The project includes actions aimed at consolidating the Santa Cruz Wildlife Refuge (REVIS); in other words, it seeks to create conditions and foster processes that will enable the achievement of the objectives of this strictly protected Conservation Unit (UC) and its long-term maintenance, taking into account: Conservation of the UC’s fundamental resources and values, with an emphasis on biological and socio-environmental diversity; managerial and operational capacity; and social support and legitimacy.

The consolidation of the Santa Cruz REVIS will take place through the implementation of its Management Plan, approved by ICMBio Ordinance No. 3,374, dated October 4, 2023, which establishes integrated management with the

Costa das Algas Environmental Protection Area (APA), a sustainable-use Conservation Unit that surrounds it. Furthermore, to ensure the financial sustainability of the Santa Cruz REVIS, the project calls for the creation of a Maintenance Fund.

These federal conservation units are located in the state of Espírito Santo, in the municipalities of Fundão, Serra, and Aracruz, in a region considered to have high biodiversity due to the variety of underwater topographic features, and consisting of beaches with calm waters and great scenic beauty.

The financial resources allocated to the project are part of the legal obligations established in the Amended Agreement that replaced the Settlement and Conduct Adjustment Agreement (TTAC) entered into on March 2, 2016, between the public authorities, agencies, and environmental entities of the Federal Government, the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, Samarco Mineração S.A., Vale S.A., and BHP Billiton Brasil Ltda, following the collapse of the Fundão dam in Mariana, Minas Gerais.