Banca de DEFESA: Thais Mamede Soares

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : Thais Mamede Soares
DATE: 27/02/2023
TIME: 10:00
LOCAL: CDS
TITLE:

The Continuity of Environmental Governance in Alta Floresta: Power Dynamics between actors

KEY WORDS:

PPCDAm, Decentralization, Forest Governance, Elites

PAGES: 153
BIG AREA: Outra
AREA: Ciências Ambientais
SUMMARY:

The implementation of the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm) had repercussions at the local scale that went beyond reducing the rate of deforestation in the Amazon biome between 2004 and 2014. Command and control actions, policies such as the List of Priority Municipalities and support from the Amazon Fund triggered processes of decentralization of forest governance in some municipalities, as was the case of Alta Floresta in Mato Grosso. The municipality has become a model in its strategy for environmental and land regularization, forest recovery, among others, in addition to winning its removal from the Dirty List of Deforestation in 2012. However, since then, Brazilian environmental policy has been progressively dismantled, and the deforestation rates in the Amazon increased again until mid-2022. In view of this scenario, this research investigated the continuity of local forest governance after leaving the aforementioned List. To correct the flaws of anti-political approaches to forest governance, the way in which the interests of rural elites were favored in the Alta Floresta region was explored based on a cientific literature review. Different studies have shown that rural elites occupy political positions in municipalities and in the state government, while the agribusiness narrative and the rhetoric of sustainable development provide the legitimation of their interests. Institutional changes at national and state level were also addressed through a bibliographical review. In the last decade, environmental, indigenist, quilombola and other rural communities' institutions were weakened or even extinguished, due to pressure from dominant coalitions associated mainly with the agro-export production model and large-scale mining. The continuity of the forest governance in Alta Floresta since 2012 was qualitatively analyzed based on semi-structured interviews with key actors in the municipality itself. After leaving the List, the municipality continued to be committed to a “green” agenda. The protagonist actors in the promotion of the municipal sustainable agenda are organized in a similar way to that of elites, overlapping different types of resources (technical, material, human, etc.) through partnerships at other scales to influence the pattern of municipal land use. The interviewed local rural elites held a diversity of stances, from the most contrary to environmental conservation to the most favorable. However, the municipal projects are almost all aimed at small landowners, while the presence of the large ones was only felt in the defense of the increase of soybean cultivation in the municipality, in the threats to the Cristalino State Park, and in a smaller conflict reported. Unlike what was perceived from the implementation of national policies, local actors prioritized dialogue with the population and the construction of alternative economic bases. The actors also chose not to come into conflict with local rural elites, preferring to keep the municipality as an incubator and diffusion center for environmental innovations, rather than pressing for more radical changes. Changes in political forces in the municipality were also decisive for the power of action of the protagonists.

BANKING MEMBERS:
Externo à Instituição - ARNOLDO SANTOS DE LIMA
Externa à Instituição - CECILIA FADIGAS VIANA
Presidente - 1304307 - FABIANO TONI
Interno - 1385659 - MAURO GUILHERME MAIDANA CAPPELLARO