COPEL believes the feasibility of its business depends in large measure upon the preservation of the environment and, since the 1970s, it has had teams specialized in the subject. In 2003, both the environmental and the social responsibility teams at COPEL effectively converged, and that has allowed the development of a single policy aimed at ensuring the long-term sustainability of the Company and its joint development with the communities surrounding its facilities.
For this purpose, COPEL's projects rely on the participation of civil society organizations. The Company's actions in this area are currently coordinated by its Environmental Policy Committee and by its Environmental Institutional Coordination, which reports to the Chief Executive Officer.
One of COPEL's main environmental measures is the implementation of an Environmental Management System in compliance with NBR ISO 14000. The entire system has been developed based on the application of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, in an integrated and matrix work comprising units reporting to the Land and Environment Issues Superintendecy, the environmental staff of the Distribution area, and the Information Technology Superintendency through its Corporate Systems sector.
In the past few years, COPEL's efforts have been focused on fulfilling the environmental requirements of the State's environment preservation agency (the Environmental Institute of Paraná), in order to ensure that all Company facilities are properly licensed and operating in compliance with their respective Operating Licenses.
Development Plans
In 2002 and 2003, COPEL submitted to the Environmental Institute of Paraná six master plans designed to guide the actions taken at each one of the main reservoirs of the Company. These plans comprise the use and occupation of waters and the areas surrounding the reservoirs of the following plants:
• Governor Bento Munhoz da Rocha Neto Hydroelectric Power Plant (UGBM).
• Governor Ney Aminthas de Barros Braga (UGNB) and Jordão River Diversion Hydroelectric Power Plants (UDRJ).
• Governor Parigot de Souza Hydroelectric Power Plant (UGPS).
• Salto Caxias Hydroelectric Power Plant (USCX).
• São Jorge Hydroelectric Power Plant (USJR) -Alagados Reservoir.
• Mourão Hydroelectric Power Plant (UMOU) -Lago Azul Reservoir.
These plans include a proposal for zoning a one thousand meter wide area around the reservoirs and specify what is permitted, admissible, and forbidden in such area. According to the Environmental Institute of Paraná, COPEL holds technical expertise to set this zone.
Geographic Information System-based Management
The areas socially affected by the construction of COPEL hydroelectric power plants are managed by GIS software combining geographic information (where things are) with descriptive information (what things are and how they are).
More than a regular paper map, GIS can stack several layers of information, including three-dimensional data, highlighting topography, roads and railways, buildings, forest reservations, cities, rivers, lakes, dams, and other locations. The system enables the Company to monitor the impacts of human actions on all aspects of nature (soil, water, vegetation, fauna, air) and also perform a virtual flyby over the mapped area. Accordingly, given the position of the points on the computerized map, it is possible to determine how many square kilometers the reservoir of a power plant covers, as well as the surrounding area of permanent environmental protection, and to illustrate master plans and zoning plans for the reservoirs.
The direct benefits afforded by the use of this system include:
• management, shipping, transport monitoring, and final environmentally-safe waste disposal. At COPEL, waste from the maintenance and operation of power plants is already managed by the Zere-Zero Effluent and Waste Subsystem, a subsystem of the Environmental Management System;
• support to environmental education programs conducted in association with the Iguassu Regional Museum;
• location of customers (by street and postal code) and sales data, location of factories, warehouses, means and routes of distribution;
• location of addresses or geographic coordinates of equipment such as poles and transformers;
• plotting of better routes for pickups and deliveries, among other actions.
Environmental Programs
In 2003, COPEL carried on many programs focusing on environmental preservation and on the minimization of the social impacts upon the communities surrounding Company facilities.
Salto Caxias Hydroelectric Power Plant - In the area of the Salto Caxias Power Plant COPEL has developed a range of measures such as the Resettlement Programs, which have allowed the Company to move over a thousand families from different communities. Six hundred of those families have been resettled collectively and the remaining ones were resettled individually by means of credit letters. In 2003, this program was awarded the Blue Planet Prize by the International Hydropower Association.
Resettlement Program at the Governor Ney Braga Hydroelectric Power Plant - In 2003, COPEL carried on the Resettlement Program of the Ney Braga Power Plant, known as Segredo IV Resettlement, having resettled 77 families. In addition to the work in cooperation with the Association of Resettled Families, the Company delivered dental and hospital equipment to the settlement and issued provisional deeds to the resettled families.
Research Center in the Açungüi National Forest - As a compensatory measure set forth by the Installation License for the Bateias - Jaguariaíva 230-kV transmission line, COPEL signed a letter of commitment with IBAMA which resulted in the implementation of the Research and Training Center in the Açungüi National Forest in Campo Largo.
Iguassu Regional Museum - In 2003, the Iguassu Regional Museum welcomed 16 thousand visitors, of which 4,045 participated in the Integrated Circuit, an environmental education activity comprising interaction with the processes of ichtyofauna and seedling production. They also visited the collection of cultural memory of the archaeological rescue operation carried out in the region of the Iguassu River and the Governor Ney Braga Hydroelectric Power Plant.
"Mono-Carvoeiro" Program - COPEL redesigned the route of the Bateias - Jaguariaíva transmission line to preserve a community of a rare species of monkeys (known as "Mono-Carvoeiros" or "Muriquis" in Portuguese), specimens of which had not been recorded by the State scientific community for at least 30 years.
River Restocking - COPEL restocked its reservoirs with 156 thousand fry of the "surubim" species (of the Siluridae family) and 1,340,000 fry of the "bagre" species (also of the Siluridae family), which were all produced by induced egg laying. Another 580 thousand fry were delivered to IBAMA/Sadia under a cooperation agreement. To carry out this project, the Company relies on an important partnership with the Limnology, Ichtyology, and Aquiculture Research Center - Nupélia of the Maringá State University (UEM).
Program for the reorganization of remaining areas
COPEL operates within the communities directly or indirectly affected by the Salto Caxias reservoir according to criteria set forth by the relevant government agencies and, accordingly, assigns proper use to the remaining areas. This community-oriented program was established by the Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Studies and is part of the Basic Environmental Program of the Salto Caxias Hydroelectric Power Plant.
Zere Program - COPEL won the Ecology Expression Award in the category of Environmental Control for its Zere Program for evaluation and establishment of alternatives for the management of waste and effluents in power plants, which was developed in association with Lactec.
PROCEL Seal of Energy Efficiency - COPEL encourages its customers to purchase appliances and bulbs that are PROCEL-certified as energy efficient by offering them a bonus that can be claimed with the proof of purchase. The Company also conducts campaigns for the donation of compact fluorescent bulbs with the PROCEL seal of energy efficiency.
Limnology: the branch of biology that deals with the waters of rivers and their organisms, especially from an ecological standpoint.
Ichthyology is the study of fish.
Aquiculture is the controlled breeding of fish and other aquatic animals, as well as the controlled cultivation of plants.
