The Laboratory of the Forest: Social, just and Sustainable Management of the Amazon on Focus

Abstract

At a time when we face a major global transformation, integration, resilience, and innovation are keywords to redefine collective paths. In this paper, we present the work of a team of Amazonian researchers and professionals, who, tired of waiting for more effective public actions to assist socially vulnerable riverside communities in the Amazon Rainforest, decided to look for innovative ways to reconnect the local people to their territory. The poverty-related factors and cultural losses experienced by these communities living in the Amazon Rainforest – a Natural and Cultural World Heritage Site by UNESCO – have deeply affected their sense of place, identity and belonging. Bridging traditional and scientific knowledge as a tool for building a desirable future for locals, the work of the Laboratory of the Forest team is based on the principles of social entrepreneurship, transformative education and Theory U. Our goal is the transformation of the currently disrupted system in the Amazon into a co-creative ecosystem economy, by shifting realities and minds.