Constructing a policy and institutional framework for an ecosystem-based approach to managing the Lower Amazon floodplain

Abstract

A regional experiment in co-management is underway in the Lower Amazon that is developing the basic policy and institutional elements for an ecosystem-based approach to floodplain management. This initiative grew out of the grassroots movement of floodplain communities who, concerned with excessive commercial fishing pressure on local fisheries, took control of local lakes and implemented collective agreements regulating fishing activity. This paper describes the main elements of the evolving regional management system. This process has focused on four main dimensions of floodplain settlement and resource use: development of sustainable management systems for floodplain resources, policies and institutions for fisheries co-management, collective agreements for grazing cattle on floodplain grasslands, and a land tenure policy consistent with the objectives of the evolving co-management system. Over the last year INCRA, the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform, has begun implementation of a comprehensive new land tenure policy that could resolve structural deficiencies in the existing co-management system and provide the basis for the ecosystem-based management of the Lower Amazon floodplain.Keywords Amazon Á Co-management Á Ecosystem management Á Fisheries Á Floodplain Á Varzea Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.

Market Formalization, Governance, and the Integration of Community Fisheries in the Brazilian Amazon

“…The IARA Project and IPAM were part of a network that included IBAMA, the Municipal Fishers' Union (Colô nia de Pescadores or Colô nia), and floodplain communities. These organizations worked to develop co-management policies and institutional arrangements based on community fishing agreements (IBAMA 1995;McGrath et al 2008a).…”

“…By the end of the decade a system of seven regional fisheries councils was operational, each with a legally recognized fishing agreement. The system covered 2,600 square kilometers of floodplain and included some 180 communities from the floodplain and adjacent terra firma with a total population of approximately 40,000 people (McGrath et al 2008a).…”

Agora Sob Nova Administração: Acordos De Pesca Nas Várzeas Da Amazônia Brasileira

“…In the second, this model was adapted to cattle ranching on floodplain grasslands, the second major common pool resource of the floodplain. In the third, these two kinds of co-management regulations were integrated into new land tenure and settlement policy for floodplain communities, based on the Agro-extractive Settlement Project (the aforementioned PAE), a type of settlement designed for rubber tappers and other traditional communities (McGrath et al, 2008).…”

“…Under the supervision of the Public Attorney's office, legally binding contracts, called "Terms of Conduct Adjustment", are negotiated between cattle owners and other residents, defining rules for raising cattle and water buffalo on floodplains. These agreements define periods for cattle grazing in community grasslands and specify compensation for crop damages caused by cattle (McGrath et al, 2008).…”

“…These fora -bringing together fishermen colonies, IBAMA, the state government of Acre, municipal governments and NGOs -approved six proposals for fishing agreements and suggested a system of voluntary monitoring. In Manoel Urbano lake productivity increased, i.e., there was a 44.79 % increase in catchment per unit of effort (CPUE), considering the period -2008(Oviedo, 2011. Participants and user groups are now trying to apply this methodology to other communities in the state of Acre.…”