CONTEXTUALIZATION

The State of Amazonas has the largest territorial extension of protected areas in Brazil, with the equivalent of 54.8% of its territory legally protected. Of this total, 19 million hectares are Protected Areas (PAs) state. However, the creation of a PA for sustainable use does not in itself guarantee environmental preservation, requiring a number of other initiatives, including management, supervision, and, most importantly, to add value for its forest assets, providing economic incentive for keeping it standing.

The lack of job opportunities and income generation makes the forest felling one of the livelihood strategies in the region, which makes it necessary to implement programs and projects that provide sustainable economic alternatives to the inhabitants in order to reduce deforestation pressures. In this context, an effective strategy is to develop an economy based on products derived from sustainable forest management.

The Bolsa Floresta Program (PBF), run by FAS since 2007, contributes to facilitate this strategy, through payments for environmental services (sustainable natural resources management, conservation and environmental protection) and products to traditional communities, in order to encourage voluntary deforestation reduction. The program has four components: Income, Association, Family and Social.

The Bolsa Floresta Income Program is directed to the generation of sustainable economic alternatives for the local population, from support for small enterprises and development of clusters. The Bolsa Floresta Association program supports the strengthening of local associations and training for the management of collective enterprises. The Bolsa Floresta Family component is a monthly credit, currently R $ 50.00, paid directly to mothers of riverine families living in protected areas. The beneficiary family is committed not to open new areas from primary forest; keep their children in school; and participate in associations and training workshops on climate change and environmental services. Finally, the Bolsa Floresta Social component includes investments in education, health, communication and transportation, from demands of the local population. The support from the Amazon Fund is directed to Income and Association programs.

THE PROJECT 

The "Bolsa Floresta Program +" supports in 16 PAs of sustainable use in the state of Amazonas:

1. the continuity of actions under component Bolsa Floresta Income through training in good sustainable management practices and direct investment (equipment, works and installations) to increase the production of small community enterprises. It will also be supported actions that contribute to better integration in the market for products and services for sustainable production arrangements in the region, such as: preparation of business plans, product development and certification, and technical assistance;
2. the strengthening of associations representing PAs under the Bolsa Floresta Association component, through financial support both for structural actions (repairs at headquarters, equipment purchase), and for organizing meetings and other expenses necessary for the decisions and the management of investments be taken collectively;
3. the management of the knowledge accumulated by FAS and the communities in implementing solutions for sustainable development in the Amazon. These actions aim to systematize and disseminate good practices and lessons learned for the various stakeholders interested in the subject, turning it into public knowledge in order to replicate the actions in other locations. Technical and scientific publications on sustainable production arrangements will be supported, including evaluations of social and economic impacts of investments in income generation. Seminars around the theme will be held, allowing the appropriation of this knowledge by academia, government and third sector. It will also supported the spread of this knowledge to the inhabitants of the region covered by the project, through dissemination actions, radio spots, workshops, community forums and discussion circles; and
4. the implementation of a public call, in order to support small and medium sustainable productive community-based projects in the regions surrounding the protected areas included in the project and at the ecological corridors in the state of Amazonas.

INTERVENTION LOGIC

This project falls under the “Sustainable Production” (1) and “Land-use Planning” (3) components of the logical framework of the Amazon Fund.

Click on the following image to view its objectives tree, that is, how the project's outputs and linked to the expected outcomes and impact.

ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED

Within the scope of the Forest Assistance Program, FAS organized participatory planning activities with the community to define the investments to be made in the priority production chains. This participatory process prioritized the acquisition of equipment to increase added value of production and facilitate the marketing of a variety of products, in addition to training producers in good management and production practices.

Some of the actions undertaken include:

• Workshops on good management and handling and processing of Brazil nuts;
• License maintenance of ten small-scale timber forest management plans in the Rio Negro Sustainable Development Reserve (SDR) and filing of three others in the Rio Amapá SDR;
• Purchase of equipment and support for training, logistics and market access for vegetable oils and cocoa production chains;
• Building of floating bases for pirarucu fishing and support for the establishment of processing (fish dryer) and freezing facilities (cold rooms and freezing tunnel), in addition to support for the holding of fishing fairs;
• Support for guarana production and recovery of guarana groves, purchase of agricultural machinery and implements, as well as the structuring of a guarana processing plant;
• Provision of management and entrepreneurship training for craft and tourism small entrepreneurs of the Rio Negro and Mamirauá SDRs, aiming to increase access to new consumer markets;
• Purchase of inputs and provision of technical assistance for family farmers of products such as bananas, watermelons and small-scale livestock farming;
• Provision of training and support for structuring actions aimed at improving the management and commercialization of flour, such as obtaining the Origens Brasil seal for Farinha Ribeirinha.

Within the scope of the Forest Assistance Program’s Association component, leadership training workshops and meetings of community leaders were held, and support was provided for community assemblies, board meetings and for lectures and seminars aimed at the sharing of experiences and training.

FAS also concluded the Standing Forest Public Call, which selected 17 projects, prepared by community associations and cooperatives and focusing on sustainable productive activities, to receive up to R$ 150,000 each. Three seminars on good business management practices were held, aimed at supporting 11 different production chains. The seminars’ results will be reported in a publication called “Standing Forest Public Call: Results and Dissemination of Good Practices.”

The knowledge generated by the FAP+ will also be systematized in the series “Sustainable Solutions,” which will address all priority production chains and include a collection of videos and technical pieces, which will be made available before the project’s completion at http://fas-amazonas.org/fundoamazonia.

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS OF FAS IN IMPLEMENTING THE PROJECT