A New Framework for Natural Resource Management in Amazonia

Abstract

The Amazon rainforest has an iconic position in the global conservation movement: not only is it the largest continuous tropical rainforest in the world, but it also encapsulates many of the greatest challenges facing twentieth century conservation. However, while deforestation and its potential impact on global climate systems (Malhi et al. 2008) grab most of the headlines, it is easy to forget that Amazonia is also home to a large and diverse human population (Ribeiro and Fabre 2003). In addition to the remaining indigenous tribes, there are many settlements and scattered communities of fishermen and farmers of mixed ethnic origins. The support and active engagement of these communities in conservation and sustainable resource management is essential for the success of any conservation or sustainable development initiative. Unfortunately, numerous studies have demonstrated that implementation of co-management or community-based management of natural resources is far more difficult to achieve than the abundant rhetoric that promotes it. Moreover, each failed initiative makes it harder to establish the levels of trust and cooperation that are essential ingredients of successful management systems. Even without the handicap of previous failed initiatives, successful community-led management of natural resources is exceedingly complicated and there are many potential barriers to its successful implementation (Brockington et al. 2008): Conflicts over resource use—especially issues such as fishing rights—may prove intractable problems for which mutually satisfactory resolution may not be possible. In this context, participation of local stakeholders may merely give a platform for the legitimization of vested interests in the guise of community aspirations (Cooke and Kothari 2001). Existing or historic political, cultural or administrative structures may not have the flexibility to enable effective local community involvement, and may even result in disempowerment by forcing local stakeholders to interact within an intrinsically biased framework (Cooke and Kothari 2001). There may be insufficient political will to facilitate a move toward participatory management, especially if there are many and competing vested-interests involved. There may be insufficient interest or engagement of the local stakeholder community in the management of the resource to create strong and democratic local organizations. If the participatory process is perceived as being externally imposed and local stakeholders do not fully “buy-in” to it, then the process may break down when the initiative finishes or when financial support is withdrawn. Insufficient time may be allocated for the creation of local organizations and stakeholder groups and/or refinement of the participatory process. As a consequence of these limitations, well-meaning attempts at promoting co-management of natural resources have often increased, rather than decreased, social conflict (Waters 2006) leading some researchers to argue that there is a “need for much more complex and empirical approaches for doing conservation with local communities” (Brockington et al. 2008, p. 110). Brockington and his colleagues go on to suggest that a “more open-ended, empirical approach is much more likely to help us find approaches that are effective, equitable and more in line with local needs and values” (p. 111). In this research synopsis, we describe one such open-ended empirical approach to community-based natural resource management, developed over an 8-year initiative in a rainforest community in Amazonas State, Brazil. The conceptual basis of the approach, dubbed sustainable open systems/SOS (Ribeiro and Fabre 2003), was to gather detailed information on the cosmography (environmental knowledge, ideologies, and identities collectively developed and historically located) that the community uses to establish and to maintain its territory, and use this as the basis for sustainable management and formal resource use agreements. The term ‘open systems’ was chosen to reflect the inevitable flux of people and resources in and out of the management area or system. To better illustrate the SOS approach we present data from one of our case studies that took place in the Manacapuru district of Amazonas State, Brazil. The inhabitants of this district are broadly representative of the non-tribal peoples of Amazonia, being composed of individuals of mixed descent with different degrees of historical and cultural affiliation with the surrounding rainforest. Most families engage in productive activities that are common in inhabitants of the Amazon floodplain such as fishing, collecting and small scale agriculture (Furtado 1993a, 1993b). An eight year project was initiated in 1998 by the multidisciplinary PYRA research group (Integrated Program of Aquatic Resources and Floodplains) with the aim of designing a co-management system for local fisheries that was clearly aligned with local customs and practices and which would provide a robust framework for the development of sustainable practices.