Beyond Greening - Tourism Watch

Beyond Greening: Reflections on Tourism in the Rio-Process | Positioningpaperthe forest without destroying it is equal to sustainable development. Mendes was assassinatedby land grabbers in December 1988 at his house in Xapuri, in the state of Acre. 52Extractive Reserves are part of the Brazilian national system of protected areas(Kalikoski/Vasconsellos, 2012). The National System for Conservation Units (SNUC) definesthem as a "Protected Area for Sustainable Use by Traditional Populations". The governmentdecree 98.897 of January 30, 1990 signed by President Collor (later impeached) andEnvironment Minister José Antonio Lutzenberger is the legal basis for extractive reserves anddefines RESEX as "territorial space destined to self-sustainable exploration and conservationof renewable natural resources" and establishes that the executive power shall create thosereservations in territorial spaces considered of ecologic and social interest.Ownership vs. stewardship for sustainable useTraditional populations living in forests, along rivers or coasts can apply to the Instituto ChicoMendes for Conservation of Biodiversity (ICMBio), the government agency responsible forprotected areas and conservation of biodiversity, for the creation of a RESEX. After anextensive review of the legitimacy of the community, land or sea rights and their extractivepractices, the request is reviewed by government agencies, state governments and is subjectedto public hearings in the community before it is submitted to the President of the Republic forsignature of the decree. The government cedes the rights of use of land and sea and thepopulation receives a collective title for land use. This impedes the sale of the land which isfederal property, federal laws apply, and law enforcement is of federal nature. The concessionguarantees access to land and sea for the future generations of the local community.Governance: Utilization and legislationThe next step after the decree creating the RESEX is the orientation of the local communityand the creation of groups representing all the community's segments – fisherfolk, women,youth, farmers, tourism service providers, commerce, and so on. The groups choose arepresentative and a substitute to participate in the deliberative council. This deliberativecouncil is the governing body of the RESEX and the majority (51 percent) of votes belongs tocommunity groups, with external groups from local and state government, NGOs, academia,and neighbouring communities completing the council. Resolutions passed by the deliberativecouncil and sanctioned by the Government become federal law. The manager of the RESEXrepresenting the Federal Government (ICMBio) is the president of the deliberative council.Once the RESEX is established and ratified, a management plan must be developed for thesustainable use of the RESEX. Enforcement in the RESEX is the responsibility of the FederalGovernment with community participation. The management plan elaborated by the RESEXcommunity with help from members of the deliberative council and government should be inplace within five years from the date of designation, although this has not always been thecase.Carbon credit and payment for environmental servicesCarbon credit programs should provide funds to compensate local communities for theenvironmental services of their RESEX. This adds income from tourism and other traditionalproductive activities like fishing, hunting, agriculture and arts and handicraft. Brazil alreadyhas legislation which regulates payments for environmental services in RESEX, with the first52 www.edf.org/climate/chico‐mendes‐legacy80