Governança de uso dos recursos no manejo florestal comunitário: o caso emblemático da Reserva Extrativista Verde para Sempre na Amazônia

Abstract

The initiatives of community governance in forest management are still far from effectively becoming institutional arrangements decentralized from the public power. There is still a strong dependence on the State in supporting the organization, planning, and means of use of natural resources. This dependence is also evident in partnerships with non-governmental organizations, which has shown little effectiveness in the actions and community empowerment in the long term. In the Para Amazon there are few examples of cases that have resulted in the protagonism of traditional peoples and communities, with regard to the common use of forest resources. This research aims to describe the experience of five riverside communities from the Verde para Sempre Extractive Reserve, located in the municipality of Porto de Moz, in western Pará State, where they took the initiative to implement a community-based model of resource management, with forest exploration in the logic of adaptive management, according to their conditions and needs. Here we present how this model, called "local governance", was built in a participative way, which enabled the process of direct management by the communities, where they articulated with the actors involved through a formal partnership, without disregarding the interests of the users. The results revealed that the studied communities have advanced satisfactorily in reaching their goals, being considered promising initiatives that can be multiplied. It was observed that, based on this case, which is considered emblematic, the RESEX management body has adopted a collaborative co-management posture, to the point of being able to recognize this governance model and make it possible to redefine community forest management, which today is considered technicist. The article shares socio-environmental perceptions and lessons learned from five years of empirical observation (2010-2015), in order to contribute to this debate that is still in its early stages.