IBGE State Superintendent in Pernambuco, Gliner Alencar, in public audience on amendment of municipal borders. Picture credit: Roberta Guimarães/Alepe

The 2022 Census has already brought practical benefits, even before the release of the preliminary results. On April, the IBGE State Superintendence in Pernambuco took part in two public audiences called by the State Chamber (Alepe) to discuss amendments in territorial borders of municipalities in Pernambuco. During the 2022 Census, IBGE servants noticed that the outline of the borders of several municipalities was either different from the milestones found in the field work or incompatible with state laws that established the judiciary and administrative division of these localities.

The IBGE reported 50 stretches of updatable borders to the State Agency for Planning and Research of Pernambuco (Condepe/Fidem). It aimed at passing on to the State Executive Power suggestions to improve the registration of the geographic mesh of Pernambuco. “The outlines to be amended are easy to see, including rivers and roads that were displaced by the current geographic mesh, which contradicts the legislation in force,” explains Gliner Alencar, the IBGE Superintendent in Pernambuco.

One of the updating suggestions made by the IBGE is in the image below, explained by the Coordinator of the Territorial Base of the 2022 Census in Pernambuco, Juan Cordovez. “The continuous blue line represents the current border. The river, whose course can be clearly distinguished by its riparian forest, is the correct border according to the legislation in force. Therefore, the need to geometrically correct the mesh is evident.”

Also according to Alencar, in some cases, that difference occurred because the design of the municipal borders in Pernambuco sent to the IBGE was based on old topographic maps made by the Development Superintendence of the Northeast (Sudene). “As the Pernambuco government recently carried out a 3D laser topographic mapping of the entire territory (PE3D Project), it is possible to have a more precise result, closer to reality. Currently, we have technologies that allow a higher refining to establish the municipal borderlines.”

Based on information exchanged between the IBGE and Condepe/Fidem, the Pernambuco Chamber called the municipalities involved to take part in mediation meetings. The discussion about those 50 municipal outlines was unfolded into two public audiences, held on April 19 and 26. Pending issues in 27 of them were solved as a result of the meetings. For the remaining 23 cases, moderating representatives will be assigned to help city administrations to negotiate new proposals. Until the end of the year, Alepe will analyze 44 more complex cases, including situations where there are houses or public equipment in the places under dispute.

Gliner Alencar (2nd from left to right), IBGE Superintendent in Pernambuco, surrounded by Maurílio Lima (dressed in white), Executive Director of Studies, Surveys and Statistics of Condepe/Fidem, and by José Patriota (with a red tie), President of the Commission for Municipal Affairs of Alepe, and by members of the Chamber. Picture credit: Nando Chiappetta/Alepe

Public audiences are the first steps to revise the borders of every municipality in Pernambuco, describe them in the state legislation and establish the geographic coordinates of every point. Actions in Alepe are headed by the Commission for Municipal Affairs, especially by the president of the Commission, State Representative José Patriota (PSB). Besides the superintendent of SES-PE, other IBGE representatives were the Operational Coordinator of the 2022 Census in Pernambuco, Tiago Figueiredo, the Coordinator of the Territorial Base of the 2022 Census, Juan Gortaire Cordovez, the Coordinator of Repacs of the 2022 Census, Enildo Meira, and the Cartographic Engineer and Technologist Márcia Carneiro, an effective servant of SES-PE.