Traditional People and Communities, Biodiversity, Water, and Climate Change August 2016

Challenges and Opportunities for Conservation, Agricultural Production, and Social Inclusion in the Cerrado Biome August 2016 Technical Annex: Traditional People and Communities, Biodiversity, Water, and Climate Change August 2016 This technical annex accompanies the “Challenges and Opportunities for Conservation, Agricultural Production, and Social Inclusion in the Cerrado Biome” report, developed for the Climate and Land Use Alliance by CEA Consulting. The full report and associated materials can be found at: www.climateandlandusealliance.org/reports/cerrado/ v Table of Contents Traditional people and communities 3 Biodiversity and protected areas 16 Water in the Cerrado 30 Climate change and the Cerrado 43 2 TRADITIONAL PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES 3 Traditional people and communities in the Cerrado • The Matopiba region of the Cerrado is home to a rich diversity of cultures and people. It is an active area for family farmers and traditional forms of agriculture (including communal and extractive use of the land). It is also one of the poorest regions in the country. • The most representative groups in the Cerrado are: indigenous people, quilombolas (descendants of former African slaves), extractivists, geraizeiros (artisanal farmers in Minas Gerais and Bahia), and groups that subsist in riverine environments (ribeirinhos and vazanteiros). • In the Cerrado, traditional communities do not a strong political presence. Interviewees noted that this lack of capacity is a result of the lack of public and international attention historically given to the biome. • The initiatives aimed at protecting these communities are dispersed across the biome and there is a lack of coordination among them. • The most vocal groups tend to be completely opposed to the current agribusiness model, which is seen by many as a threat to the communities. Indeed, many communities feel that they are being pushed off of their land by large agribusinesses. • PDA-MATOPIBA, the government’s new agriculture and livestock development plan for the Matopiba region is seen as major threat. • Because these groups use artisanal ways of managing their land, some groups of the civil society believe that an important way to increase Cerrado conservation is by strengthening the communities. 4 The people in the Cerrado – a general overview The communities in the Cerrado are very diversified, although there is not an official typology. The major groups include: • Indigenous people: The Cerrado holds more than 80 indigenous group, most of which relied on hunting activities and Coivara agriculture (an artisanal type of agriculture that relies on management with controlled fire and crop rotation). Indigenous groups in the Cerrado include Xavantes, Krahôs, Krikatis, Apinajés, Kanelas, Paresis, Karajás, Terenas, Kiniquinawas, Xakriabás, Kaxixos, and Guarani Kaiowás. • Quilombolas: These people are descendants of African slaves who established their own groups, called Quilombos. Their relation with the land is more oriented toward the maintenance of their identity, culture, material/immaterial goods, and social relations than toward economic purposes. • Geraizeiros: Acknowledged as the original farmers from the Cerrado, they are groups that used to manage the land, the cattle, and their crops in a collective fashion. Today they are concentrated in the north of Minas Gerais and the west of Bahia. • Family farmers/Extractivists: In the Cerrado, family farming also includes extractive activities as a means to supplement income. Throughout the year, according to crop yields and timing, farmers collect native species for their own consumption, for selling, or for processing. • Vazanteiros and Ribeirinhos: These groups inhabit areas near rivers and draw their livelihoods from the rivers. The groups are well adapted to the conditions of constant change caused by constant changes in riverine environments. Their main activities are artisanal fishing and agriculture. 5 Traditional people are frequently good environmental stewards • Across the globe, indigenous stewardship of forests tends to be good for environmental outcomes, and may even be preferable to government stewardship in some cases.1 • For commonly-owned forests: larger forest sizes and greater local rule-making autonomy are associated with high carbon storage and livelihoods benefits.2 • Indigenous areas in the Cerrado have experienced less deforestation than state or federal protected areas in recent years.3 • Indigenous and traditional communities within the Cerrado differ in their organization, orientation, and capacity to manage natural resources. Communities with clearly defined land, strong management rules, and effective monitoring and governance of resources use are more likely to manage resources sustainably.4 Deforestation in protected areas, 2002-20143 Deforested 2002-2014 6% 21% Not deforested during 8% 2002-2014 Indigenous Federal State Sources: (1) Rainforest Action Network, not dated, “Indigenous Stewardship of Forests.”. (2) Chhatre & Agrawal 2009. (3) See chart, based on analyses by GreenInfo Network and CEA using LAPIG deforestation data and MAPA protected area maps. (4) Nobel Prize-winning economist Elinor Ostrom identified eight “design principles” associated with good management of common resources. 6 Mapping community lands is a priority for the Cerrado • This map, covering nearly 30 Mha, shows the extent of the Babaçu forest, land used by a group of several hundred thousand women who harvest the babaçu fruit (a palm species). • This map was made in a collaboration between researchers and the Interstate Movement of the Babaçu Coconut Breakers (MIQCB) through a project called Projeto Nova Cartografia Social da Amazônia. • It was published in August 2015. Source: http://www.socioambiental.org/sites/blog.socioambiental.org/files/nsa/arquivos/mapa_babacu_10.pdf 7 The land issue is the primary concern of the communities • Brazil has a long-standing history of conflicts over land, going back to the colonization period of the country. These conflicts are understood by many to be deep rooted and chronic, with no easy solution. • According to the agrarian economist Bastiaan Reydon, the main problem with land conflict in Brazil is "the effective disability that the Brazilian State has always had with regularizing the land market and access to land for social, economic and environmental purposes.” • In the Cerrado, there is considerable conflict between traditional communities, who have occupied the land for many generations, and large agribusiness actors, who are aggressively expanding in the region. • Helping traditional communities and small-scale family farmers maintain control of their land and regularize their holdings should be a high priority for both the social movement and conservation agendas in Brazil. • Reducing the conflict on the landscape will require support for communities and family farmers, through mapping their situation and needs, providing capacity building and legal training, engagement of the state level public prosecutors, identification of means to ensure access/right to land, coordination between various federal and state ministries and investment in upgraded data systems. • Many stakeholders actively working with communities believe that the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) is being used as a way to formalize land grabbing. Poor communities often do not have resources to register their land. A key need is providing means to support their inclusion in the registry. Source: MDA, Núcleo de Estudos Agrários e Desenvolvimento Rural. Mercado de Terras no Brasil: estrutura e dinâmica. Brasília, 2006. 8 Agro-extractivism also needs to be better supported • Agro-extractivism is based on the practice of artisanal agriculture and the harvesting of native products (e.g., native fruits, production of native bees’ honey). • Some policies are in place, such as the Food Acquisition Program (PAA), aimed at providing easier access into Institutional Markets, and the National Program for School Meals (PNAE), which demands that 30 percent of the budgets used for school meals should be dedicated to purchasing food produced by family farmers, traditional communities, indigenous people, and quilombolas. However, the political will to implement these programs has never been strong and the current economic and political crisis are damaging these initiatives. • Some examples of harvested species include: • Pequi (Caryocar brasiliense) – The most commercialized fruit from the Cerrado. • Babaçu (Attalea spp.) – The main product is the coconut from the palm, primarily found in the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, and Piauí. • Baru (Dipteryx alata) – A tree from the Cerrado that is currently under threat due to its good quality wood. Communities harvest its fruit and almonds. Left to right: Pequi fruit (ISPN), Babaçu palm coconuts (Do design), Baru almonds (Lilian Brandt). 9 Indigenous people are represented by the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI); the creation of an indigenous land requires five steps • The current process of creation of a new indigenous areas (TI) consists of: • 1st step (TI em estudo): The National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) produces a field study on the land potential and feasibility to be approved by its board. Once approved, it is submitted to the Ministry of Justice and publicized on the Union’s* official Journal. • 2nd step (TI delimitada): The Ministry of Justice reviews the study and considers any objections by third parties. • 3rd step (TI declarada): Once approved by the Ministry,

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