Traditional communities revamp landscape of Rio’s Guanabara Bay
The efforts of traditional communities have been changing the environmental landscape of the mangroves in Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay. Through solid waste cleanup projects, awareness campaigns for fishermen and crab gatherers, and the recovery of local fauna and flora, its landscape is being restored in several surrounding municipalities.
In January and February, actions by the Andadas Ecológicas project, run by the NGO Guardiões do Mar (“Guardians of the Sea”), collected 4.5 tons of waste in Magé, in the Baixada Fluminense region. Artisanal fishermen, crab gatherers, teenagers, and children from the community of Suruí and surrounding areas, in the Guanabara Bay basin, are the direct beneficiaries.
In addition to cleaning mangroves, the project develops an unprecedented social system that uses a currency named “mangal” to pay for environmental services. For two years and two months, the initiative will engage schools, community spaces, and residents along the banks of the Suruí river, in Magé.
More than collection
Pedro Belga, who spearheads the project, says the initiative goes beyond the mere collection of waste from the mangroves and the sea. He highlights the role of the environmental education work that will take place along both banks of the Suruí River, where local communities will be encouraged to collect their post-consumer solid waste and stop improper disposal.
Thus, families, children, and young people will be encouraged to exchange this solid waste for mangal coins, which they can later trade for items at a bazaar.
Financial return
According to Belga, payment for environmental services was introduced by Guardiões do Mar in 2001 during its first initiative in Guanabara Bay, in the community of Ilha de Itaoca.
“From then on, we understood how worthwhile it is to hire these communities to do the cleaning,” he added.
By adopting this payment system, he argues, communities are sensitized and become environmental agents. They realize that cleaning brings more fish and crabs and restores the mangroves.
Cleaning the mangroves is already something that crab gatherers look forward to, especially because of the closed season – which in Rio de Janeiro runs from October 1 to November 30 – the environmentalist pointed out. During this period, they cannot collect, transport, or sell uçá crabs. “This grant, which is paid in exchange for environmental services provided by the community, is extremely important,” Belga pointed out.
The president of the Association of Crab Gatherers and Friends of the Mangroves of Magé, Rafael dos Santos, pointed out that community-based tourism – which is another economic activity developed by residents – is also influenced by the cleaning of solid waste. “The cleaner river and mangrove scenery attracts visitors to the region,” he noted.
A spin-off
The project will be an extension of Operation LimpaOca, according to coordinator Rodrigo Gaião. Since the first mangrove clean-up actions in the Guapimirim Environmental Protection Area, in Rio’s metropolitan region, in 2012, the operation has collected more than 100 tons of waste. For the first time, Andadas Ecológicas will extend from the mouth to the source of the Suruí River.
Among the waste collected are sofas, television tubes, electronic waste, and whole pieces of wood such as doors and toys. However, even though the types of waste vary, plastic or plastic-based items are always the most commonly reported.
“[Among the waste] plastic dominates, whether in the form of PET bottles or other types of plastic containers and bags in absurd quantities. Depending on how long it has been in the mangrove, the amount of fragments can be significant,” Gaião said.
A fight with a purpose
The mangrove cleanup projects around the Guapimirim Environmental Protection Area began in 2000, after the rupture of a Petrobras pipeline connecting the Duque de Caxias Refinery (REDUC) to the Ilha d’Água terminal on Ilha do Governador, in northern Rio. Because of the spill, Petrobras had to pay a BRL 35 million fine to Brazil’s environment authority IBAMA and invested BRL 15 million in revitalizing the bay. Since then, the issue has progressed until cleanup operations began in Guardiões do Mar projects.
“This is not a project that happened overnight. On the contrary, it was built with great strides, and this values these people not only in the territory but also in their quality of life,” Gaião noted. “There are many fishermen who are already aware that their struggle is not in vain.”
