The legal framework of timber forest management and the autonomy of the traditional populations in Amazon protected areas

Abstract

This study analyzed whether the legal framework of the timber community forest management (CFM) in federal protected areas (PA) of the Brazilian Amazon interferes in the autonomy of the traditional populations in carrying out their productive activities. It was verified that the legal framework of the CFM in PA, constituted by rules of territorial, procedural and technical dimensions, interfere in the community's autonomy in the management of the forest resource, in the process of obtaining the CFM license and in the logging techniques used. The failure to comply with the legal determination to elaborate differentiated sustainable forest management plans for communities has conditioned traditional populations to standardized requirements to the detriment of the constitutional and legal recognition attributed to a culturally distinct social group. In addition, the licensing of CFM is also conditional on the fulfillment of previous obligations of the environmental agency itself. It was concluded that the autonomy of the traditional populations in the CFM is conditioned from its beginning, since the way of use and manage the natural resources by communities is not the guiding of the legal framework of CFM. The simplification and adaptation to the legislation of some normative instruments could increase the degree of community autonomy in CFM, enhancing its multiplication in the Amazon. Some priority changes in the regulations were proposed in this study.