Collective action and forest management: institutional challenges for the environmental agrarian

18 Pages·2015·0.26 MB·English

20 International Forestry Review Vol.17(S1), 2015
Collective action and forest management: institutional
challenges for the environmental agrarian reform in Anapu,
Brazilian Amazon
R. PORRO1, N.S.M. PORRO2, M.C. MENEZES2 and Ö. BARTHOLDSON3
1Embrapa Eastern Amazon. Trav. Dr. Eneas Pinheiro s/n. Belém, Pará, 66095-100, Brazil
2Federal University of Pará, Rua Augusto Corrêa, 1 - Guamá, Belém - PA, 66075-110, Brazil
3Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Almas Allé 10, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
SUMMARY
The socioeconomic outcomes after five years of community forest management are examined in the Virola-Jatobá Sustainable Development
Project (PDS) in Anapu, Brazilian Amazon. In 2007 families were advised by public agencies to establish community-company partnerships
for forest management (FM) in this settlement. Operations in 3,000 ha extracted 50,000 m3 of timber, generating gross revenues of US$ 2 mil-
lion for the local association. This paper examines collective action in key stages of land access and FM. The impacts of the FM process on
social structures are explored. Since recent regulations have prohibited private companies to control FM in agrarian reform settlements, local
administrative efforts need to change. We will thus evaluate prospects for a system of governance under direct coordination of producers’
organisations. Management changes are seen as positive if combined with public support for local capacity building, but this is unlikely in the
short term. Given limits for agricultural land use, effective FM is critical for these groups in order to consolidate land occupation and properly
manage natural resources.
Keywords: Virola-Jatobá, sustainable development project, community-company partnership, Amazon peasants
Action collective et gestion forestière: défis institutionnels pour la réforme agraire environnemen-
tale à Anapu, Amazonie Brésilienne
R. PORRO, N.S.M. PORRO, M.C. MENEZES et Ö. BARTHOLDSON
Les résultats socio-économiques après cinq ans de gestion forestière communautaire sont examinés dans le Projet de Développement Durable
de Virola-Jatobá (PDD) à Anapu, en Amazonie Brésilienne. En 2007 des organismes publics ont conseillé à des familles d’établir des parte-
nariats entre la communauté et des entreprises pour la gestion forestière (GF) dans cette zone de réforme agraire. L’exploitation forestière sur
3,000 ha a mené à l’extraction de 50,000 m3 de bois, générant des revenus bruts de 2 millions de dollars pour l’association locale. Cet article
examine l’action collective à des étapes clés de l’accès au foncier et de la GF. Les impacts du processus de GF sur les structures sociales sont
analysés. En raison des reglementations récentes qui ont interdit les entreprises privées de contrôler la GF dans les zones de réforme agraire,
les efforts administratifs locaux doivent s’intensifier. Nous évaluerons donc les perspectives pour un système de gestion sous la coordination
directe d’organisations de producteurs. Les changements dans la gestion sont vus comme positifs si combinés au soutien des pouvoirs publics
pour le renforcement des capacités locales, mais ceci est peu probable à court terme. Etant donné les limitations pour l’utilisation des
terres agricoles, une GF bien exécutée est cruciale pour ces groupes en vue de consolider l’occupation des terres et bien gérer les ressources
naturelles.
La acción colectiva y la gestión forestal: desafíos institucionales para la reforma agraria
ambiental en Anapu, Amazonia brasileña
R. PORRO, N.S.M. PORRO, M.C. MENEZES y Ö. BARTHOLDSON
Los resultados socioeconómicos después de cinco años de manejo forestal comunitario se examinan en el Proyecto de Desarrollo Sostenible
(PDS) Virola-Jatobá en Anapu, Amazonia brasileña. En 2007 las familias fueron asesoradas por agencias públicas para establecer alianzas de
la comunidad con empresas para el manejo forestal (MF) en este asentamiento. Las operaciones en 3.000 ha extrajeron 50.000 m3 de madera,
generando ingresos brutos de US $ 2 millones para la asociación local. El artículo examina la acción colectiva en etapas clave de acceso a la
tierra y MF. Los impactos del proceso de MF en las estructuras sociales son analizados. Como las reglamentaciones recientes han prohibido las
empresas privadas para controlar MF en asentamientos de reforma agraria en la Amazonía brasileña, los esfuerzos administrativos locales
Collective action and forest management 21
necesitan se intensificar. Por lo tanto se evalúan las perspectivas de un sistema de gestión bajo la coordinación directa de las organizaciones de
productores. Los cambios de gestión se ven como positivos si se combinan con el apoyo público para fortificar la capacidad local, pero esto es
poco probable en el corto plazo. Teniendo en cuenta los límites para uso agrícola de la tierra, el MF bien ejecutado es fundamental para estos
grupos consolidaren la ocupación de tierras y gestionaren adecuadamente los recursos naturales.
INTRODUCTION directed action research toward the identification of strategies
and mechanisms for local empowerment and economic
Smallholders who live in or near forest ecosystems in the growth through the revitalisation of community forestry
tropical Americas face ever-increasing challenges posed by under local governance. A three-year research grant2 funded
competing claims on natural resources. Their livelihoods in mid-2014 has formalised these objectives, through a joint
are pressured, on the one hand, by conflicting discourses and effort by anthropologists, foresters, and agronomists. The
apparatuses of development and of conservation, and on the long-term connexion with local residents, combined with
other hand by the actions of, and the unequal power relations current engagement in action research, helped to secure trust
imposed by, illegal loggers and local elites (Acselrad 2004, and confidence and consequently to reduce bias from local
Berkes 2004, Fearnside 2003, Little 2001, 2006). In this residents regarding the information being disclosed. This
paper, these pressures are demonstrated by a case study based gives us a unique position from which to comprehend how the
on the trajectory of migrant peasant families1 in a special
settlers perceive the everyday challenges of the PDS-VJ, and
agrarian reform scheme, the Sustainable Development
how they act, both collectively and individually, to attempt
Project Virola-Jatobá (henceforth PDS-VJ), a state-owned
to overcome these challenges. Ethnographic research was
settlement along the Trans-Amazon highway in the state of
conducted during four two-week visits to PDS-VJ and Anapu
Pará, Brazil. After struggling to access land in the late 1990s,
(November 2012, November 2013, May and November
and having succeeded by 2002, they were compelled in 2007
2014). In addition to PDS residents, we interviewed stake-
by government agencies to engage in community based forest
holders from local governmental and non-governmental
management (CBFM) through an agreement with a private
organisations based in the towns of Anapu and Altamira.
company. Paradoxically, a few years later, the same govern-
During the latter two visits, one of us researched the files and
ment had revoked contracts with logging companies to extract
interviewed the officers of the PDS-VJ association and the
timber in such settlements, because of the irregularities that
cooperative, in order to obtain quantitative information on
occurred. The loss of the income from forest management
household settlement dynamics and the financial operations
from 2013 onwards poses a critical challenge to the liveli-
of the community-company contract.
hoods of these families.
Our objective in this article is to put forth anthropological
analyses based on empirical research of the structural
THE VIROLA-JATOBÁ SUSTAINABLE
challenges that peasant families face, both internally and
DEVELOPMENT PROJECT AS A PRACTICE
externally, when they attempt to administer a CBFM plan.
OF ASSEMBLAGE
We also examine the extent to which changes in governance
affect the intended long-term sustainability of forestry
The concept of assemblage is employed by Murray Li (2007)
operations, as well as the peasant community itself. The
to examine governmental interventions that attempt to direct
article furthermore depicts how settlers organise collectively
conduct and intervene in social processes. The concept “flags
to handle and overcome these difficulties, and how their col-
agency, the hard work required to draw heterogeneous ele-
lective action is challenged by constraints from both public
and private sectors. ments together, forge connections between them and sustain
The study is based on long-term interdisciplinary research these connections in the face of tension. It allows an expan-
and engagement in the settlement, including participant sion of the analysis of governmentality without loss of focus”
observations, informal conversations, as well as individual (Murray Li 2007: 264). In this section, we use the assemblage
and focus group interviews. Two of the authors had, in an framework to examine the extent to which the PDS modality
early phase (2005–2007), been practically involved in the brings disparate elements together and forges connections
CBFM, and in the facilitation of collective action in the settle- between them to direct conduct and intervene in social
ment. Since late 2012 we have performed action research processes aiming at desired outcomes. We do so by examin-
(Stringer 2007, Thiollent 1994) along with local organisa- ing the elements and interactions that are relevant for the
tions, seeking to assess the impacts of the community- understanding of the changing role of collective action
company agreement for forest management. We have also (Ostrom 1990, 2000) as well as its interplay with the dynamic
1 We refer to the subjects of this study as peasants. When the terms smallholder and family farmer are used in the text, such denominations
should be considered in the domain of the peasant social system.
2 Research grant funded by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) and Pará State Research Foundation (FAPESPA).
22 R. Porro et al.
FIGURE 1 The study area
expression of institutions3 among the peasant social group in vulnerability index still reaches 67% of the population (PNUD
the PDS-VJ. et al. 2013). As an outcome of two decades of struggles of
landless families, today about 17% of Anapu’s territory com-
Contextualising PDS-VJ prises land reform projects, established since 1997 (INCRA
2012).
The settlement named Virola-Jatobá Sustainable Develop- The PDS is a land tenure modality established in 1999 by
ment Project is located in Anapu, a municipality created in the Brazilian government through its National Institute for
1995, on lands at the central-eastern portion of the Trans- Colonisation and Agrarian Reform, INCRA4. The reason
Amazon (BR-230 highway) region in the state of Pará for the creation of such a modality was to demonstrate that
(Figure 1). The 11 959 km2 of the municipality was inhabited smallholders do not have to constitute a threat to the environ-
in 2012 by a population estimated at 23 609 inhabitants (IBGE ment, particularly to forests, but could actually serve to
2013), of which 52% live in rural areas (IBGE 2010). Anapu safeguard them (de Sartre et al. 2012, Fearnside 2005, 2008,
is one of Brazil’s poorest and most deprived municipalities. A Le Tourneau and Bursztyn 2010, Pacheco 2009). Such settle-
Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.548 assigns to Anapu ments would, however, face internal and external challenges
the 5 225th position among Brazil’s 5 565 municipalities. that jeopardise the reason for their creation. The PDS was
Despite reduction in extreme poverty from 68.8% (1991) to devised with the aid of social movements to combine the
34.0% (2000) and 26.3% (2010), the municipality’s social conservation of forest areas within its demarcated territory
3 In this paper we adopt Ostrom’s definition of institutions as “prescriptions commonly known and used by a set of participants to order
repetitive, interdependent relationships, where prescriptions refer to which actions (or states of the world) are required, prohibited, or
permitted.” (Ostrom 1986: 3).
4 Portaria INCRA / P / No 477. November 4, 1999.
Collective action and forest management 23
with land distribution to landless families and successful a contract with a private company, effective the following
agricultural production.5 The PDS modality differs from so year.
called ‘Extractive Reserves’ (Allegretti and Anderson 1990, The fate of PDS residents in Anapu is particularly
Schwartzman 1989) in granting forested land to families who emblematic because in 2005 Sister Dorothy Stang, a 73-year-
do not necessarily belong to traditional communities (such old North-American missionary, who devoted three decades
as rubber tappers and riverine or maroon communities). No of work on behalf of local family farmers and the preservation
individual tenure rights are allowed in the PDS, while use of the environment, was murdered because of her resistance
rights are provided through renewable concession contracts to to illegal logging. Dorothy Stang’s persistent effort was the
user groups. Each family is allowed to clear up to 20 hectares main force behind the creation of the PDS. Her assassination
assigned for farming, according to an agreed-upon target of drew international attention and forced the government to act.
no more than three hectares of land per year. The remainder Media coverage, legal procedures and emergency command-
of the PDS land is set aside for common use and reserved and-control operations temporarily reduced violence and
for conservation purposes. Sustainable forest management illegal logging, but were unable to control land grabbing
and deforestation. The initially insufficient state presence
plans are allowed, if authorised by INCRA and approved by
gradually resumed after one year. As a result, Anapu is
state-level environmental agencies. Internal rules of the PDS
currently listed among the Amazonian municipalities with the
include ranching restrictions, the need to reside on the land,
largest increases in deforestation (INPE 2012) and the two
and prohibition of selling one’s plot when leaving (de Sartre
PDS are regarded as a relative development failure (de Sartre
et al. 2012).
et al. 2012).
Land for the two PDS settlements in Anapu was desig-
nated in 2002, and the projects were formally created in 2004
PDS-VJ resources
(INCRA 2002, 2012). PDS Esperança, located in Gleba
Bacajá, at the southern portion of Anapu, has 23 000 ha for
Natural resource use within the PDS-VJ can be broadly
the settlement of 230 families. PDS Virola-Jatobá is situated
approached according to two major domains: agriculture and
in Gleba Belo Monte, at the northern part of the municipality,
forestry. These domains comprise the two main economic
and currently comprises nearly 37 000 ha for the settlement of
activities for PDS residents: slash-and-burn agriculture and
352 families.6 Each PDS constitutes a grid of 3 000 ha plots
forest management. The most potentially profitable resource
(lotes) that were reclaimed by the state and dedicated to land
units in the PDS-VJ are commercial trees within the ever-
reform. Most of the forest reserve at PDS-VJ is not bordering
green rainforest. In 2008, INCRA and the Brazilian Institute
the 20 ha agricultural plots for family use. This allocation
of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA)
contrasts with that of PDS Esperança, where a 20 ha agricul-
approved the sustainable forest management of 26 305 ha,
tural plot and an 80 ha plot of forest reserve are contiguous for
requested by the local association. According to the original
most of the families.
project, wood extraction encompassed a set of 42 commer-
Since the beginning of their settlement at the PDS-VJ, the
cially valuable species. As seen in Table 1, during the first six
landless families have had a history of being caught in shift-
years of logging (of a planned cycle of 30 years), 93% of
ing perceptions and grey areas regarding their role both as
the timber volume extracted by the company comprised 21
family farmers practicing slash-and-burn and as environmen-
species, with four of them representing near half of the total.7
tal stewards. The livelihoods of these families are predomi-
Natural forests in the PDS-VJ also provide diverse non-
nantly derived from small-scale agriculture, but a majority
timber products, such as lianas, leaves, fruits, oils, resins and
suffers from lack of financial resources for investment. These game. However, their use to date has been quite restricted to
families have regarded community based forest management local subsistence, with incipient trade. Only recently has there
(CBFM) as a means to supplement insufficient incomes from been greater awareness of the potential for fruits of the native
agriculture, ridden by poor soil quality and a lack of technol- açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea Mart.), abundant along water
ogy, fertilizers, and, not least, capital. The CBFM, however, streams of the PDS-VJ. Management of palm groves for
brought about considerable challenges to be overcome, such increased density and greater fruit production has been a
as the lack of technical expertise, political and economic recent initiative of technicians from the private extension
capital, as well as the need for vertical social networks. service firm that, in 2013, won the public bid, and was
Pressed by the continued encroachment of illegal loggers, contracted by INCRA to work in the PDS.
families who settled on these lands accepted in 2007 the Apart from forest products, land for agriculture is the
governmental proposal to initiate forest management through other resource of critical use to local residents. Each resident
5 In Northwest Pará state, 42 projects on nearly 2.3 million hectares are designated as PDS (INCRA 2012).
6 According to INCRA’s guidelines, the area of the PDS-VJ allows the settlement of 352 families (INCRA 2012). Local topography, soil
quality and infrastructural conditions resulted in the actual settlement of 220 families. However, while 161 plots were established under PDS
regulations, some 60 families occupied a portion of the land independently and contest the PDS modality, requesting the partition of nearly
3 000 ha from PDS land. In this article, we refer to the families settled on those 161 plots as the residents of the PDS-VJ.
7 SEMA-PA. Sistema de Comercialização e Transporte de Produtos Florestais (SISFLORA).
24 R. Porro et al.
TABLE 1 Species harvested at PDS Virola-Jatobá forest management plan (2008-2013)
Scientific name Popular name Harvested volume (m3) %
Manilkara huberi (Ducke) Chevalier maçaranduba 6 787.67 13.26%
Dinizia excelsa Ducke angelim-vermelho 6 277.32 12.26%
Couratari guianensis Aubl. tauari 5 822.06 11.37%
Hymenaea courbaril L. jatobá 4 831.26 9.44%
Goupia glabra Aubl. copiúba, cupiúba 3 286.64 6.42%
Astronium lecointei Ducke muiracatiara 2 844.17 5.56%
Manilkara paraensis (Huber) Standl. maparajuba 2 759.10 5.39%
Dipteryx odorata (Aubl.) Willd. cumaru 2 014.32 3.94%
Hymenolobium petraeum Ducke angelim-pedra 1 939.24 3.79%
Piptadenia suaveolens Miq. timborana 1 706.75 3.33%
Pouteria sp. guajará-bolacha 1 330.00 2.60%
Caryocar villosum (Aubl.) Pers. pequiá 1 302.14 2.54%
Vatairea sericea Ducke angelim-amargoso 1 144.50 2.24%
Carapa guianensis Aubl. andiroba 987.59 1.93%
Enterolobium schomburgkii (Benth.) Benth. fava-orelha-de-macaco 967.67 1.89%
Alexa grandiflora Ducke melancieira 867.33 1.69%
Lecythis paraensis Huber ex Ducke sapucaia 736.12 1.44%
Diplotropis purpurea (Rich.) Amshoff sucupira-amarela 628.98 1.23%
Tachigali paniculata Aubl. taxi-preto 589.61 1.15%
Brosimum parinarioides Ducke amapá 435.00 0.85%
Vouacapoua americana Aubl. acapu 416.23 0.81%
other 25 species 3 514.94 6.87%
total 51 188.64 100.00%
Source: SISFLORA, SEMA-PA. Scientific and popular names as reported.
family at the PDS is entitled to a 20 hectare-plot of public Northeastern and Northern regions (Santos et al. 2011).
land. Although they do not have private tenure rights to this Pioneer families with diverse migration trajectories arrived in
land, they are allowed to practice agriculture on it. The crop the PDS-VJ between 2002 and 2005. Detailed information on
that offers the highest potential income in the regional market the origin and year of arrival of these families in the PDS
is cocoa. Most of the soil in the PDS-VJ, however, is of low is presented in Table 2. Their initial collective action was
fertility, and several of the families who have tried to cultivate triggered by a common goal of accessing land and escaping
cocoa have failed. Instead, they must rely on annual fields the landlords’ domination, as the prescription of labour
cropped in cleared forests using traditional slash-and-burn performed without a patron, on a land without an owner, is a
technology. Rice, cassava, maize and beans are the staple prime institution among Amazonian peasants (Velho 1979).
crops, while a mix of other food species are often intercropped The people who settled in the PDS belong to the same
in these fields. A fallow plot will only be used again for group as colonists of non-Southern origin who settled along
agriculture when its forest resources allow enough biomass the eastern side of the Trans-Amazon and secondary roads
for a new cycle of slash-and-burn. Most resident families since the 1970s. While the social diversity among families
approach the individual threshold of a 20 ha plot, therefore does not allow a standardised portrait, those who settled in
posing either the need for agricultural intensification, which the PDS originally tended to perceive the forest as a mere
is particularly challenging due to biophysical constraints, or for instrument for slash-and-burn agriculture in their attempts to
finding additional sources of income from forest products. secure their livelihood. Apart from the CBFM, and the recent
initiative targeting the enhancement of açaí palm groves, their
Socially situated subjects interaction with the forest occurs through unrestricted hunt-
ing and the unmanaged extraction of vines, fruits, medicinal
The families who today make up the community of PDS-VJ plants and palm fronds. Yet, despite diverse origins and only
are from several Brazilian states, with 95% coming from the recent interactions, these families’ common trajectory of
Collective action and forest management 25
TABLE 2 Origin and year of arrival of PDS Virola-Jatobá current residents and year of abandonment of previous residents
(a) state of origin of current (b) year of arrival of current (c) year of abandonment of
landholders landholders previous landholders
state n % year n % year n %
Maranhão 49 34.3% 2002 11 6.8% 2002 3 1.1%
Pará 30 21.0% 2003 8 5.0% 2003 8 3.0%
Tocantins 16 11.2% 2004 5 3.1% 2004 22 8.2%
Bahia 13 9.1% 2005 4 2.5% 2005 33 12.3%
Piauí 6 4.2% 2006 5 3.1% 2006 20 7.4%
Minas Gerais 3 2.1% 2007 4 2.5% 2007 26 9.7%
Goiás 1 0.7% 2008 10 6.2% 2008 31 11.5%
Mato Grosso 1 0.7% 2009 15 9.3% 2009 29 10.8%
Rio G. do Sul 1 0.7% 2010 18 11.2% 2010 30 11.2%
Espírito Santo 1 0.7% 2011 8 5.0% 2011 10 3.7%
Sergipe 1 0.7% 2012 12 7.5% 2012 17 6.3%
Ceará 1 0.7% 2013 13 8.1% 2013 17 6.3%
subtotal 123 2014 28 17.4% 2014 12 4.5%
not informed 20 14.0% not informed 2 1.2% not informed 11 4.1%
occupied plots 143 88.8% occupied plots 143 88.8% abandonment 269
vacant plots 14 8.7% vacant plots 14 8.7%
communal plots 4 2.5% communal plots 4 2.5%
total plots 161 total plots 161
struggles gradually led to the expansion of their social and adequate credit, have encountered low probability of
organisation beyond kinship. As the narrative below exempli- success at the onset of their settlement. This has provoked
fies, such a trajectory enabled reflexive practices and the for- intense land turnover, as observed in other Amazonian settle-
mation of a place-based community for those who endured ments (Campari 2002, Ludewigs et al. 2009), and as present-
the struggles (de Sartre et al. 2012). ed in Table 2. Suffice it to say that since initial settlement, 269
families have already abandoned PDS-VJ. Another distin-
“They are the closest relatives I have. We consider our- guishing feature among local residents is the intensity of their
selves a family. The group of 9 or 10 who arrived here social interactions outside the PDS. Although overall social
first.” (Cicero Teixeira, 56-year-old pioneer settler talking connectivity increased substantially in the last decade, there
about neighbouring families, 2013 interview8) remains a strong divide between the majority of residents
on the one hand, and a subset of individuals, with leadership
Indeed, a relevant aspect of social differentiation among positions in local organisations, that maintain broader and
PDS-VJ residents is the involvement of families in the initial more intense social interactions with public authorities, from
process of land struggle. Those who joined the struggle at the municipal through state to national levels.
onset are thus referred to as “the pioneer” settlers, and have Between 2008 and 2012, forest management was per-
created more politicised links of social trust. They exhibit formed through a contractual agreement signed with Valor
stronger engagement in the collective action to foster com- Real Ltda. (VR), a Belém-based, tropical-wood flooring
munity ties and enhance livelihoods. Individual orientation company, screened and selected due to its commitment to sus-
prevails among the other, more numerous group of families, tainable forestry. After the first year of operations, however,
who settled later, locally named “os novatos” (the new comers) financial difficulties exposed VR, which became subordinated
(Mendes et al. 2012). These newly arrived families, inexperi- to stronger financial partners, such as Sul Madeiras of the
enced with local conditions, and lacking technical assistance Barbosa Group, a Brazilian logging and exporting company
8 Pseudonyms are applied to all narrative quotations and to private companies mentioned, in order to preserve the identities of those
interviewed.
26 R. Porro et al.
with an Anapu-based mill. This company’s practices demon- the PDS-VJ association (AVJ), formally accountable for
strated lower social and environmental commitments than the forestry operations and transactions. AVJ has received orien-
originally hired VR. Illegal loggers shall also be considered as tation from the then-newly-established Brazilian Forestry
resource users in the PDS-VJ. They encroach on PDS land Service (SFB), dismembered in 2006 from IBAMA, the
and explore extensive areas of more isolated forests. Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural
Resources. The Tropical Forestry Institute (IFT), a Belém-
Institutional resources based NGO, provided training to PDS families in reduced
impact logging (RIL) skills.
Several governmental and non-governmental agencies
play an important role in setting up the context for livelihood Governance systems and regulatory regimes
strategies in the PDS-VJ. Coalitions and partnerships involv-
ing these stakeholders have been formed and dynamically Several families who had enrolled as beneficiaries of the
modified ever since the initial struggle for land—an analysis PDS-VJ settlement renounced settlement rights and moved
to be further elaborated below. Here we make a brief introduc- out: a total of 412 families were settled, but only143 have so
tion of those perceived to be of utmost importance. The Land far remained (Table 2). Those who moved out perceived that
Pastoral Commission (CPT) of the Catholic Church provides the restrictions to individual land titles challenged peasant
support to families who struggle for land, and defends small- institutions, such as labour autonomy and control of resources
holders’ basic human and social rights. CPT’s allies in support of their family unit of production (cf. Chayanov 1986). PDS-
of the rights of peasant families in Anapu used to be the Rural VJ residents initially organised themselves into a dwellers’
Workers’ Union (STTR, formerly STR) and regional level association, comprising all families who were granted access
grassroots organisations in the domain of the Movement for to land. The association’s board of directors, and particularly
the Development of Trans-Amazon and Xingu (MDTX) those elected as president and treasurer, take responsibility for
(Souza 2006). Especially throughout the 1980s and 1990s, interactions with state agencies, NGOs and enterprises, while
CPT’s guidance helped to build several local-level associa- also controlling resources derived from collective economic
tions, and an NGO, with the purpose of providing extension initiatives.
services and adding value to smallholder products. This is After the struggle for land in the early 2000s, their single
the Association for Economic and Ecological Solidarity of most important collective action has been the creation of the
Amazon Fruits (ASSEEFA), formed by Anapu’s early set- CBFM. The VJ association decided to accept the proposal in
tlers. A number of youths from these families were sponsored 2007, as government agents affirmed this was the sole option
by Sister Dorothy Stang to study in agricultural technical to obtain economic benefits from the vast majority of the land
schools in other states, if they agreed to work for ASSEEFA under PDS regulations. In 2006–2007 the association received
upon returning. The two PDSs in Anapu were priority areas funding from Promanejo, the Program to Support Forest
for ASSEEFA intervention in the initial years of the projects. Management in the Amazon, a component of the Ministry of
That lasted until 2008, when disagreements occurred with Environment’s Pilot Program for the Protection of Tropical
PDS leaders and the CPT. A pronounced rupture among social Forests in Brazil (PP-G7). Program officers advised the
organisations in Anapu took place during the 2008 municipal association to implement RIL through a contractual agree-
elections, when members of the STTR and the Workers’ Party ment with a company, a modality often employed in the
(PT) allegedly allied with loggers and ranchers for electoral state of Pará (Amaral Neto et al. 2011, Drigo et al. 2013).
purposes. This coalition won the election, and several The proposal was accepted because the negative impact of
ASSEEFA staff obtained important positions within the threats and actual incursions of illegal loggers was regarded
municipal government and in local politics between 2009 and as weightier than the risks posed by a company willing
2012. The coalition was however unable to maintain power, to comply with RIL principles, and which agreed with the
and lost the subsequent election. The resulting state of monitoring of government agencies that pledged to support
organisational fragmentation among political actors in Anapu the initiative.
expresses a level of institutional vulnerability that has With Promanejo support, community members received
profoundly affected social and ecological conditions at training to manage a logging initiative in partnership with a
PDS-VJ. private company. In 2008, IBAMA approved the CBFM of
INCRA, the land reform agency, has responsibility over PDS-VJ with annual logging targets initially set at 500 ha and
social and economic affairs related to the development and later expanded to 1 000 ha. Effectively, forest management
consolidation of the PDS. INCRA serves both as a provider was conducted on 3 068 ha from 2008 to 2013. The associa-
and overseer of multiple initiatives, including use rights, tion received payments from the company at an average
infrastructure, and extension services, the latter through the farm gate/ramp price of US$41 per m3 of logs. PDS-VJ
hiring of private firms. At the state government level, the Sec- association’s post-exploratory and accounting reports indi-
retary of Environment (SEMA-PA) authorises and monitors cate that timber sales to the company resulted in revenues of
forest management plans. It requires frequent interaction with approximately US$ 2 million for the association.9 Table 3
9 Associação Virola Jatobá do Projeto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável de Anapu. Post-exploratory forestry reports: 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013.
Collective action and forest management 27
TABLE 3 Area explored, volume of logs of PDS-Virola Jatobá forest management project, and gross revenues paid to the asso-
ciation (2008-2013)
Annual production unit (ha) Volume of logs (m3) Revenues to association
Year
total logged authorised harvested m3/ha US$ US$/m3
2008 501.06 415.05 12,088.39 4,112.48 9.91 116,730 28.4
2009 504.72 438.69 12,412.76 9,631.17 20.84 424,276 46.0
2010/2011 972.72 958.44 28,573.79 15,823.19 16.51 659,338 45.2
2012/2013 1,089.93 1,058.29 29,950.58 20,807.83 19.66 797,307 38.4
total 3,068.43 2,870.47 83,025.52 50,374.67 17.41 1,997,651 41.1
Source: Post-exploratory forestry reports and summaries of General Assemblies. Associação Virola Jatobá do Projeto de Desenvolvimento
Sustentável de Anapu.
shows figures of the period through which the contract made the commitment to identify alternatives for mobilising
between the association and the company was active. the needed capital to move on logging operations under a
The Brazilian Federal Public Ministry demanded that the new modality. The adaptation to a new management system,
revenues of the first year of logging were used entirely for required from 2013 onwards, has thus posed another critical
common goods and services. The reason was that not all challenge for local livelihoods.
dwellers were, at the time, legally recognised as land reform
beneficiaries, and INCRA had not certified as PDS land the
plots where many of the pioneer families were settled. That INSTITUTIONS, COLLECTIVE ACTION AND SOCIAL
fact prevented those who strongly invested in collective action CHANGE
for CBFM to become formal beneficiaries of individual
revenues. INCRA’s lateness in authenticating settlers and land The empirical study conducted in the PDS-VJ focuses on the
statuses provoked numerous conflicts, both among dwellers expression of institutions associated with collective action.
and between them and other, competing actors. While acknowledging that human-nature feedbacks are key
Beginning in the second year of the contract, 55% of the to strategies devised to relate not only to forests, but also to
amount paid by the company to the association was distrib- other, often antagonistic, stakeholders, we take into consider-
uted among its members, with 45% being used for common ation the critique put forth by scholars who condemn the
purposes and to cover operational costs. In parallel to the transfer of concepts from ecology into social science without
contractual agreement, families were advised to form a pro- careful reflection and due attention to issues of power, con-
ducers’ cooperative to replace the association in commercial flicts, and inequalities (Hornborg 2009: 238). We thus agree
and financial affairs. However, so far the cooperative has with Ostrom and Cox (2010), and must remain aware of the
not taken over such responsibilities. In part this is due to its limitations of the social-ecological systems approach, when
membership policy, different than the all-inclusive approach the research-action requires analysis contemporaneously
of the association. Less than half of the families contributed with interventions, as conflicts require a sort of dynamics
the quota and enrolled as cooperative members. The result has that thwart short-term predictions regarding the system’s
been mixed feelings and leadership disputes. functioning.
After years of illegal procedures and a lack of transpar- Institutions are commonly understood codes of behaviour
ency from community-company partnerships, resulting in that potentially reduce uncertainty, mediate self-interest and
the unfair distribution of benefits in Amazonian settlement facilitate collective action (Ostrom and Cox 2010: 454–455).
projects, INCRA issued an administrative act (instrução In order to understand how peasant families respond to
normativa), IN 65-2010, which required changes in forest collective action, such as their engagement in new initiatives
management governance at land reform settlements. Direct like CBFM, it is important to explore how they are socially
logging operations by private companies were prohibited organised, and what rules, norms and values guide their
after a two-year grace period. Negative outcomes were collective actions as a community in formation. In short, we
aggravated in 2013 with the identification of fraudulent need to know which institutions are shared by the households,
authorisations for transportation of forest products (ATPFs). and the extent to which they prevail above potentially
Irregularities of VJ association’s account at SEMA’s system diverging interests towards forest resources.
thus provoked further distrust in community leaders and tech- In our case study, where peasant families and loggers
nical advisors, prompting a change in the system. However, (and even distinct groups of peasant families) assume such
such change was not preceded by effective community readi- antagonistic positions towards the same forest resources, the
ness actions by public agencies. All training received since institutions regarding entitlement over forest resources
2006 was not enough to abolish the role of the logger both as of each set of participants are challenged. Smallholders in
an administrator and as a funding source. No public agency forest environments are required to make decisions directly,
28 R. Porro et al.
influencing their future production systems, ecological condi- result from choices made by resource-users operating within
tions and social position. In doing so, they dynamically revise structural constraints. The contextualisation of factors leading
their institutions. Furthermore, they often engage in collective to the differential use of resources then contributes to identify
action to handle the multiple and sequential threats to their the social roots of resource use transformations (Porro and
existence. They usually begin to organise themselves by Porro 2014).
reacting to threats to their tenure rights, or struggling to
reclaim tenure that was previously lost. They then demand
access to basic rights to ensure adequate standards of living, TRANSFORMING INSTITUTIONS AND COLLECTIVE
such as access to housing, food and water. In addition, they ACTIONS IN PDS VIROLA-JATOBÁ
strive for the right to health and to a healthy environment,
as well as the right to education, a primary means to local This section identifies four noticeable stages in the PDS-VJ
empowerment. In parallel, smallholders in forested land- for the expression of different forms of collective action since
scapes perform economic activities embedded in local and the initial struggle for land. This timeline of stakes and inter-
regional markets, and seek the optimisation of outcomes actions allows distinguishing between institutional arrange-
derived from their labour, be it employed in agriculture, in the ments in each period, and verifying the overarching principles
extraction of forest products, or in any other alternative use. sustaining this differential expression of collective action.
Each of these quests entails specific features, and may pose
distinct demands in terms of skills for collective action and Collective action pushed by peasant institutions
self-organisation. Individual resources, skills and traits that (2000–2005)
may seem unnecessary during certain stages may become
of critical importance in later ones. By integrating such a “When we started in 2002, the system was different. Every
diversity of skills and traits, the social group becomes day there was a meeting ... Those who needed land used to
better able to adapt to changing circumstances and even to spend up to 18 days [of meetings with Dorothy’s team]
transform itself (Walker et al. 2004). to enter the PDS. Today there is no need for anything!
In order to pursue common objectives, social groups [Before] Only people who knew and agreed with all the
often draw upon internal and external resources, invested stra- requirements could remain. No land sale, no timber sale,
tegically as capitals towards the achievement of an enhanced no cattle raising ... The pioneers all accepted the PDS.
condition (Brondizio et al. 2012, Coleman 1988, Flora 1998, Those who arrived at that time gave no trouble. Today, it
2004, Magis 2010, Pretty 2003). By doing so they engage in is different.” (João Isidoro, pioneer, 2013 interview)
multiple types of wider networks that range from far-reaching
coalitions to specific partnerships, which take on roles and/or Reinforcing the motto coined by the Brazilian military
influence the establishment and operation of systems of gov- government “land without people to people without land”
ernance. Individuals and their groups therefore dynamically (Hebétte 2004), general Golbery do Couto e Silva, known as
assess the implications and benefits of adopting a pro-active the éminence grise of that regime, pledged to “inundate the
role and engaging in collective action in each situation, and Amazon forest with civilization” (Hecht and Cockburn 1989:
this initiative may build new institutions, develop new man- 102–103). Such a rationale disregarded ongoing indigenous
agement practices, and transform mechanisms of governance. and peasant local systems and institutions, and discriminated
It is thus the combination between the structural conditions against landless migrants of black, indigenous and Northeast-
and the agency of individuals and groups of resource users ern ascent, attracted by the official discourse. According to a
facing ecosystem feedbacks that provides the basis for the retired INCRA officer we interviewed in 2002, INCRA offi-
construction and of solid institutions, which are necessary cials assigned better lands and granted credit and technical
for overall sustainability. As stated by Rocheleau (2008), assistance to migrant farmers of European descent from the
revisited political ecological approaches address this combi- Brazilian South, supposedly more integrated into markets.
nation to examine the perennial issues of development and The inferior soils, with poorer access to water and mostly
conservation through analyses increasingly made with and for in the eastern portion of the road, such as in Anapu, were
social movements and their constituencies. directed to peasants of black and indigenous descent from
The next section critically assesses the extent to which the Northern and Northeastern states. The so-called spontaneous
newly formed social group in the PDS-VJ has developed colonisation of these peasants reproduced unbalanced social
reflexive capacities and new institutions to face adversity, and relations, aggravated by violence typical of the frontiers. In
how they have struggled to create sustainable trajectories. A order to survive on these assigned plots, the families would
grounded politico-ecological approach is employed to anal- complement agriculture by working as cheap labourers for
yse mechanisms through which natural resource managers large-scale entrepreneurs, who were favoured by official land
respond to local socio-structural conditions, guided by a and subsidy distribution policy. This mode of intervention
problem-centered approach, and combining domains of thus nurtured prospective scenarios of social differentiation
explanation that capture the temporal and spatial cross-scale and conflict (Hebétte 2004: 123).
dynamics involved in social-ecological transformations. The Contrary to the 1970s INCRA-sponsored smallholder
approach integrates socio-cultural and politico-ecological colonisation schemes prevailing on fertile lands westward,
dimensions of resource dynamics and land use change, which in the Anapu area, the early official settlement of colonist
Collective action and forest management 29
families was only provided near the main road. Most land number of families to adhere to the scheme. The initiative
schemes were planned as larger, up to 3 000 hectare lots, spread by word of mouth, and although the Rural Workers’
offered to entrepreneurs through public biddings, and regu- Union was also involved in the mobilisation, what prevailed
lated by so-called Public Lands’ Alienation Contracts was the role of Sister Dorothy, as stated by one of the landless
(CATPs). INCRA began to issue CATPs in 1977, with clauses farmers then attracted to the area:
including a two-year deadline for land demarcation, and five
years for the completion of the first phase of an agreed-upon “When I was in Gurupi I heard about these lands of Sister
economic project. Failure to comply with deadlines would Dorothy. In 2002 I came to Anapu and on May 5, 2003, to
result in land returned to the public domain.10 Abandonment the PDS. In Gurupi, I met Agenor who had worked with
or illegal sale to speculators was the outcome for several lots her. He told me about a sister giving out land to lots of
within the Belo Monte (510 000 ha) and Bacajá (210 000 ha) people”. (Abelardo, pioneer, 2012 interview)
glebas, and landless families settled on abandoned land. CPT
and social movements pressured INCRA to recover 45 lots In this initial phase of PDS-VJ, families encountered land
of 3 000 ha available for redistribution (Sauer 2005: 84). mostly with healthy, mature forests where logging occurred
However, fiscal incentives provided in the 1990s by SUDAM, at isolated spots near river courses. Deforestation for pasture
the Federal Bureau for Amazonian Development, drew the establishment connected to SUDAM incentives was notice-
attention of investors and speculators to these lots. These able in a few sites in the 1990s. Beyond such visible scars
incentives resulted in considerable deforestation, fiscal fraud in forest cover, small clearings for annual crops eventually
and confrontations with peasant families. Violent episodes occurred, but had negligible impact due to their small fre-
occurred in 1999–2000. Families resisted and sought support quency, density, and size. The objective of the mobilisation
from social organisations. Sister Dorothy Stang assumed a in that period was to awaken government agencies to the
critical role in mediating between the state and the peasants fairness of a state decision assigning those lands to a social
struggling for land. In 2002, a few families, loosely linked destination. The peasant institution behind the collective
with workers of one of the departing ranchers, moved to an action exerted in that period was thus characterised by the
abandoned area at the current location of PDS Virola-Jatobá, work ethos, “land for those who work on it.” The period was
as one of the pioneers narrates: abruptly halted at 7 AM on Saturday, February 12, 2005. Two
days before, Dorothy Stang told her colleagues that INCRA
“Here was Fazenda União. It was partly developed, but officers and the Federal Police would honour their pledge to
mostly in the woods. Eventually the manager returned the accompany her to PDS Esperança, due to the tension derived
land to INCRA, but asked to leave 100 hectare plots to from repeated threats to peasant families. Aware that the fam-
settle his employees. One of them asked for land on my ilies were counting on their meeting, the 73-year old mission-
behalf, 72 km from the road. Boy, the rancher giving up ary and a small group of supporters left on a rainy Friday,
land ... I was suspicious, but thrilled. I came with my even though the officers did not show up. Upon entering PDS-
brother. After three days the INCRA staff marked my plot. Esperança for the last time, Dorothy Stang was shot to death
That was in 2002. Then I cleared the first tract. We were by gunmen hired by a consortium of loggers and ranchers.
32 people, but only my brother and I showed up. [After
some years working] there, I had 9 000 cocoa trees in Collective action fomented by governmental institutions
production, and 3 000 new ones.” (Eduardo, pioneer, 2012 (2005–2008)
interview)
Marina Silva, then Brazil’s Minister of Environment and a
While envisioning the restitution of those lands to the former rubber tapper, travelled immediately to Anapu, just in
public domain as an opportunity to grant access rights to land- time to be horrified at observing loggers and allies celebrating
less families, CPT agents in Anapu were aware of already Dorothy’s death on the streets. Soon after, 1 800 army troops
pronounced environmental impacts of the business-as-usual were dispatched to Anapu, where they stayed for three months.
scenario in colonisation and land reform schemes in the Several last minute actions were launched to curb violence in
region. It was thus under the leadership of Sister Dorothy the region. Amazon forest clearing had again reached a peak
Stang that the PDS modality was proposed to INCRA to of over 2.6 million hectares in 2004, and national and interna-
accommodate those families. Land access was the target tional media portrayed Dorothy’s assassination as a symbol of
of countless families in the Amazon and beyond, but PDS’s recurrent human rights’ violation, linked to increased defores-
unusual tenure conditions, combined with infrastructural tation, exposing the institutional weakness of the Brazilian
(lack of roads and other forms of access) and natural (topo- State.
graphy, soil fertility) constraints, served as a screening mech- Measures taken in 2005 included the incorporation of lots
anism to select committed families. The trust exerted by CPT recovered from absentee, non-compliant former CATP hold-
and allied social movements was a strong factor for a growing ers, into to the PDSs, and the collaboration of INCRA and the
10 Instrução Especial / INCRA / No 6a; November 29, 1977.