Social-ecological Coviability of the Protected Marine Areas in Brazil: Contradictions in the Co-management of Protected Marine Areas of Brazil to Policies for the Coviability of Social and Ecological Systems

Abstract

“Extractive” reserves (artisanal or reasoned industrial-scale extraction of natural resources) were legally created in 1990 in the Amazon to ensure the lifestyle of small rubber tree (hevea) tappers as well as to preserve the forest. They are the fruit of an intense social mobilization and the support of environmental associations, and the creation of this new protected area extends to the rest of the national territory. In 2000, the National system of Conservation units was adopted and furthers the institutionalization of these protected areas of sustainable use. These are distinguished by the deliberative character of the decisions of their respective management councils, which include a majority of representatives of local traditional communities. This innovation reflects the recognition of traditional environmental knowledge and their role in nature conservation. However, what might seem a step forward in environmental legislation is actually more mixed due to management and territorial conflicts. Despite the challenges, very promising experiments exist and partly reveal necessary factors to ensure stability for traditional peoples, whose relationships with nature still have much to teach to (post) modern societies which are forced to admit the limits of their mode of production and life. This article intends to identify the necessary social organization to guarantee the autonomy of traditional peoples in the management of natural resources, as well as the external conditions which determine the forms of coviability of traditional peoples in modern and globalized society.