Suchergebnisse

Introdução

Despite the growing ecological and social importance of second-growth and regenerating forests across much of the world, significant inconsistencies remain in the legal framework governing these forests in many tropical countries and elsewhere. Such inconsistencies and uncertainties undermine attempts to improve both the transparency and sustainability of management regimes. Here, we present a case-study overview of some of the main challenges facing the governance of second-growth forests and the forest restoration process in the Brazilian Amazon, with a focus on the state of Pará, which is both the most populous state in the Amazon and the state with the highest rates of deforestation in recent years. First, we briefly review the history of environmental governance in Brazil that has led to the current system of legislation governing second-growth forests and the forest restoration process in Pará. Next, we draw on this review to examine the kinds of legislative and operational impediments that stand in the way of the development and implementation of a more effective governance system. In particular, we highlight problems created by significant ambiguities in legal terminology and inconsistencies in guidance given across different levels of government. We also outline some persistent problems with the implementation of legal guidance, including the need to understand local biophysical factors in order to guide an effective restoration program, as well as difficulties presented by access to technical assistance, institutional support and financial resources for the establishment and monitoring of both existing secondary forests and newly regenerating areas of forest. Whilst we focus here on a Brazilian case study, we suggest that these kinds of impediments to the good governance of second-growth forests are commonplace and require more concerted attention from researchers, managers and policy makers.

Decentralized governance can facilitate the participation of non-government actors in natural resource management. Yet efforts to increase participation can also enhance the power of existing elite. Here, we analyze the role of the landowning elites in developing and operating a hybrid governance arrangement in response to decentralization of anti-deforestation policy in the Brazilian Amazon. We employ a framework that permits examination of the role played by different actors, the rationale that promoted collaboration in the first place, and the distribution of power that shapes the still evolving governance arrangement. By engaging state and non-state actors in a hybrid governance partnership, the local landowning elite in Paragominas, a municipality in the Eastern Brazilian Amazon, successfully achieved the specific goals set by federal policies to be removed from a high deforestation 'Red List'. Yet the local governors, together with the rural elite transformed the crisis generated by inclusion in the Red List into an opportunity to shift the rural economy on a path towards more legalized large-scale agriculture. By aligning production and conservation objectives, the project attracted medium and large landowners, but also failed to prevent - or potentially exacerbated - the further marginalization of smallholders. Rural elites can effectively mobilize hybrid government arrangements in pursuit of their own interests while also producing wider benefits such as a more stimulated urban economy and strengthened environmental compliance. However, inclusion of more marginalized populations in this process remains a severe and largely unaddressed challenge.

Contexte : Au vu des enjeux environnementaux globaux, l'Amazonie brésilienne attire depuis des décennies des chercheurs du monde entier. Depuis plus de30 ans, différents réseaux bilatéraux se sont structurés entre chercheurs européens et brésiliens, se spécialisant sur des thèmes spécifiques: hydrologie, géophysique, écologie (Barlow et al.), 2010, utilisation des sols (Gardner et al., 2013), politiques publiques (Duarte et al., 2010).Rares sont les échanges entre ces réseaux. Faisant l'hypothèse que les politiques publiques ont besoin d'une vision plus intégrative pour appuyer un développement durable des sociétés amazoniennes (Bursztyn et al., 2004), le projet Odyssea propose de construire un observatoire des dynamiques environnements-sociétés en Amazonie, pour capitaliser et croiser les nombreux résultats obtenus par ces réseaux. Le principal enjeu que le projet aborde est l'adaptation aux changements environnementaux (Malhi et al., 2008), avec l'objectif de réduire la vulnérabilité des populations locales. Les chercheurs sont conscients que l''intégration des données de différents domaines (hydrologie, qualité de l'eau, stock de carbone, usages des sols, santé, pauvreté, bien-être, etc), devra se faire à partir des demandes des décideurs politiques, des institutions de développement et des populations locales, pour proposer un observatoire qui soit adapté aux attentes et nécessités (Lemoisson et Passouant, 2012). Un processus de mobilisation est prévu, dans 5 sites (Santarem, Amapa, Nordeste du Pará, Amazonas et région de la BR-163), pour que les institutions locales et les chercheurs du projet puissent construire progressivement un ensemble d'indicateurs, adapté aux enjeux spécifiques de chacun des sites. Problématique et originalité: Alors que le projet débute, les chercheurs se confrontent à un "paradoxe": comment s'appuyer sur les nombreuses et riches données et informations déjà existantes (ou en cours de collecte) sans ces données et informations ne prédéterminent trop la direction que prendra l'observatoire? Comment faire fi des trajectoires scientifiques passées pour être attentifs aux demandes actuelles et potentiellement nouvelles qu'auront les acteurs localement? Comme le projet s'intéresse à l'adaptation aux changements environnementaux et souhaite initier une forte interaction avec les acteurs locaux, l'adoption d'une posture de recherche qui permette l'adaptabilité et l'exploration est fondamentale. Objectif: Au travers d'une grille d'évaluation des défis de l'observatoire Odyssea, la communication veut partager les réflexions de notre collectif d'une centaine de chercheurs pour configurer l'observatoire et pour renforcer le dialogue avec les acteurs locaux (décideurs politiques, institutions de développement, populations locales). Méthode: Le projet commençant, nous ne proposons pas une évaluation ex post, mais la construction a priori d'une grille de lecture commune des défis du projet permettra a posteriori d'évaluer le succès et les limites de notre initiative. Pour la construire, nous nous appuyons sur les débats qui ont eu lieu lors du lancement du projet, sur les finalités de l'observatoire Odyssea, sur les risques que nous devons appréhender, et sur la manière de favoriser plus d'adaptabilité. La méthode s'assimile aux exercices de prospectives territoriales (Jouvenel, 2009) ou de construction de scénarios (Nitsch, 2002; Van Asselt et al., 2002; Patel et al., 2007), où la question "du comment stimuler la créativité tout en restant réaliste" est centrale. (Texte intégral)

A Red List of Deforestation was published by Brazil's federal government in 2008, listing 36 municipalities with the highest rates of deforestation in the Amazon as a policy measure to prioritize efforts to combat deforestation. Here, we examine the reaction of a municipality to the decentralization policy represented by the Red List. We analyze the case of Paragominas, a municipality in the state of Pará, in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. Since being removed from the Red List in April 2010 Paragominas has swapped infamy for fame, and has become widely renowned in Brazilian policy discourse and the public media as a successful example of controlling deforestation. In this study, we analyze the development of the Green Municipality or Município Verde (MV) project, a novel governance arrangement that brought together municipal, state, and federal government as well as local farmers Unions and Associations, and regionally active nongovernmental organizations. We identify key actors and institutions involved in the process, and try to better understand the preexisting conditions that set the groundwork for the MV initiative. Finally, we evaluate the effectiveness of this policy in controlling deforestation and achieving environmental compliance within different social groups.

The Amazon basin is one of the most biologically diverse places on earth. However, agricultural expansion and infrastructure development have led to widespread deforestation that threatens the survival of many taxa. Conservation strategies to contest these threats include protected areas and environmental legislation. Nevertheless, the basic biology of many taxa is largely unknown, which poses an immense challenge when devising effective strategies to safeguard such species in the long-term. This is particularly true for primates. Monkeys from the genus Mico are poorly studied with half of the currently known species being described after 1976, and their distribution and threats remain poorly understood. Using the model Maxent, we re-evaluated the distribution range for Rondon's marmoset, one of the most threatened species in this genus. Our results estimated a distribution that is 15,500 km2 smaller than previously described for this species (68,649 km2). Furthermore, much of its modeled distribution (71%) lies outside of protected areas. Agriculture expansion and infrastructure development have converted/destroyed 20,532 km2 of forest within its range (38%) mainly in areas without protection. Another 10,316 km2 of forest is projected to be cleared by 2040 under current deforestation patterns. The expected cumulative loss of over 50% of its range size in the coming 15 years raise awareness about the threaten category of this species. In the absence of new protected areas, it remains to be seen whether Rondon's marmoset can be effectively conserved in remaining fragments of forest in farmlands.

Tropical forests continue to be plagued by the dual sustainability challenges of deforestation and rural poverty. We seek to understand why many of the farmers living in the Brazilian Amazon, home to the world's largest tropical agricultural-forest frontier, persist in agricultural activities associated with low incomes and high environmental damage. To answer this question, we assess the factors that shape the development and distribution of agricultural activities and farmer well-being in these frontiers. Our study utilizes a uniquely comprehensive social-ecological dataset from two regions in the eastern Brazilian Amazon and employs a novel conceptual framework that highlights the interdependencies between household attributes, agricultural activities, and well-being. We find that livestock production, which yields the lowest per hectare incomes, remains the most prevalent land use in remote areas, but many examples of high income fruit, horticulture, and staple crop production exist on small properties, particularly in peri-urban areas. The transition to more profitable land uses is limited by lagging supply chain infrastructure, social preferences, and the fact that income associated with land use activities is not a primary source of perceived life quality. Instead subjective well-being is more heavily influenced by the nonmonetary attributes of a rural lifestyle (safety, tranquility, community relations, etc.). We conclude that transitions away from low-income land uses in agricultural-forest frontiers of the Brazilian Amazon need not abandon a land-focused vision of development, but will require policies and programs that identify and discriminate households based on a broader set of household assets, cultural attributes, and aspirations than are traditionally applied. At a broader scale, access to distant markets for high value crops must be improved via investments in processing, storage, and marketing infrastructure.