Amazon extractive reserve is threatened by deforestation
The Ituxi extractive reserve is part of a group of protected areas that include indigenous territories, a national park, and a national forest. This region is located on the edge of the so-called Arc of Deforestation, a 500 thousand km² strip where agriculture is encroaching on the forest.
A team from EBC’s TV Brasil, producing an episode of Caminhos da Reportagem, traveled to the heart of the Amazon rainforest to show how the reserve works, using the resources of a conservation area in an economical and sustainable way. Ituxi is one of Brazil’s 96 extractive reserves.
Created in 2008 by the federal government, the reserve covers an area of 7,700 km² in the municipality of Lábrea, Amazonas state, and originated from the demands of traditional communities living in the region. The idea was to allow the people to survive on forest resources without compromising their sustainability.
Vanderleide Souza, from the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), said that the initiative arose from a local need. “The Ituxi reserve was being attacked from the south by land grabbing. We were losing our land,” he stated.
In the reserves, activities such as fishing, fruit and seed gathering, and even tree cutting are permitted. However, everything is done in a controlled manner to prevent resources from being depleted and to give nature time to recover without leaving scars on the ecosystem.
“Every activity carried out in the extractive reserve must be covered by its utilization plan or management plan,” Samuel Nienow, also from ICMBio, noted. He added, “Gold mining is not allowed. Nor is cattle ranching, usually. The same applies to the deforestation of large areas.”
Brazil nut harvesting is the main economic activity carried out in the Ituxi extractive reserve. “I’ve been harvesting Brazil nuts for almost 40 years. It’s part of our tradition,” said Manoel Freitas, a Brazil nut harvester like his parents and grandparents.
Deforestation
The reporting team showed that timber extraction also occurs in Ituxi. However, it is heavily regulated, as any tree felling requires a license.
“When you cut down a tree, you can only return to that region after 10 years. You have to respect the forest’s cycle, so it can regenerate itself. Only then can you resume logging in the area,” said Marcus Biazatti, from Idesam, an institute that works with traditional communities in the Amazon promoting sustainable practices in bioeconomics.
“Our biggest challenge is to maintain the environmental quality of the reserve, not because of the use of extractivists who live in it, but because outsiders are coming near the edges and deforesting the area surrounding the reserve,” Nienow pointed out.
