Gabriel Medina

Landscape-scale Approaches for Integrated Natural Resource Management in Tropical Forest Landscapes

Integrated natural resource management (INRM) helps resource users, managers, and others to manage resources sustainably by considering, reconciling, and synergizing their various interests and activities. Although many social and environmental problems have to be tackled at a range of scales to be resolved successfully, INRM has particular relevance at the landscape level at which the interests of local people first intersect those of the outside world. We propose eight guidelines for building successful INRM programs: focus on multiscale analysis and intervention; develop partnerships and engage in action research; facilitate change rather than dictating it; promote visioning and the development of scenarios; recognize the importance of local knowledge; foster social learning and adaptive management; concentrate on both people and their natural resources, including biodiversity; and embrace complexity. Reviewing these guidelines in the light of experiences from three separate studies shows that most are being done, though more as a product of happenstance than design. The guidelines form a mutually reinforcing framework for building INRM, primarily through empowering local stakeholders to be more articulate advocates and active participants in their own development and conservation efforts.

Community forest management for timber extraction in the Amazon frontier

SUMMARY Amazonian communities have the potential for improving their livelihoods by efficiently managing their forest resources. However, there is limited understanding of how communities are managing their forests in the dynamic Amazon frontier. This issue was studied in four areas in Bolivia, Brazil and Peru. The most common approach to forest management was found to be informal timber rights negotiations between communities and logging companies. Much less common was community forest management (CFM) for timber extraction supported by NGOs. Case studies revealed that stocks of commercial timber species were depleted by logging companies in only a few years in the logged areas, while CFM initiatives planned rotational cycles but were abandoned when external support ceased. Families received limited financial benefits from both loggers (cash income US

The nature and developments of the Common Agricultural Policy: lessons for European integration from the UK perspective

1.18/m3 and US

Percepção dos agricultores familiares brasileiros sobre suas condições de vida

28.14/day) and CFM initiatives (cash income US

O efeito do Programa Territorial nas relações sociais dos agricultores familiares do Território da Cidadania do Vale do Rio Vermelho, em Goiás, Brasil

12.57/m3 and US

Percepción de los campesinos brasileños acerca de sus condiciones de vida

8.69/ day). A critical debate on the real potential of these approaches to timber extraction needs to take place.

Brazilian family farmers’ perception on their livelihoods

Abstract The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has undergone different reforms often presented as a historical evolutionary process in which old policy instruments are replaced by new measures. In this paper we explore the current nature and developments of the CAP by interviewing experts closely involved in the reforms either as commentators or lobbyists. The results show a policy historically built by an additive process of layering specific instruments on top of the others. This multilayered nature implies structural challenges. Interviews reveal a strong dispute between powerful lobby groups and their paradigms for more space within the CAP. Current developments include the effort for incorporating environmental issues within the CAP promoted by environmentalists and the proposal for sustainable intensification promoted by farmers.

Market-based conservation of the Amazonian forests: Revisiting win–win expectations

Resumo: O trabalho traz a percepcao dos agricultores familiares brasileiros sobre suas condicoes de vida a partir de entrevistas realizadas em 10.362 domicilios rurais em todas as regioes do pais. Os agricultores percebem de forma positiva as condicoes de producao dentro da propriedade (incluindo area utilizada e mao de obra existente) e de forma negativa os resultados alcancados da porteira para fora (acesso a politicas publicas, insercao em mercados e relacoes sociais). Palavras-chave: Desenvolvimento local. Politicas publicas. Agricultura familiar.

The power of discourse: Hard lessons for traditional forest communities in the Amazon ☆

Este artigo avalia os efeitos do programa territorial PROINF nas relacoes sociais de agricultores familiares e tambem entre os membros do Conselho Municipal de Desenvolvimento Rural Sustentavel (CMDRS). Os resultados mostram que os investimentos ocorridos em beneficio direto dos agricultores resultaram em maior desenvolvimento local do que aqueles voltados as esferas intermediarias de mediacao da politica territorial.

Loggers, Development Agents and the Exercise of Power in Amazonia

Resumo: O trabalho traz a percepcao dos agricultores familiares brasileiros sobre suas condicoes de vida a partir de entrevistas realizadas em 10.362 domicilios rurais em todas as regioes do pais. Os agricultores percebem de forma positiva as condicoes de producao dentro da propriedade (incluindo area utilizada e mao de obra existente) e de forma negativa os resultados alcancados da porteira para fora (acesso a politicas publicas, insercao em mercados e relacoes sociais). Palavras-chave: Desenvolvimento local. Politicas publicas. Agricultura familiar.