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August 29, 2009
The End
Well, the internship has ended, and all in all, it has been a great experience. As I prepare to leave for the States, The Paraná Biodiversity Project (PBP) has begun to organize its closing ceremony: funding for the project has officially ended, yet hopefully the programs and agroecological models put in place by the PBR will continue to grow and sustain themselves throughout the state.
Overall, I was impressed with the level of collaboration between the different government agencies involved with the project. Environmental fiscalization agencies, traditionally in conflict with the interests of producers, worked together with EMATER, to provide the technical support required to restore the land in a manner viable and favorable for the producers. State-level agencies, such as SEMA, made frequent and personal visits to municipal organizations and directly to the producers themselves who joined the project. The personal contacts that the PBP has created have formed an interconnected web of familiar and dedicated faces between organizations and municipalities all with the same goal: to restore the biodiversity and natural vegetation of the state of Paraná in a socio-economically conscious manner.
Of course, the restoration of biodiversity corridors throughout the state and the reforestation of 20% of private properties are undoubtedly lofty goals that are met with great challenges, and many lessons may be taken away from the work of the PBP. Principally, I found that the greatest challenge to the project was the level of community participation. Given that I worked principally on a research project separate from the implemented agroecological models and that I was not present for the number of community meetings held among the small producers, I was not able to gain a true understanding of this level of community involvement. Nevertheless, in talking with several landowners and observing the different agencies over the course of the summer, I found the lack of community-based initiatives to be the fundamental challenge to this top-down approach for sustainable land-use change.
At least as an individual looking at the project from the outside, it was apparent that many producers joined the project because they felt they had to comply with the 20% Legal Reserve law and not because they were actually interested in the restoration of the native vegetation. Only a few producers stand out in my mind as those who truly believed in the PBP’s cause. This lack of community-based initiative – where the producers themselves recognize a problem and seek viable solutions – raises the concern that these agroecological models may not be sustained over time or that the project will only develop to the point that the government pushes it. In order to realize truly sustainable land-use change, action has to come from the producers themselves.
The Paraná Biodiversity Project is undoubtedly a top-down approach to land restoration, funded by the World Bank and organized principally at the state-level; thus fundamentally, community-based action is a challenge. However, the decentralized nature of the Paraná Biodiversity Project, with the involvement of many, on-the-ground, local agencies, does provide hope for greater local participation. A greater level of community leadership, organizing and education may certainly motivate more long-lasting effects of the Paraná Biodiversity Project.
Well, there is plenty more to discuss, but I think that about sums up what immediately jumps into my head when I think about my experience here in Paraná. Thanks so much for reading. It has been a pleasure filling you in on my experiences in the south of Brazil, and I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to comment and discuss as much as you like.
Até a próxima vez. Tchau!
Posted by Megan Whelan at August 29, 2009 12:19 AM
