POTENCIALIDADES E LIMITES DA APLICAÇÃO DO MONITORAMENTO COMUNITÁRIO NAS UNIDADES DE CONSERVAÇÃO DA AMAZÔNIA: UMA REFLEXÃO A PARTIR DO PROBUC.

Abstract

The ProBUC - monitoring program of biodiversity and the sustainable use of natural resources in protected areas of the Amazonas state - is an innovation in the community monitoring process within the Amazon. It is, in large measure, a consequence of the evaluation process and management of protected areas worldwide. Its purpose is to support the management of these protected areas through information obtained by local communities monitoring. In this work, we exposed the methodological details of the operating system of the program and its objectives as the official description made by the government of the Amazonas and the way it was implemented three protected areas. First, the aspects that precede and inspire the creation of ProBUC are presented, starting from the theoretical framework that discusses the conventional monitoring until the appearance of the proposed community monitoring in tropical countries, emphasizing the limitations of both modalities. Secondly, the limitations and potentials of this Amazon program are exposed within a critical evaluation of its functioning. This analysis stems from readings of international authors who discuss the issue of community monitoring direct observations made during field works and interviews with inhabitants of the conservation units within the program in question was established. Our analysis is also reinforced by taking part in in technical review meeting held by the ProBUC´s crew in 2013. It was noted that the viability of this program depends on overcoming key challenges such as financial dependence on international institution, the absence of a permanent technical staff, the huge gap in the treatment of data collected, the limited participation of the community in the daily development of the program-, among others. These limitations mean that the work done by local inhabitants is not located within a government strategy for local development. Furthermore, adaptive and participatory aspects of the program are potentials that need to be valued for its improvement. We conclude that it is very urgent that the state government take ownership of this program and equipped it with the necessary means in order to see its appropriation by the local communities and to encourage the proliferation of other similar regional initiatives-. The construction of ProBUC in this way would be of great value to the consolidation of alternative community monitoring in the complex Amazonian context.