Provoking Change: Strategies to promote smallholders in the Amazon

Fazenda Paraíso Mosqueiro, Belém, Pará, Brasil
1st to 5th December 2008

General Objective

The International Congress Provoking Change: Strategies to promote smallholders in the Amazon aims to create a platform for dialogue between scientists, politicians, development agencies and representatives from civil society to design a operational framework for development in the region that makes appropriate use of the social, economic, and ecological potential of the local population and their resources.

Specific Objectives

• To critically discuss current strategies for rural development and forest conservation in the region
• To reflect on the actual potential of forests and their products in contributing to rural development in the region
• To identify feasible approaches and strategies for smallholders in the Amazon to more effectively use their resources
• To provide orientation in skills, methods and strategies, which facilitate more effective interaction with smallholders in the Amazon

Background

For decades considerable efforts have been made to promote sustainable development in different regions of the Amazon and to promote the improved wellbeing of the rural population, while simultaneously preserving the forest landscapes and the fundamental ecosystem functions. The concept of Sustainable forest management has played a key role in this effort. In the region, the focus, initially applied to commercial forest management by logging companies, has changed its orientation to community forestry to become more oriented to poverty reduction and rural development. At present, the debate on the effects of climate change demonstrate more dramatically the importance of counting on effective measures to maintain tropical forests and on strengthening the adaptive capacity of those who depend directly on the forests of the region. Consequently, governments and NGOs from the region, with the support of international cooperation, are applying strategies to implement technologies and policies oriented to sound forest management under a wide range of environmental and socioeconomic conditions. Efforts have been invested to combine technology transfer and extension with a corresponding regulatory framework imposed through the more rigorous application of the law.

For the past three years the project "Forest management by Small farmers in the Amazon: An opportunity to enhance forest ecosystem stability and rural livelihoods." - ForLive: http://www.waldbau.uni-freiburg.de/forlive/ with financial support from the European Union, has been analyzing the efforts to support community forestry in the Amazon regions of Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru. Research undertaken by the project has shown that, in spite of some promising initiatives, to date the success of these initiatives by small farmers and rural communities has been modest, and restricted to a number of pilot projects supported with considerable investment mainly from different sources of international cooperation. The intended spontaneous replication and adoption of such experiences has not taken place. The countries of the Amazon region have not yet found effective mechanisms of implementing the recommended forest management approaches with local actors.

Under these circumstances, many governmental and non governmental organizations from the Amazon region and from other countries of Latin America and from further afield have started to think about more effective, alternative approaches to motivate the local actors who live in the forest to make use of the potential of the forest to contribute to rural development while complying with environmental and socio cultural functions. Under these conditions, it is fundamental that the decision makers from the organizations responsible for the design of development policies should take advantage of the existing knowledge and available options generated by research from various innovative experiences. Similarly, it is critical that decision makers should have the opportunity to inform themselves about alternative strategies to technical assistance and extension for the promotion and dissemination of forest management and the scientific debate regarding local technological development and the diffusion of innovations. Furthermore, it is essential for those working with communities should engage in discussions with the actors involved in the commercial sector.

The national forest sector authorities from Bolivia and Brazil, as well as other authorities from the region, have drawn up and are in the process of implementing new proposals to promote rural development based on the effective use of the forests. However, daily tasks leave little time to be committed to the exchange of knowledge and ideas with professionals and academics from the diverse, relevant disciplines, there is then limited possibility for these innovative efforts to be nourished with the positive experiences and ideas from reality. It is in this context that this event proposes to generate a platform for dialogue between scientists, those responsible for policy formulation and development agents to promote a process of reflection and learning by confronting experiences and practices with theories and to facilitate the exchange between experts and organizations working with communities and companies in the region with special emphasis on the Amazon.

Target Group

Representatives and decision makers of governmental and non-governmental organizations located principally in the Amazon region working in the thematic area of forestry and rural development, as well as academics, scientists from diverse disciplines (agriculturalists, anthropologists, foresters, sociologists, etc.) carrying out research and accompanying experiences on issues related to the main theme of the Congress.

Date 1st to 5th of December, 2008 Location Fazenda Paraíso Mosqueiro, Belém, Pará, Brasil Contacts Lisa Hoch (congreso.forlive@gmail.com) Gabriel Medina (gabriel.medina@segov.pa.gov.br) Official language of the event The event will be conducted in Spanish, for those who require the service, simultaneous translation will be available.

Results and expected products

• Prior to the event a discussion document will be prepared which will provide a critical analysis of forest based rural development strategies which have been applied to promote the adoption of sustainable forest management by local forest actors in selected countries of the Amazon region and in Latin America at large
• Some of the participants will be invited to publish manuscripts in a special edition of an international scientific publication
• A compendium will be prepared identifying and describing the practices and underlying theories of innovation and the corresponding forest based rural development strategies applied in the region.
• Constructive dialogue between the government representatives and private organizations with academics and scientists from different disciplines to support the establishment and strengthening of communication networks on forest based rural development.
• Conclusions and recommendations will be developed which contribute directly to the adaption and improvement of existing strategies to support local forest managers and decision makers in the effective use of forest resources for sustainable rural development.