Timber Concessions and Public Forests in the Brazilian Amazon: the ITTO Project in the Tapajós National Forest.
Margaret
Francis, Fulbright Scholar, Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazonia (IPAM), margrfrancis@yahoo.com
(Presenting)
Maria
Rosenildes Guimarães dos
Santos, Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazonia (IPAM), rosenildes@ipam.org.br
(Presenting)
Frank
Merry, Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC), Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazonia (IPAM), fmerry@whrc.org
Daniel
Curtis
Nepstad, Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC), Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazonia (IPAM), dnepstad@whrc.org
The only timber cutting contract in a national forest of the Brazilian Amazon is in the Tapajós National Forest, near Santarém, Pará. This “pilot project” known as the ITTO project, began in 1999 and allows for logging on 3,222 ha (of 600,000 total in the national forest) with the objective of promoting forest management in public areas. The project was negotiated for over a ten years and highly contested by the local communities living within the forest due to conflicts over land-use rights. Using the ITTO project as a case study, we are analyzing the socioeconomic and ecological impacts of logging on traditional forest communities near the project in the Tapajós National Forest. Using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques and socioeconomic surveys, we are documenting the history and perceptions of the project of over 100 families in five communities and evaluating its impacts on their livelihood strategies- principally hunting and the collection of non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Preliminary results show that the communities have been excluded from participation in the project and have thus accrued little economic or social benefits. In the PRA meetings, nearly all families have negative perceptions of the ecological consequences of the project, especially in regards to impacts on the abundance of game animals and hunting. As Brazil considers a large-scale shift towards concession-based forestry, it is important to consider social, economic, and ecological implications of this transformation.
Submetido por Margaret Rose Francis em 17-MAR-2004