Good news on Brazil nut monitoring: Best practives poised for replication in other extractive reserves - 02/2018

ICMBio’s Robson Silva hit on an important natural resource management principal when he noted, “It is very important that the products resulting from extractivism are monitored. This facilitates analysis of the sustainability of resource use by traditional populations in and around federal Conservation Units. It also allows us to estimate, with certainty, the quantities extracted, and to implement eventual corrective actions in production practices.”

In this context, recent plans to scale up monitoring of the Brazil nut value chain in the Cazumbá-Iracema extractive reserve are noteworthy. The Government of Brazil plans to replicate this experience in three other extractive reserves, Rio Ouro Preto, Rio Cautário and Lago Cuniã, a success of the Participatory Biodiversity Monitoring in Amazonian Protected Areas Program, supported by USAID/Brazil.

The idea emerged from a workshop held in Brazil’s Rondonia state in February organized by USAID’s implementing partner IPÊ jointly with Brazil’s Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), Brazil’s Agriculture Research Agency (Embrapa), Brazil’s ARPA Program and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

During the workshop, participants discussed Brazil nut ecology, including its geographical and temporal variations. Also highlighted were preliminary results of participatory monitoring experience at the Cazumbá-Iracema extractive reserve. ICMBio representatives also presented data on research, production and monitoring of sustainable value chains.

Katia Torres from ICMBio said that the workshop also contributed to the “consolidation of the monitoring strategy, creating a stronger link between biodiversity and commercialization, taking into subsidizing instruments such as certification.”

Next steps include presenting the monitoring proposal to the community and management councils of the Rio Ouro Preto, Rio Cautário and Lago Cuniã Conservation Units. If the proposal is approved, the monitoring protocols would be adapted for implementation in the next harvest. "Good data management is expected to provide quality information on the production of nuts in these extractive reserves and, in turn, support the creation of new public policies," said Katia.