Court suspends entry fee to Jericoacoara National Park

The Federal Court suspended ticket charges of R$50 per day, which were scheduled to begin in March, for visitors to the Jericoacoara National Park, in Ceará.

The charge will be suspended until the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) and the concessionaire Urbia Cataratas Jeri present a detailed plan on the implementation of the fee. The judicial measure, issued on January 13th, occurred after questions from Jijoca de Jericoacoara City Hall and the local population, which had already led to previous postponements.

After the concession was released, on June 11, 2024, the community of Vila de Jericoacoara, one of the most popular destinations in the Northeast, began a mobilization to guarantee people’s free access to the site. This is because the only land access to Vila de Jericoacoara passes through the National Park, which would mean that all visitors – except residents and their families – would have to pay the new fee to get to the village.

The mobilization against the concession also came from the Jericoacoara Community Council, which opposed the process. The council created a website to collect signatures for an online petition to bring the case to the attention of authorities. On the page, residents left a message.

“To the Public Ministry, and all the Bodies that can contribute to the defense of Jericoacoara. We, the undersigned, as residents, workers and defenders of Vila de Jericoacoara, absolutely repudiate the beginning of the concession work, stressing that we are absolutely against the process of granting the National Park and, above all, that we are against charging admission for those going to the village of Jericoacoara. (…) The village of Jericoacoara is not part of the National Park and the concession does not include the village, which needs to have access guaranteed”, explains the statement.

Local mobilizations and questioning from city hall at the time led to ICMBio’s decision to postpone the start of collection, which was scheduled for December 20, 2024, to March 2025, in order to try to find a solution to the impasse.


Mobilization against fee collection in Jericoacoara

In the new decision, judge Sérgio de Norões Milfont, from the 18th Court, argued that, although the exemption for local residents and workers was foreseen, there was not enough evidence about the registration process for those exempt and there is a great deal of misinformation among the local population about the details of the grant.

The suspension will continue until ICMBio and Urbia present, within 60 days, a plan that includes information on fees, the registration process for those exempt, the inspection structure and the flow of visitors, in addition to appropriate publicity measures to the local population.

Jijoca City Hall already charges a tourism tax of R$41.50, valid for ten days, and with the implementation of the new charge, tourists will need to pay two fees to access the region.


Demonstration against the concession of the Jericoacoara area, in Ceará

Wanted by CNN ICMBio informed, in a note, that “such measure is aligned with the compliance analysis procedures that the Chico Mendes Institute (ICMBio/MMA) carries out regularly, in line with its legal and contractual powers. This practice is applied not only in the case of the agreement between ICMBio and Concessionária Urbia Cataratas Jericoacoara, but in all concession contracts managed by the municipality”.

THE CNN also contacted the concessionaire Urbia Cataratas Jeri and is awaiting a response from the group.

This content was originally published in Justice suspends entry fees to Jericoacoara National Park on the CNN Brasil website.

Source: CNN Brasil

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