Encontros dos Saberes (Knowledge Meetings): from the original proposal to the institutional process in the Monitora Program

Abstract

Based on the need to establish horizontal and inclusive processes in environmental monitoring, the Participatory Biodiversity Monitoring Project (PBM) emerged in 2013. The initiative was created by the Ecological Research Institute and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio). The Encontros dos Saberes methodology, associated with the PBM Project and the Monitora Program, began to be implemented in 2018, upon understanding the need to transform discussions about monitoring into more than simple results feedback. In 2023, a Working Group for Encontros dos Saberes (ESaber WG) was created at ICMBio, making efforts to institutionalize this agenda. This article presents the methodological structuring and implementation of the Encontros dos Saberes, from its original proposal to the current institutionalization phase. Methods included bibliographical and documentary research to collect information about the methodological design, implementation stages and history of the Encontros dos Saberes. The authors participated in planning meetings and events from 2022 to 2024, analyzing event stages. Throughout the process, the teams that organized the events faced operational, logistical and financial difficulties in implementing the original proposal. Based on previous learning, ESaber WG proposed a new flowchart, simplified and practical within the current institutional reality. As innovative facts, the methodology aims to strengthen the role of monitors and local supporters in the development of meetings, incorporate knowledge and participatory methodologies outlined by ICMBio's organizational units in all stages of monitoring, and collect information about social participation in monitoring, impacts on socio-biodiversity and the way of life of communities.