June 6, 2022

Law, Justice, and Citizenship in the Twenty First Century

José Manuel Mendes e Luciana Gonçalves de Carvalho

Brazil's native forests are among the largest forests in the world, and a significant portion of them comprise public areas which, according to the national legal system, can be managed directly by the Government, destined to local communities or granted to individuals for economic exploitation of forest resources. With the enactment of Law No. 11.284/2006, individuals can have exclusive rights of economic exploitation of forest resources in predetermined public areas, for a limited period. Nevertheless, one of the principles of public forest management is respect for the right of access to public forests by local communities and for the benefits arising from their use and conservation. The rights of these communities, whether or not they live in public forests, are the focus of this study with individuals engaged in the extraction of latex from a tree popularly known as "balateira" in the Paru State Forest, in the region of Calha Norte do Pará. As in other public forests under concession, delimitation of forest management units did not consider the territories used by local communities, including the group of "balateiros", preventing these people's access to the area and to the natural resources they have exploited for several decades. Consequently, forest concessions introduced new actors into the local scenario and the communities that use the Flota had to adapt to this challenge. In a context of symbolic violence, they had to deal with the legal rationality and formal instruments of forest management to maintain their access to natural resources. In the case of the "balateiros", the main instrument mobilized was the term of use agreement, a sort of contract through which extractivist communities should previously identify the individuals eligible to access the Flota and the intended natural resources, as well as the period and the sites in which such resources would be accessed. It is up to the State to make sure the intended uses are in accordance with the broader objectives of environmental conservation or legal destination of the public area, establishing the conditions and responsibilities for the use of the natural resource. In view of the innovation introduced in the Brazilian forest policy, the general objective of this study is to assess the implementation of terms of use agreements as legal instruments required by the State as a condition for the exploitation of forest resources by small groups and entities in forest management units destined for concession companies. Therefore, a case of plant extraction in the Paru State Forest (State of Pará, Brazil), where timber forest management is carried out through forest concessions and making this activity compatible with the use of non-timber forest products by local communities, through the term of use, is intended was analyzed. The study aims specifically to analyze regulation as a governance strategy for goods considered to be of common use; verify how the execution of the forest policy has respected the rights of access to natural resources by small groups and local organizations, and understand how the relationship between forest policy and related sector policies, such as protection of the cultural heritage and land tenure regularization, is established.

Keywords: conservation unit, term of use, local community, traditional "balata" extractivism, Paru State Forest.