Sustainable Amazon: A Systemic Inquiry with Native Populations

Abstract

The Amazon Rainforest suffers from unsustainable exploitation and encroachment on native peoples’ territories, leading to poverty and environmental destruction. This inquiry aims to understand the impact of deforestation on the economic development of communities and peoples and the relationships between persistent poverty and social pathologies. The research project employed empirical and conceptual methods, collecting data through interviews and constructing a systemic model concerning pathological dynamics within the Amazon region. The study found traps involving innovation, biodiversity, capacity building, access to economic assets, social development, cultural identity, access to knowledge, savannization, and forest appropriation. A systemic approach that reconnects with nature is essential to establish a sustainable economy in the Amazon rainforest. Proposed solutions include an ecological economy, stopping deforestation, encouraging entrepreneurship, valuing tradition, safe environment, building skills and competencies, increasing information and communication effectiveness, and fostering cooperation. This research seeks fundamentally new solutions that reach beyond the existing regime and contributes to establishing a new paradigm for the Amazon Forest.