Socioenvironmental problems in agrarian reform settlement projects in the Amazon region portal, Brazil

Abstract

The creation of rural settlements for the purpose of agrarian reform within the Brazilian Amazon has generated discussions and since its first implementation and brought innumerable contradictions, both environmental and social. So, naturally, questions arise about questions such as: In what context were these settlements constituted? How did the occupation of this territory impact the environment and what were the consequences of these impacts on the ecosystems and families of small farmers? This work aims, through an bibliographical review, to conceptualize the socioenvironmental impacts of the implantation of agrarian reform settlements in the Amazon and to try to elucidate or at least contribute to discuss how the failures in the management of these projects affected the lives of settled families and the ecosystem as a whole. The current structure of the landscape reveals management failures, such as the inconsistencies in the division of lots, which combined with the implantation of pastures, have increased deforestation. The inconsistencies in the construction and implementation of public policies that enabled the farmer to remain on the land in a sustainable manner, generated a state of poverty and consequent rural exodus. It is possible to produce in a sustainable way, being necessary to provide orientation and resources for farmers and the promotion of actions that aim at the production with sustainability, such as Agroforestry Systems and extractivism, practices that have been working in some localities.