PTMJ Helps to Protect One Million Hectares in the Amazon
October / November, 2022 — Protecting the forest, managing natural resources, reaping sociobiodiversity product benefits, and building partnerships are foundations for the Médio Juruá Territory Program’s (PTMJ) success. In the first year of its phase II, one million hectares of forest were protected, and 3,000 people benefited from socioeconomic improvements.
These results, achieved between July 2021 and June 2022, are part of a report available here.
These strategies strengthened the pirarucu production chain; as a result, 140,732 kilos of pirarucu were traded between traditional communities in the region and the Carauari Rural Producers Association (ASPROC) at the Médio Juruá management sites.
In addition, a new warehouse began processing and average of five metric tons of pirarucu per day, creating jobs for communities in the region (read more about it here).
Over two hundred families living in 17 communities in the Médio Juruá region benefited from the project and transformed their circumstances.
233,000 turtles and 41,000 tracajás were released into the Jurua River during the “Ecological Gymkhana”, a conservation activity that attracted 500 people from neighboring communities. In addition to a number of positive social impacts, the environment directly benefited from these activities and supported biodiversity conservation efforts.
Other Amazon conservation initiatives involved the andiroba and murumuru vegetable oil production chains, and female entrepreneurship and territorial surveillance projects.
The PTMJ is supported by USAID/Brazil, Natura, and the Partnership Platform for the Amazon (PPA). The Alliance of Bioversity International/CIAT participates as an institutional partner. Sitawi coordinates the program and six local community organizations serve as program implementers (ASPROC, ASMAMJ, AMECSARA, AMARU, CODAEMJ, and ASPODEX). The program is also supported by ICMBio, the State Secretariat for the Environment (SEMA), and OPAN.
The Médio Juruá Territory has a history of strong community organizing around the sustainable use of the forest’s resources. It has two Conservation Units - the Médio Juruá Extractive Reserve and the Uacari Sustainable Development Reserve - and is also part of the Deni Indigenous Land, covering a large part of the rural area of the municipality of Carauari. In recent months, the region has been the target of pressure from miners, denounced by local organizations.
Find out more about the project here.
