectives. The first was the completion of two protocols with recommendations for monitoring wildlife mortality and assessing the effectiveness of mitigation measures on railways, which were developed in previous meetings and have now been officially sent to the licensing agency. The second objective was to initiate discussion on defining the scope of studies to predict, assess and monitor the different impacts on wildlife in the various phases of railway operation licensing. From these meetings, in which different sectors have participated, it has been possible to discuss and propose technical elements so that the licensing body can prepare the regulations governing the granting of environmental licenses based on scientific evidence and with the collaboration of the different actors.