Conservation Alliances with Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon

Abstract

Ongoing alliances between indigenous peoples and conservation organizations in the BrazilianAmazon have helped achieve the official recognition of ∼1 million km 2 of indigenous lands. The future of Amazonian indigenous reserves is of strategic importance for the fate of biodiversity in the region. We examined the legislation governing resource use on indigenous lands and summarize the history of the Kayapo people's consolidation of their >100,000 km 2 territory. Like many Amazonian indigenous peoples, the Kayapo have halted the expansion of the agricultural frontier on their lands but allow selective logging and gold mining. Prospects for long-term conservation and sustainability in these lands depend on indigenous peoples' understandings of their resource base and on available economic alternatives. Although forest conservation is not guaranteed by either tenure security or indigenous knowledge, (ISA) 15-year partnership with the peoples of the Xingu Indigenous Park, with projects centered on territorial monitoring and control, education, community organization, and economic alternatives. The recent agreement on ecological restoration of the Xingu River headwaters between ranchers and private companies, indigenous peoples, and environmentalists, brokered by ISA, marks the emergence of an indigenous and conservation alliance of sufficient cohesiveness and legitimacy to negotiate effectively at a regional scale. indigenous societies' relatively egalitarian common-property resource management regimes-along with adequate incentives and long-term partnerships with conservation organizations-can achieve this result. Successful initiatives include Conservation International's long-term project with the A'ukre Kayapo village and incipient large-scale territorial monitoring and control in the Kayapo territory, and the Instituto SocioAmbiental Alianzas de Conservación con Indígenas del AmazonasResumen: Las alianzas actuales entre indígenas y organizaciones de conservación en el Amazonas Brasileño han ayudado a obtener el reconocimiento oficial de ∼1 millón de km 2 enáreas indígenas. El futuro del as reservas indígenas amazónicas es de importancia estratégica para el futuro de la biodiversidad en la región. Examinamos la legislación que rige a la utilización de recursos en zonas indígenas y sintetizamos la historia de la consolidación del territorio > 100,000 km 2 de la etnia Kayapo. Como muchos grupos Amazónicos, los Kayapo han detenido la expansión de la frontera agrícola en sus tierras pero permiten actividades madereras y mineras selectivas. Las perspectivas de conservación y sustentabilidad a largo plazo en estas tierras dependen del entendimiento de su base de recursos y de las alternativas económicas disponibles por parte de los grupos indígenas. A pesar de que ni la seguridad en la posesión ni el conocimiento indígena garantizan la conservación de los bosques, los regímenes indígenas de gestión de recursos de propiedad común relativamente igualitarios en conjunto con incentivos adecuados y asociaciones con organiza...

When bigger is better: the need for Amazonian mega-reserves

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Managing Biodiversity Through Stakeholder Involvement: Why, Who, and for What Initiatives?

“…The study also reveals the near absence of certain stakeholders who may seem to be essential in biodiversity debates, notably indigenous populations. Since mining and forestry operations are often located in remote areas occupied by indigenous peoples (Zimmerman et al 2001;Schwartzman and Zimmerman 2005;ICMM, 2006), it would seem logical to involve them in debates on biodiversity. Moreover, such involvement is covered by various guidelines and much-used standards such as the FSC standard on sustainable forest management and ICMM's Good Practice Guidance for Mining and Biodiversity.…”

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