The course “From the Backyard to the Landscape: Training in Agroforestry, Restoration and Integrated Management in the Gurupi Mosaic” brought together indigenous people, quilombola community members from the Onça Village, representatives from the Gurupi Biological Reserve, the Padre Josino Tavares Rural Family Home School, and settlers from the agrarian reform in the Gurupi Mosaic.
The training was conducted in four modules, between November 2022 and January 2024, in the city of Santa Inês, Maranhão, with field activities developed by the participants in their communities between each module. The final meeting included a practical activity in the Maçaranduba village, Caru Indigenous Territory, and a session to discuss the management and development of eco-social projects.
On the first day of the fourth module, course participants were able to present the inter-module activity they had developed in their territories: a map of their communities' landscape, reflecting on opportunities and threats.
Next, biologist Clara Vignoli and technical advisor from the Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN), Kaline Nascimento, presented the work they took to the 2023 Brazilian Agroecology Congress, concerning the survey of agroforestry backyards carried out by the course participants, and on support for the planting of native corn in Guajajara communities of the Rio Pindaré Indigenous Territory, respectively.
The objective of the training was to discuss environmental management and restoration at different landscape scales, starting with agroforestry backyards around homes. Thus, the course discussed territorial governance from the local to the macro level, contributing to the training and strengthening of leadership for more qualified advocacy in public policies for environmental protection.
“The agroforestry knowledge we learned in the course is part of something we already do in the territory. The training helps reinforce these ideas so that we can work better,” highlights course participant Akadjuricha Ka'apor, guardian of the Turizinho village and the Alto Turiaçu Indigenous Territory.
Agroforestry systems are land use methods that combine the planting of various types of plants with different life cycles and heights. Some principles of these systems include planting many types of plants alongside tree species and maintaining soil cover with organic matter produced in the same location as the crops.
In the case of the systems discussed in the training, the aim was to encourage the promotion of food security, income generation, and community well-being.
Robert Miller, from the Indigenous Peoples Program at ISPN and pedagogical coordinator of the course, explains that agroforestry "is nothing more than a new name for a set of very old practices carried out by indigenous peoples and traditional peoples and communities." He adds that "several peoples have trees in their creation myths. In the course, we start from the principle that trees are not just resources, they are culture."
For course participant Valdeir Tembé, from the Alto Rio Guamá Indigenous Territory (PA), the training stood out for providing tools on how to care for nature, such as the restoration of degraded areas, which in turn can promote the maintenance of water sources.
“Taking care of the trees in our backyard means taking care of lives. Today the climate is very intense, the sun is getting hotter and hotter. There are places where it is difficult to find water. So planting trees is a way to capture more of this resource,” said the course participant. “The forest is life, water is life, and we depend on all of this. So the course helps more people to become qualified and talk about this.”
In the Maçaranduba village, the course participants were able to visit productive backyards of Guajajara indigenous people, such as that of Antônio Filho Guajajara, who for more than ten years has managed and conserved a significant area of the village, in the middle of the Amazon biome, while growing food.
“With reforestation in our territory, we have shade, we harvest fruits in the future, and we attract birds. I am happy under a tree with clean air. If it were just grass, we would be under a strong sun,” he says, and adds: “I will keep planting and trusting in Tupã, that everything will be alright.”
The practical activity took place in the agroforestry area cultivated by the firefighters of the Caru Indigenous Territory within the territory, in a location that was once a grassland and has been undergoing recovery for eight years with species such as bacuri, jatobá, and secondary forest, among others. Participants were able to put into practice the principles of pruning and stratification, and the planting of cupuaçu, bacaba, açaí, and pineapple.
“We were able to manage the area and identify the species that need more shade and the species that need more sun. In this process, we worked together and were able to share knowledge,” highlighted Ana Paula Nascimento, temporary environmental agent at the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio).
See the full video about the activity in the village below:
Upon completion of the training, participants were invited to develop micro-projects worth R$3 each to support restoration and agroforestry initiatives in their communities. According to Cristiane Azevedo, managing director of ISPN, the micro-projects represent a learning exercise in project development and management in general.
“Micro-projects are a way to expand opportunities for applying the knowledge shared in the training, so that course participants can implement the actions they have been designing throughout the modules,” adds the director, who is also part of the institute's Indigenous Peoples Program.
The initiative for training and developing micro-projects is part of the Indigenous Landscapes project (Indigenous Peoples and Sustainable Landscapes in the Cerrado and Amazon), funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation – NORAD within the framework of the Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI), and implemented by ISPN.
Gurupi Mosaic
The Gurupi Mosaic is an ethno-environmental corridor rich in socio-biodiversity, with an area of influence of approximately 46 km² in Maranhão and eastern Pará. It is formed by the Gurupi Biological Reserve (Rebio Gurupi) and the Indigenous Lands of Alto Turiaçu, Awá, Caru, Rio Pindaré, Araribóia and Alto Rio Guamá (in Pará), belonging to the Guajajara, Awa-Guajá, Ka'apor and Tembé peoples.
Their area is one of the most threatened by the pressure of deforestation and other illegal acts, such as land invasion, which threaten biodiversity, ecosystem services, quality of life, and the rights of indigenous peoples and traditional communities.
In the state of Maranhão, the Mosaic encompasses the largest preserved area of Amazon Rainforest and, since 2014, has proposed social and ecological connectivity between conservation units and indigenous lands, based on the need to find ways to implement initiatives for territorial protection and biodiversity conservation.