Fostering learning communities on integrated conservation and development in Southeast Brazil

The short film portrays two communities in southeast Brazil - Catuçaba and Trindade - already shown in CCRN’s “community stories” and “communities in action”. These two communities were the focus of an outreach... [ view full abstract ]

The short film portrays two communities in southeast Brazil - Catuçaba and Trindade - already shown in CCRN’s “community stories” and “communities in action”. These two communities were the focus of an outreach project¹ developed by our team² between 2012 and 2015. We worked with the concept of learning communities to foster reflections and actions involving the integration between nature conservation and local development. Catuçaba community comprises a village of approximately 800 inhabitants and its surrounding rural neighborhoods, part of which located within the buffer zone of a protected area (Serra do Mar State Park) in the municipality of São Luís do Paraitinga, São Paulo State. The landscape is a mosaic of land uses, including pastures, areas of native and recovering vegetation, eucalyptus plantations, and some agriculture. Two hundred years of agriculture with poor management of land resulted in current soil degradation and a severe rural out-migration, especially of youngsters. Small-scale farming and a still incipient eco/rural tourism are relevant activities in Catuçaba. Trindade is a coastal community in Paraty, Rio de Janeiro State, with approximately 1,000 inhabitants, of which about 50 are small-scale fishers. The community area overlaps with two Protected Areas – Serra da Bocaina National Park and Cairuçu Environmental Protected Area. Tourism and fisheries are important components of local livelihoods in Trindade, and the community faces conflicts - sometimes violent - related to rights to their traditional territory. Knowing and valuing local livelihoods and cultural identity is paramount to both communities’ empowerment and capacity to act collectively. The short film shows the communities’ livelihoods, as well as examples of collective actions organized with the support of our group, and their further development, such as festivities, a local market, and a newsletter, all of them strongly based on local livelihoods and cultural identity.

¹Funded by CCRN & University of Campinas-PREAC

²Cristiana S. Seixas, Juliana S. Farinaci, Luciana G. de Araujo, Natalia C. Bahia, Paula Chamy, Ana Carolina E. Dias, Camila A. Islas, Alice R. de Moraes, Luciana A. Pereira, Deborah S. Prado, Rafael E. Ummus.