Tapping into to local support

As we approached Alter do Chao the landscape became incredibly beautiful. There are beaches with white sand, little colourful canoes, a little resort in Para! Alter do Chao is just up the Tapajos river beyond Santarem.

We are in Alter do Chao for a meeting with the National Rubber Tappers Council (known in Brazil by its initials CNS). The Union was created in 1985 by Chico Mendes, the famous environmentalist and rubber tappers leader who was assasinated in 1988.  In Alter do Chao, they have a project supported by the government of Finland, it is called Puxirum (that means something like 'barn raising').

We went in our speed boat to the small town on shore. We arrived in a nice square with a church. I noticed that the benches and the rubbish bins are sponsored by CNS! The social movement is really present in this community.

We entered the Puxirum project. It is a little paradise of 30 hectares of preserved forest where monkeys and other wild animals are brought to recover whenever Ibama finds them illegally captive. Later on, I had the pleasure of speaking with Jairo Moura, a vet. He told me a lot about this work of recovering animals while the justice department and Ibama decide their destiny. There are three manatees living here as well. Some are still babys and they drink a mix of "strong milk " in bottles like babies do.

We stop by a straw-thatched workshop where an artist called Besteira (his nickname means "silly thing") is carving pieces of dead trees to make seats shaped like armadillos and tables shaped like manatees. I see from the window of the Toyota the nursery of trees they have, one side just forest trees and the other side a huge place for fruit trees.

We arrive in the main offices, there is a splendid view to the river. The meeting is taking place in another straw-thatched building. The executive board of the union is there. I meet the president of CNS, Joaquim Belo, and many representatives of extractive reserves, like Jose Maria from the Resex Chico Mendes, the first one created in Brazil with an area of one million hectares, and Celia Favachio, from the marine Resex Mae Grande (means Big Mother) of 36,000 hectares.

Mika Ronko, a Finnish representative, invites me to walk down the path that leads to a sauna! Yes, the Finnish tradition is present in this piece of native jungle as well. We soon go into the sauna and have a refreshing cool shower afterwards. Paulo, Andrew and Carlos leave for the ship and I stay behind. I need to stay more time on shore, I joke that I am shipsick.

Mika invites me for lunch with the CNS people. We go to his house, where I meet his wife Rubi. She is an anthropologist, daughter of a Dutch father and an Indian mother. She is an incredible warm person who is studying community development. Their house is very cosy with many carved chairs like the ones at the project. Their dog reminds me of my lovely German shepard Farah. We go to have lunch with the CNS people in MIka's black beatle car.

During lunch, Joaquim Belo talks to me about his special project of opening many schools specialising in extractivism. "Most of the Family Rural Houses are shaped to teach agriculture, but this is not the best model for the extractive reserve people, we should develop human resources specialised in extractivism," he says.

After lunch, we went to the house of Juan Carlos Rueda, a Chilean who works for CNS as an international fundraiser. His house is also a place where you feel comfortable as soon as you walk in. He offers me a hammok and to everyone else a zip of pisco (the traditional drink from Chile).

We go back to the Puxirum project where Greenpeace,  the National Rubber Tappers Council  and the Environmental Defense signed an agreement of cooperation. The main goal is to develop a national and international campaign in favour of the creation of the Resex Verde para Sempre in Porto de Moz, the Resex Renascer in Prainha, and the mosaic of protected areas in the Middle Land in Para state. They also decide CNS, with the help of Greenpeace, will open an office in Porto de Moz.

Many community leaders were present for the event. Idalino Nunes de Assis, from the Rural Workers Union of Porto de Moz and from the executive board of the CNS, he thanked everyone for the support. The president of the Rural Workers Union of Prainha, Delfem Ferreira, also said he considers the agreement a victory for the communities. Almost everyone came from the ship to participate.

The goals of the agreement are to support the necessary studies to create the conservation units, fulfilling all the federal government's requirements. The organisations want to strenghen the work to create participation mechanisms for public policies, plans, programs and projects within the reserves.

We go back to the ship very late, everyone is tired because it was a long day. I am happy to have met so many intersting and struggling people.

Barbara

Posted by Amazon Team at December 8, 2003 08:00 PM