Lessons learned over a decade of nature restoration by family farming in the Amazon

Por: Marcelo Lucian Ferronato[1] ; Paulo Henrique Bonavigo[2] ; Larissa Zuim Mataresio[3] ; Emanuel Maia[4] ; Sheila Noele da Silva Moreira[5] Cássio Marques Moquedace dos Santos[6]

Restoring nature is being socio-environmental resistance in the Amazon?

In Rond?nia, 29 of the 52 municipalities have vegetation cover of less than 50%, and 13 of them have less than 20% of forests in their territories. (INPE, 2020). These data denote a critical picture of habitat fragmentation in the State, which directly influences ecosystem services (ALTIERI et al., 1999), in addition to placing many rural landowners in an irregular situation under Brazilian forest legislation.

When we started our ecological restoration actions, the technical subsidies for carrying out the activity were based on the experiences published for other Brazilian regions, mainly for the Atlantic Forest biome. However, restoring nature also requires understanding the sociological bases of the territory to be restored, therefore understanding the colonization process of the southwest of the Brazilian Amazon, where the state of Rond?nia is located, in different periods from the 1970s onwards, enables creation not only the recovery of nature but integrate society with it.

In this respect, it must be considered that in the last 40-50 years, there has been an intensification of migration and consequent expansion of the process of agricultural colonization, which culminated in the systematic and violent movement of land use change whose product of this action is deforestation in different Amazonian regions. This agricultural occupation and massive migration to rural settlements brought to the Zona da Mata of Rond?nia significant transformations in the social fabric and a series of environmental impacts in the colonized areas (AMARAL, 2004; NASCIMENTO et al., 2020) (Figure 1).

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?Nature in less than a decade reverses the negative impacts of deforested

The project D’Alincourt, between 2007 and 2012, marked the beginning of the history of ecological restoration in the region, as it provided the installation of infrastructure for the development of actions, with the installation of a nursery of native forest species, in addition to the generation of academic knowledge and the identification of matrices seed holder. Since then, Ecoporé has carried out eight (8) projects, which initiated the restoration of 1,273 hectares (ha) of areas and support for 1,419 families, both in rural properties of family agriculture and on indigenous territories.

These projects demonstrate high relevance in promoting ecosystem services. Taking as a case the restoration plantations developed between 2007 and 2013 by the D’alincourt and Manicoré projects, the result is the restoration of 120 ha of riparian zones along the D'alincourt river in 151 rural properties (FERRONATO; MAIA, 2019).

The impulse provided by restoration in this period is evident when the forest cover data for the D’Alincourt and Manicoré streams micro basins are analyzed. In 2005, along the 5,867.61 hectares occupied by the D'Alincourt micro basin, 75.96% had been deforested. In 2015, after restoration, a forest cover rate of 28.51% was found, indicating an increase of 262.37 hectares of forest (4.47%) (SILVA et al., 2019). Similar results were observed in the Manicoré micro basin, which reduced the anthropized area from 82% to 79%, which is equivalent to the recovery of approximately 224.47 hectares of forest (VENDRUSCOLO et al., 2019b).

Based on a comparative analysis of the landscape between 2007 and 2019, the increase in vegetation cover is initially due to the increase in the number of fragments provided by the restoration of areas, and over the years with the size of forest fragments resulting from the insertion of recovery areas (Figure 2 and Figure 3), which consequently provides an increase in forest cover in the southern portion of the D'Alincourt and Manicoré micro basin where the projects started, with the northern portion, (SANTOS et al., 2020).

Several paths can lead to the restoration of nature

As of 2013, the Viveiro Cidad?o project began, selected in a public notice to support socio-environmental projects sponsored by Petrobras, enabling the expansion of the territorial insertion of Ecoporé restoration projects. In 2022, it covered 12 municipalities, supporting the restoration of almost 500 hectares.

In studies carried out to quantify carbon stocks in mixed forest plantations, analyzing the biomass above and below ground and in the soil, in plantations with 5-6 years of age, it was verified that 28,17 t.ha-1 of carbon were stored, the value corresponding to the removal of 103,28 tCO2eq.ha-1. Most of the carbon stored in tree biomass is concentrated in the stems (55.25%) and branches (15.69%) of the trees in the mentioned plantations. The carbon stored in restoration plantations at this age corresponds to 15.65% of the carbon stored in mature forests and five times the carbon stored in pastures in the region. The carbon stored in soils was estimated at 54,24 t.ha-1.?

The Viveiro Cidad?o, is an important project because, in addition to restoring vegetation in riparian zones, it seeks engagement alternatives based on the implementation of diversified low-carbon agri-food production systems and actions aimed at empowering women and rural youth, especially in terms of sovereignty and food security and income generation from the provision of food, in a clear association of nature restoration with regional socioeconomic development. And this action is possible since 92% of the species used in restoration plantations by Ecoporé have the potential for multiple uses, being indicated for timber, beekeeping, animal and human food, medicinal, ornamental, oleaginous, artisanal, seeds, cosmetic, extraction resin and, biological nitrogen fixation.

After analyzing the potential for generating wealth from the support of Viveiro Cidad?o to 154 women and young farmers for the implementation of sustainable agro-food systems through the donation and planting of 128,000 seedlings of 12 agroforestry species of regional economic interest, it was found that when over the first six years of implantation and management of these plantations, based on local market values for the year 2019, the restoration increased more than 4.2 million reais in the accumulated wealth of the beneficiaries; contributing to the maintenance of families in their lands with quality of life and diversity of food produced.?

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Conclusions

When comparing the indices of tree cover in the regions with and without the insertion of the projects, it is possible to infer that where the restoration of nature is initiated, it tends to induce the growth of forested areas larger than that observed where similar actions do not occur. This denotes the importance of forest recomposition for the maintenance and increase of ecosystem services, especially regarding the provision of water, which is the main concern of farmers.

In the context of the Rond?nia Amazon, where one of the problems is still deforestation caused by the expansion of agriculture, which is part of regional economic development, it is essential to consider sociological and economic aspects for the construction of strategies that aim to engage family farmers to restore areas under your responsibilities. It is only possible with the involvement of these actors in all stages of restoration, enabling the exchange of particular experiences of beneficiaries with technicians and other individuals from the community, almost collectively conducting the restoration of their areas.

That is, the observation, involvement, and appreciation of the empirical knowledge of farmers and traditional communities are fundamental for the success of nature restoration. Although all the projects developed to use as mechanisms for the recomposition of vegetation, the technique of total planting of seedlings with the support of the specialized rural extension, with prioritization of permanent preservation areas and legal reserves for conservation and or production, the Planting arrangements for each property are defined together, as these actors perceive the environment under their control and from this perception build their mental models for managing the use of soil and natural resources. Among the great learnings of more than a decade of actions in the Amazon, we understand that the restoration of nature is a process that must be initiated in several ways, which depend on the perception of the environment and the motivations of the people who own areas to be restored. The action of restoring is, in large part, motivated by the provision of ecosystem services, especially the availability of water as an input for economic activities, in a clear utilitarian view of nature, with socio-environmental education being the basis to support a strategic change in the conciliation between human being and nature.

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REFERENCES

ALTIERI, M. et al. Agroecologia - bases científicas para una agricultura sustentable. [s.l.] Editorial Nordan–Comunidad, 1999. v. 7

AMARAL, J. Mata virgem: terra prostituta. 1a ed. S?o Paulo: Terceira Margem, 2004.

FERRONATO, M. L.; MAIA, E. Terra & Mata. 1a ed. Rolim de Moura: Ecoporé, 2019.

NASCIMENTO, C. P. O Processo de ocupa??o e urbaniza??o de Rond?nia: uma análise das transforma??es sociais e espaciais. Revista de Geografia (Recife), v. 27, n. 2, p. 53-69, 2010. Disponível em: < https://periodicos.ufpe.br/revistas/revistageografia/article/view/228806>. Acesso 31 jul. 2020.

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Autores:

[1] Biologist, Phd in Regional Development and Environment, coordinator of forestry and agriculture at Ecoporé.

[2] Biologist, Master's student in Regional Development and Environment, coordinator of forestry and agriculture at Ecoporé.

[3] Journalist, PhD in Geography. Communication manager at Ecoporé.

[4] Agronomist Engineer, PhD in Phytotechnics. professor at the Department of Forest Engineering at the Federal University of Rond?nia.

[5] Agronomist Engineer, Master in Geography. President of Ecoporé.

[6] Forest Engineer, Master in Soil Science. PhD student in Soil Science at Universidade Federal de Vi?osa (UFV).