Paths of diversification: Land use, livelihood strategies and social learning along the aging of a land reform settlement in Acre, Brazil

Copyright 2009 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências SociaisThis paper explores the story of settlers overcoming challenges common to the environment of expanding agricultural frontiers, and how this is reflected on the land-use and livelihood choices that unfold with the aging of settlements. The study site is a land reform project in the State of Acre, Brazil. We found that most families seek to diversify their livelihood strategies and take advantage of new opportunities as a way to cope with income uncertainties largely present on the frontier setting. As in other parts of the Amazon, cattle-ranching is the single most important activity to secure income, but complementary activities such as agroforestry and fish breeding are key for economic security and improvements

Paths of Diversification: Land use, livelihood strategies and social learning along the aging of a land reform settlement in Acre, Brazil

This paper explores the story of  settlers overcoming challenges common to the environment of  expanding agricultural frontiers, and how  this  is  refected on  the  land-use  and  livelihood  choices that unfold with the aging of  settlements. The study site  is a land reform project  in  the State of  Acre, Brazil. We  found  that most families seek to diversify their livelihood strategies and take advantage of  new opportunities  as  a way  to  cope with  income uncertainties  largely present on  the  frontier  setting. As  in other parts of  the Amazon, cattle-ranching is the single most important activity  to  secure  income, but  complementary  activities  such  as agroforestry and fsh breeding are key for economic security and improvements.Key words: land-use, Acre, Amazonia.Este manuscrito  explora  la  estoria de  asentados  que pasan por desafíos comunes al contexto de fronteras agrícolas en expansión, y de como estos desafíos se refejan en las opciones de uso de la tierra y en las estratégias econômicas que se desdoblan con el desarrollar de los asentamientos. El área de estudios es un proyecto de  reforma agraria en el Estado de Acre, Brasil. Los  resultados indican que  la mayor parte de  las  familias opta por  la diversifcación de las estrategias de se ganar la vida, y se benefcian de las oportunidades como forma de protección contra las incertidumbres  relacionadas  a  la  renta  familiar. Así  como  en  otras  partes de la Amazonía, la ganadería es la actividad más importante para asegurar la renta familiar, pero actividades complementares como sistemas  agroforestales  y  el  cultivo  de  pescados  són  clave  para mejorar las condiciones de seguridad y económicas.Palabras-clave: uso de la tierra, Acre, Amazonía.Este manuscrito  explora  la  estoria de  asentados  que pasan por desafíos comunes al contexto de fronteras agrícolas en expansión, y de como estos desafíos se refejan en las opciones de uso de la tierra y en las estratégias econômicas que se desdoblan con el desarrollar de los asentamientos. El área de estudios es un proyecto de  reforma agraria en el Estado de Acre, Brasil. Los  resultados indican que  la mayor parte de  las  familias opta por  la diversifcación de las estrategias de se ganar la vida, y se benefcian de las oportunidades como forma de protección contra las incertidumbres  relacionadas  a  la  renta  familiar. Así  como  en  otras  partes de la Amazonía, la ganadería es la actividad más importante para asegurar la renta familiar, pero actividades complementares como sistemas  agroforestales  y  el  cultivo  de  pescados  són  clave  para mejorar las condiciones de seguridad y económicas.Palabras-clave: uso de la tierra, Acre, Amazonía.Este artigo explora a história de colonos que enfrentam os desafos de fronteiras agrícolas em expansão, e de como estes desafos se refetem nas escolhas de uso da terra e nas estratégias econômicas que se desdobram ao longo da vida dos assentamentos. A área de estudo é um projeto de reforma agrária no Estado do Acre, Brasil. Os resultados indicam que a maior parte das famílias busca a diversifcação das estratégias de sustento, e se aproveitam de novas oportunidades como forma de se proteger contra incertezas relacionadas à renda familiar comuns às regiões de fronteiras agrícolas. Tal como em outras partes da Amazônia, a pecuária é a atividade mais importante para assegurar a renda familiar, mas atividades complementares como sistemas groforestais e criação de peixes são fundamentais para a melhoria e a segurança das condições econômicas. Palavras-chave: uso da terra, Acre, Amazonia

Mamoru-Arapiuns:: Diagnóstico socioeconômico e ambiental

Resenha escrita por Thomas Ludewigs, Professor Adjunto, Centro de Desenvolvimento Sustentável, Universidade de Brasília M.M. Tourinho; J.R.V. Gama; M.D.C. Palha; S.R.M. Santos; P.M. Mattar (orgs.) Mamoru-Arapiuns:Uma Região Amazônica em Disputa. Belém: Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, 2014. 229 p.ISBN 978-85-7295-088-6

Polarization in the land distribution, land use and land cover change in the Amazon

O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar a polarização da estrutura fundiária como uma expressão mais completa das dinâmicas fundiárias, do uso-cobertura da terra e, consequentemente, do meio rural na Amazônia do que modelos explicativos que enfatizam o êxodo rural e a consolidação de grandes estabelecimentos agropecuários. Os dados foram coletados em levantamento realizado no entorno de Santarém-PA, em 2003, nos locais de 587 lotes rurais selecionados aleatoriamente por amostragem estratificada de 5.086 lotes existentes em mapas da década de 1970. O georreferenciamento permitiu comparar a estrutura fundiária nos dois momentos e relacionar variáveis sociodemográficas e biofísicas dos estabelecimentos encontrados. Detectou-se concentração fundiária, corroborando o documentado por outros autores em outras porções da Amazônia. No entanto, a perspectiva adotada revela que a variação na estrutura fundiária não se limitou ao aparecimento de estabelecimentos maiores, com 200 hectares ou mais, mas se deu também pela divisão dos lotes originais em estabelecimentos com menos de cinco hectares, muitos das quais sem uso agropecuário, em contrapartida à redução de estabelecimentos entre cinco e 200 ha. As especificidades de cada grupo de estabelecimentos com relação ao uso-cobertura da terra e a distribuição da população chamam a atenção para a necessidade de se buscar modelos explicativos - seja da perspectiva socioeconômica, demográfica ou ambiental - que não se fixem exclusivamente em um único processo, grupo de pessoas ou de estabelecimentos.The objective of this article is to present Polarization of Agrarian Structure as a single, more complete representation than models emphasizing rural exodus and consolidation of land into large agropastoral enterprises of the dynamics of changing land distribution, land use / cover, and thus the rural milieu of Amazonia. Data were collected in 2003 using social surveys on a sample of 587 lots randomly selected from among 5,086 lots on a cadastral map produced in the 1970s. Georeferencing of current property boundaries in the location of these previously demarcated lots allows us to relate sociodemographic and biophysical variables of the surveyed properties to the changes in boundaries that have occurred since the 1970s. As have other authors in other Amazonian regions, we found concentration of land ownership into larger properties. The approach we took, however, showed that changes in the distribution of land ownership is not limited to the appearance of larger properties, those with 200 ha or more; there also exists substantial division of earlier lots into properties with fewer than five hectares, many without any agropastoral use. These two trends are juxtaposed against the decline in establishments with between five and 200 ha. The variation across groups in land use / land cover and population distribution shows the necessity of developing conceptual models, whether from socioeconomic, demographic or environmental perspectives, look beyond a single group of people or properties

LAND-USE DECISION MAKING, UNCERTAINTY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF LAND REFORM IN ACRE, BRAZILIAN AMAZON

From 1970 to 1999, almost 700,000 families were settled through land reform programs in Brazil. However, lot turnover contributed to re-concentration of land and to the limited success of these programs. This dissertation explores land-use decision-making in an aging land reform settlement in the Amazon. It focuses on how farmers respond to limited access to the information and to opportunities that are typical of the frontier context. I analyze the interactions among variables affecting families, communities and the agrarian structure of the settlement, and changes in land-use and cover (LUCC) resulting from these interactions. The study site is a government sponsored colonization project (P.C. Humaitá) in the State of Acre, Brazil. Variables affecting land-use choices were analyzed and studied through a micro-level approach using remote sensing linked to social sciences’ techniques. A property grid (n=739) overlaid to satellite images (1981-2003) was used to analyze LUCC during this period. It was found that differences among social groups, access to urban centers, and use of agricultural credit contributed to explain LUCC along settlement’s lifetime. The Von Thünen approach showed that lot consolidation into larger properties was found to correlate with accessibility to urban centers, but not with deforestation. The dynamic of demographic land distribution is complex, and includes, among others, continuous arrival and departure of settlers, intergenerational changes, fragmentation and a move from larger to smaller lots and to local villages, occupational change from producer to off-farm labor, and connectivity between urban and rural families. It was also found that diversification of livelihood strategies through time comprises an important adaptive mechanism to the uncertain conditions that are present on frontier settlements, and that social learning processes help farmers deal with uncertainty and to take advantage of economic opportunities. The high lot turnover rates and increasing in Gini indexes observed in Humaitá (225%) follows similar trends observed in other Amazonian sites, such as 270% in Altamira. It results from an inappropriate model of land reform, incapable of providing minimum conditions to incoming settler families to remain on their lots. In this sense, one might ask whether lot turnover and land concentration indicate a vicious cycle of uneven land distribution in Brazil? To what extent does history repeat itself? The skewed level of support received by settled farmers and the re-concentration trends shown in this dissertation are in line with earlier studies, hence pointing to such vicious cycle. The environmental costs are substantial: forest conversion of some 63.8 million ha to agropastoral use, and depletion of biodiversity, nutrients, and hydrological resources. According to Abramovay, land reform would be more socially effective in Brazil if it had occurred before the urbanization boom of the 1960s and 1970s (which it could have helped to smooth out). Nevertheless, it still has a potential to reduce rural poverty, if more consistent regional planning and infrastructural provisioning is implemented. An alternative mechanism of financing and executing land reform programs is also needed, including: (1) selection of areas designated for land reform based on criteria of environmental and economic sustainability of future settlements, in which focus is placed on areas served by all-weather roads and close to markets, and on achieving consistency between environmental legislation by the Environmental Protection Agency of Brazil (IBAMA) and INCRA, thus avoiding the regularization of settlements on irregularly occupied forested areas; (2) public-private partnerships with more accurate studies on the capability to provide infrastructure investments and delivery of public services; (3) incorporation of representatives of the civic society around community-based programs in all phases of implementation; for example, use of a polycentric governance model based on multiple centers of decision making, formally independent of each other but under a structure of ordered relationships and rules, and with consumers as co-producers of public services; (4) diversified provision of technical assistance and agricultural credit support (also from the private sector) oriented toward the engagement of beneficiaries in agricultural markets; (5) fiscal incentives to cooperatives to establish processing plants and transformation industries of agricultural products; and (6) implementation of a land tax system based in social and environmental indicators, creating incentives for landowners to engage in sustainable projects. Further research on the outcomes of recent experiences in land reform, including multi-agency networks, negotiated land reform programs, and community-based approaches are needed.A challenge of conservation in the Amazon is to maintain forest cover outside parks. The challenge of land reform is to promote land redistribution that is compatible with economic sustainability, market integration, and long-term conservation of natural resources. There have been enough experiences in the Amazon to inform innovative governance approaches and promotion of rural development. Despite disagreements and problems, land redistribution and regularization is an historical need in Brazil and in the Amazon, and should continue to receive attention as a policy priority for the region

Polarization in the land distribution, land use and land cover change in the Amazon

In this paper a method for increasing the resolution of census data is tested and presented, by aggregating the data onto a regular grid. The methodology consists of (1) the aggregation of households, represented by their geographical coordinates obtained by the 2007 Population Count, carried out by the Brazilian Census Office (IBGE) and, (2) the unbundling of the data by census tracts on the basis of proportionality. The grids obtained were used to estimate the resident population of 114 conservation units in Brazilian Legal Amazon, all of them instituted in or before 2006. The intention was to test this methodology on territorial units that follow neither the official political-administrative boundaries of states and cities, nor the boundaries designed by IBGE for collecting data. The methodology also contributes to the study of populations living in protected areas, due to the scarcity of population estimates in the conservation units. The results showed a population of 325,398 inhabitants in the selected units, 297,693 of whom were in units for Sustainable Use and 27,705 in Permanent Protection units. Adjoining areas have an estimated joint population of 1,020,237. Despite the limitations involved in using the 2007 Population Count, the aggregating of data into grids would seem to be a promising methodology in view of the improvements in IBGE's use of geotechnology. The grid minimizes problems that come up in the use of administrative units or census data and may represent an approach that can be applied usefully in demography and other areas of knowledge.O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar a polarização da estrutura fundiária como uma expressão mais completa das dinâmicas fundiárias, do uso-cobertura da terra e, consequentemente, do meio rural na Amazônia do que modelos explicativos que enfatizam o êxodo rural e a consolidação de grandes estabelecimentos agropecuários. Os dados foram coletados em levantamento realizado no entorno de Santarém-PA, em 2003, nos locais de 587 lotes rurais selecionados aleatoriamente por amostragem estratificada de 5.086 lotes existentes em mapas da década de 1970. O georreferenciamento permitiu comparar a estrutura fundiária nos dois momentos e relacionar variáveis sociodemográficas e biofísicas dos estabelecimentos encontrados. Detectou-se concentração fundiária, corroborando o documentado por outros autores em outras porções da Amazônia. No entanto, a perspectiva adotada revela que a variação na estrutura fundiária não se limitou ao aparecimento de estabelecimentos maiores, com 200 hectares ou mais, mas se deu também pela divisão dos lotes originais em estabelecimentos com menos de cinco hectares, muitos das quais sem uso agropecuário, em contrapartida à redução de estabelecimentos entre cinco e 200 ha. As especificidades de cada grupo de estabelecimentos com relação ao uso-cobertura da terra e a distribuição da população chamam a atenção para a necessidade de se buscar modelos explicativos – seja da perspectiva socioeconômica, demográfica ou ambiental – que não se fixem exclusivamente em um único processo, grupo de pessoas ou de estabelecimentos.412223232Amaral, S., Monteiro, A.M.V., Camara, G., Quintanilha, J.A., Estimativa da distribuição espacial da população na Amazônia brasileira com o uso de sensoriamento remoto orbital: Contribuições das imagens CCD/CBERS no caso do município de Marabá-PA (2005) Anais, pp. 765-773. , In: XII SIMPÓSIO BRASILEIRO DE SENSORIAMENTO REMOTO, 2005, Goiânia. São José dos Campos: InpeBacker, L., The geostat project: Part of an international effort to build an IISS? 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New York, (Studies in Methods, Series F, n. 103)(2000) Handbook on geographic information systems and digital mapping, , UNITED NATIONS. New York, (Studies in Methods, Series F, n. 79)West, P.C., Brechin, S.R., (1991) Resident peoples and national parks: Social dilemmas and strategies in international conservation, , (Eds.). Tucson: The University of Arizona PressYoo, E., Kyriakidis, P.C., Tobler, W., Reconstructing population density surfaces from areal data: A comparison of tobler's pycnophylactic interpolation method and area-to-point kriging (2010) Geographical Analysis, 42, pp. 78-98The objective of this article is to present Polarization of Agrarian Structure as a single, more complete representation than models emphasizing rural exodus and consolidation of land into large agropastoral enterprises of the dynamics of changing land distribution, land use / cover, and thus the rural milieu of Amazonia. Data were collected in 2003 using social surveys on a sample of 587 lots randomly selected from among 5,086 lots on a cadastral map produced in the 1970s. Georeferencing of current property boundaries in the location of these previously demarcated lots allows us to relate sociodemographic and biophysical variables of the surveyed properties to the changes in boundaries that have occurred since the 1970s. As have other authors in other Amazonian regions, we found concentration of land ownership into larger properties. The approach we took, however, showed that changes in the distribution of land ownership is not limited to the appearance of larger properties, those with 200 ha or more; there also exists substantial division of earlier lots into properties with fewer than five hectares, many without any agropastoral use. These two trends are juxtaposed against the decline in establishments with between five and 200 ha. The variation across groups in land use / land cover and population distribution shows the necessity of developing conceptual models, whether from socioeconomic, demographic or environmental perspectives, look beyond a single group of people or properties

O Gado que Circulava: Desafios da Gestão Participativa e Impactos da Proibição do Uso do Fogo aos Criadores de Gado de Solta da Reserva de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Veredas do Acari

International audienceIn the Cerrado (Savanna), extensive cattle raising on rangelands have been present since the eighteenth century, but this practice has not been fully incorporated in the debate on collaborative management in protected areas. Due to the increasing privatization of rural areas and the creation of protected areas, local communities are being “surrounded” and often end up being excluded from their traditional territories. What are the barriers for the recognition of this practice as a possibility to conservation objectives? The purpose of this article is to understand the local difficulties in implementing collaborative management in the Sustainable Development Reserve (SDR) Veredas do Acari (Minas Gerais) and to assess the possible coexistence of this traditional practice with the conservation actions. Twenty five interviews were made with the herders who use the SDR. Participative mapping enabled to portray the dynamic and intermittent nature of the occupation of SDR by the cattle. The cattle of each farmer follow a route known to them and that doesn’t overlap with the others’. This knowledge shows some kind of indirect management of the territorythrough the cattle. The rules governing this type of management are informal and based on cooperation among herders. Interviews with different locals show the difficulties of cooperation between official resource managers and the herders to build co-management agreements. Because the environmental agency does not recognize these practices as legitimate, it attempts to compensate for the restrictions on use of fire, directlylinked to cattle raising, by promoting other activities such as extractivism and handcrafting. Even recognizing the impact caused by cattle, the farmers blame the eucalyptus plantations established in the 1970s for the most significant environmental problems. Cattle raising in the SDR Veredas do Acari has been the cause of conflict between the farmers and official resource managers, precisely because there are different perceptions about the very nature and origins of environmental problems. However, territorial conflicts in the region are also linked to older questions such the use of fences and the privatization of common areas

A Agenda Ambiental na Administração Pública desafios operacionais e estratégicos

Organizations are being compelled to direct their activities towards sustainability. Demands for corporate social and environmental responsibility arise from the recognition of limits on the availability of natural resources and on the capacity of absorption of human impacts by the environment. In order to guide this paradigm shift, the Brazilian Ministry of Environment (MMA) introduced the Environmental Agenda in Public Administration – A3P, a voluntary adoption program. This article presents the A3P through a literature review and analysis of documents on the Agenda publicity materials provided by MMA. To illustrate the application of the Agenda, this article analyzes forty-nine initiatives granted with the A3P Best Practices on Sustainability Award from 2009 to 2013, based on seven indicators of conformity with organizational goals on socio-environmental responsibility. The results show advances on the implementation of the Agenda, with a 240% increase on the number of organizations that signed up to A3P along the studied timeframe. One of the most important outcomes of the Agenda is to help public organizations to introduce sustainability criteria, such as eco-efficiency, amongst traditional organizational performance indicators. The majority of awarded projects presented some degree of commitment with organizational outcomes. However, the Agenda does not seem to be vigorous enough to stimulate socio-environmental responsibility incorporated on organizational identity in the long term. There is still a long way ahead in order for the A3P to become effective as a directive to the practices and to the strategic management decision-making processes in those organizations

Payments for ecosystem services in Amazonia. The challenge of land use heterogeneity in agricultural frontiers near Cruzeiro do Sul (Acre, Brazil)

International audienceAmazonia became a target area for Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) initiatives in deforestation. We analysed the implementation of a PES scheme in Acre (Brazil) by taking into account land use heterogeneity in an agricultural frontier. Justified by the modernisation of deforestation control policies, the programme promotes agricultural intensification through fire-free practices. In this way, the PES tends to focus on long-established settlements, where farmers are wealthier and the landscape is dominated by pasture. Agricultural intensification may be adapted to foster reforestation. In order to curb deforestation a specific policy is needed for targeting remote areas where initial stages of deforestation usually take place. By promoting only land sparing, PES programmes in Amazonia may lose sight of their socio-economic and environmental objectives due to limited spatial targeting