Sustainable Development Reserve is a reference in pirarucu management Disclosure The Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve (RDS) celebrates 30 years of creation this week, in Amazonas. The first conservation unit in Brazil to adopt this model, the reserve became an international reference by combining the protection of biodiversity with the permanence of traditional communities in their territories. Created to conserve the forest and ensure the sustainable use of natural resources, the RDS allows local residents to continue living in the area and participate in preservation actions. The model combines community knowledge, scientific research and responsible nature management. With more than one million hectares of floodplain forest, an area that is flooded at certain times of the year, Mamirauá is part of the Central Amazon Conservation Complex, recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) as a World Natural Heritage Site. The reserve is also included in the Ramsar Convention's list of Wetlands of International Importance. ? Join the g1 AM channel on WhatsApp The creation of the reserve was designed in the 1980s by biologist José Márcio Ayres, one of the main people responsible for the proposal. At the time, the creation of protected areas was often associated with the removal of local residents.
Reserve in Amazonas that became a world reference in conservation turns 30
Sustainable Development Reserve is a reference in pirarucu management Disclosure The Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve (RDS) celebrates 30 years of creation this week, in Amazonas. The first conservation unit in...
"At that time, the creation of a conservation unit was still often associated with the removal of populations that lived in the territory. Mamirauá showed that it was possible to follow another path: recognizing traditional communities as protagonists of conservation", explains João Valsecchi do Amaral, general director of the Mamirauá Institute. Three decades later, the Sustainable Development Reserve model expanded and began to be adopted in 46 conservation units in Brazil. Arapaima management and community tourism One of the main results of the work in Mamirauá is the participatory management of arapaima. The work brings together research on the species and the knowledge of fishermen, who count the fish before each season to define the quantity that can be caught. The initiative helped to recover pirarucu stocks in management areas, where the fish population grew by more than 600%. Currently, animals captured in the region are, on average, 1.80 meters long. The methodology also began to be applied in other areas of the Amazon and in neighboring countries. In addition to fishing, the reserve has developed other ways of generating income for communities, such as community-based tourism and sustainable forest management. A resident of the reserve since birth, Ruth Martins followed the change between the period of predatory exploitation and the sustainable use of natural resources. Currently, she works at the Casa do Caboclo community inn. "The inn is a source of family and community income that allows us to maintain our subsistence. I want to continue with my culture, with my profile of being a cabocla and indigenous. I was born here", highlights Ruth. READ ALSO: Bigger than Uruguay: Amazonas has a protected area the size of a country, but faces inspection challenges Conservation units and indigenous lands in AM are among the most threatened in the Amazon, says study Amazonas has more than 260 thousand people living in protected areas, according to Census
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