Forests, Fields, and Pastures: Unequal Access to Brazil Nuts and Livelihood Strategies in an Extractive Reserve, Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

This article examines access to an economically important forest product (Brazil nuts) and its relationship with livelihood strategies in the Cazumbá–Iracema Extractive Reserve (CIER), Acre, Brazil. The objective is twofold: (i) to clarify how social mechanisms regulating access to Brazil nuts operate and (ii) to analyse the relationship between differential access to Brazil nuts and livelihood diversification in terms of cash income. For this, we conducted 55 semi-structured interviews with household heads in three rubber tapper (seringueiro) communities. Our findings indicate that Brazil nuts are important to seringueiro livelihoods, although both access to Brazil nuts and livelihood strategies are highly variable between households and communities. Limited access to Brazil nuts is partly overcome through informal arrangements and investment in wage labour, swidden agriculture, and cattle raising, as part of highly diversified livelihood portfolios. However, restrictions to agriculture and cattle raising generate considerable tensions between many seringueiros and environmental managers. We highlight the importance of viewing livelihood diversification and adaptability as important components of the long-term viability of the extractive reserve model, particularly in the context of the growing uncertainties and risks associated with accelerating climate and socio-environmental change as well as amidst ongoing political dynamics in Brazil.

The Key to the Sustainability and Conservation of Extractive Reserves in the Amazon

“…Small-scale agriculture and cattle rearing complement Brazil nut extraction, support the extractive model, generate income, and prevent the migration of traditional communities [112]. The integration of environmental and agricultural policies stimulates development, provides project formulation, and is a key factor for the sustainability of production systems [113,114].…”

“…Thus, agriculture, livestock rearing, and extractivism have become significant because they occur in an integrated manner, contribute to economic security for traditional communities, and boost socioeconomic income without mischaracterizing the ways of life [112]. In addition, these productive activities play an important role in diversifying and increasing incomes [121,122] and reducing poverty and deforestation [123].…”

Limits and Possibilities of Vegetable Extraction in Extractive Reserves in the Amazon

“…In practice, low productivity, exhaustion, and secular passivity have led to an extractive crisis in RESEXs [31]. The income generated from extractivism is too low to ensure the subsistence of the inhabitants, because few families engage in this activity while integrating it with agriculture and livestock [32].…”

Describing complex interactions of social-ecological systems for tipping point assessments: an analytical framework

“…Several driving forces affect the profitability of livelihood strategies. Examples are agricultural technologies (Angelsen and Kaimowitz, 2001), levels of natural resource use (Coomes et al, 2004), historical conditions (Coomes et al, 2016), soil fertility (Heger et al, 2020) and the availability of other ecosystem services (Junqueira et al, 2016), environmental variability (Börner et al, 2015b;Ajefu et al, 2020;Alfani et al, 2021;Girard et al, 2021), farm/forest output level (i.e., productivity) (Klemick, 2011), market prices (e.g., the decline in Brazil nut retail prices) (Ubiali and Alexiades, 2022), and institutional constraints (e.g., land tenure insecurity, encroaching) (Tseng et al, 2021).…”