Researchers, managers and technicians from government institutions and civil society participated in the meeting “Exchange of Experiences and Reflections on Community Timber Management in Protected Areas in the Amazon” to discuss the benefits, challenges and lessons learned from community timber management projects in protected areas of the Amazon. Amazon. The event was held between June 27th and 28th at the Embrapa Acre Training Center.
The exchange of experiences and reflections on the topic was based on reports from community leaders from the extractive reserves Chico Mendes (AC), Verde Para Semper (PA), Mapuá (PA), Ituxi (AM) and the Community Forest Management Working Group of Marajó (PA) and the Chico Mendes and Ecuador Agroextractive Settlement Projects. The interaction between different actors sought to improve understanding of the different approaches to community management and strengthen communication networks among the public involved in the activity throughout the Amazon region.
According to the general head of Embrapa Acre, Eufran Amaral, community forest management has advanced a lot in recent years, but managers still face governance problems and technological gaps that need to be discussed and improved. “We will only be able to keep the Amazon forest standing through its valorization and the improvement of the population’s quality of life. Together, we can find ways to organize the chain, in a way that brings greater benefits to the communities involved in the activity”, he comments.
For the president of the Wilson Pinheiro II Association and resident of the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, Severino da Silva Brito, knowing the challenges and success of other communities in the Amazon with timber forest management will help in decision-making. “Our community is discussing a low-impact management plan, without the use of heavy machinery so as not to cause damage to other activities we carry out in the forest. I saw that in Pará, the managers face difficulties in relation to the transport of wood through the river and the distance to mobilize the community is much greater than ours, but despite all this, the initiative has been successful. This is an incentive for us who already have roads available and can mobilize the community in a much shorter time”, he comments.
The event was promoted by the Conservation and Development Program in the Tropics of the University of Florida and by the Embrapa units in Acre and Rondônia and has the support of the Government of the State of Acre, WWF/AC, Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, Ministry State Public and National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).
Source: Agrolink
