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PDF
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Type:
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Conference Paper |
Author:
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Sousa, Paulo Vinicius Queiroz |
Conference:
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Commoners and the Changing Commons: Livelihoods, Environmental Security, and Shared Knowledge, the Fourteenth Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons |
Location:
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Mt. Fuji, Japan |
Conf. Date:
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June 3-7 |
Date:
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2013 |
URI:
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https://hdl.handle.net/10535/8971
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Sector:
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General & Multiple Resources |
Region:
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South America |
Subject(s):
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environmental services protected areas sustainability development IASC
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Abstract:
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"In order to improve the livelihoods of populations living outside the capital city of Manaus--while protecting its large forest cover--Amazonas State in Brazil has implemented since 2003 a set of projects and programs which later became known as the Green Free Trade Zone Sustainable Development Strategy. Among the actions taken, the Bolsa Floresta Program stands out as an attempt at improving socioeconomic conditions of communities living inside protected areas administered by Amazonas State, through a mix of conditional cash transfers and promotion of sustainable activities that generate income for them. This study aims at identifying what values the target population of the Program consider important to live their lives, and how these are reflected in the implementation of the Program, so as to assess its success. To achieve the above mentioned aims, we employed a single-case study methodology to a protected area known as Rio Negro Sustainable Development Reserve, conducting structured and open-ended interviews with communities' members, as well as semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholders from the local government and NGOs. The results show that the local population sees stable source of income, quality of education and access to health services as the most important things for them to lead meaningful lives in the reserve, and that while such elements have been taken into account during the design of the Program, its implementation has not yet materialized into improvement of economic insecurity of all members of the communities in the reserve. The establishment of a system to prioritize the improvement of economic conditions of those in more dire need in the communities, as well as more thorough planning and follow-up of the income generating activities proposed by communities, are suggested actions for improving the Program."
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