The Upper Juruá Extractive Reserve in the Brazilian Amazon: past and present†

Abstract

Amazonian livelihoods are largely dependent on rivers, with local protein consumption mainly relying on several species of fish. The UJER (Upper Juruá Extractive Reserve - Reserva Extrativista do Alto Juruá) is located in the state of Acre, bordering Peru and several indigenous areas. Here we summarize the data we collected in 1993/1994 on the population living along the banks of the Juruá, Tejo, Bagé, Igarapé São João and Breu rivers on crop cultivation, animal husbandry, and use of game and fish resources. We interviewed 133 individuals (94 on the Juruá and Tejo, 16 on Bagé, 16 on Igarapé São João and 7 on Breu rivers). Our results include a comprehensive description on local livelihoods, including the most important fish species for local subsistence considering gender and seasonality, the main husbandry and game species, and the items cultivated on the local agriculture. Whenever more recent information was available in the literature, we compared changes in livelihoods over time in the same region and also with the recent patterns observed in the Lower and in the Middle Juruá River. We hope to provide useful information to understand temporal changes in local livelihoods, which can help adapt and shape the ecological management in the region.

Which fish is this? Fishers know more than 100 fish species in megadiverse tropical rivers

“…The Amazon basin has the world's richest fish diversity (Dagosta and De Pinna 2019), which is influenced by the seasonality of water levels (flood pulse) and a diversity of aquatic habitats such as the river channel, tributaries, lakes, and floodplain forests (Junk et al 1989;Sioli 2012). This high diversity of fish and habitats is exploited by widespread small-scale freshwater fisheries (Hallwass et al 2013b;Hallwass and Silvano 2016), which sustain one of the highest per capita consumption of freshwater fish in the world (Isaac et al 2015;Begossi et al 2019;Ferreira et al 2022). However, many fish species used as food are data deficient in that they lack biological information or conservation assessment in the Brazilian Amazon (Begossi et al 2019).…”

Contradicciones de la Amazonía en el Brasil: Una nueva perspectiva

“…Con esta inmensa lista de cambios, está comprometido el concepto generado por el Ministerio de Medio Ambiente de Brasil, según el cual, "el bioma Amazonía es un mundo verde y vasto de aguas y bosques, donde las copas de los enormes árboles ocultan la luz húmeda, la reproducción y la muerte de más de un tercio de las especies de la Tierra" [16]. Amazonia, también el bioma más grande de Brasil, ocupando un área de 4.196.943 millones de km 2 o 419.694.300 ha [17], más de 40% del territorio brasileño, con 2500 especies de árboles (o una tercera parte de toda la madera tropical en el mundo) y 30000 especies de plantas (de 100000 en América del Sur), se encuentra en riesgo inminente [18]. Una realidad que no es tan diferente en la mayoría de los demás países que comparten con Brasil, la foresta amazónica en Sur América, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Guyana Francesa, Perú, Surinam y Venezuela [19].…”