The Role of Management Instruments in Environmental Conservation and in the Protection of Traditional Livelihoods

Reflections from the Trajectory of the Pirajubaé Marine Extractive Reserve

Abstract

Considering that the extractive reserves are a special kind of protected area that has a double purpose of ensuring biodiversity conservation and protecting traditional livelihoods; That Pirajubae Extractive Reserve was the first one created in a marine ecosystem and in a socio-environmental context diverse from that of the Amazonian seringais; And that it had experienced changes in the management institutional arrangements, this article aims to assess the role of the management tools of Pirajubaé Extractive Reserve in the environmental conservation and protection of the traditional livelihoods. Among the management tools analyzed are the regulations for the natural resources use, the registration of the traditional population, the deliberative council, among others. Different research types were used, such as field work, bibliography and documental research. We discussed the results in dialogue with the natural resources co-management and socio-anthropology of fisheries approaches. There is low decision-making power at the local scale since the management tools are insufficient to prevent adverse impacts generated by the urbanization process on the ecosystems of the protected area. Regarding the protection of traditional livelihoods, there is difficulty incorporating the socio-cultural and economic dynamics in some management tools, generating conflicts that limit advances in the dialogue between the State and the fishing community. The participative management of RESEX Marinha Pirajubaé can be strengthened through a more significant commitment within the fishing community socioeconomic demands, by increasing the power of deliberation at a local scale and by expanding articulation with partner institutions.