2020

Virtanen, Pekka

The paper seeks to answer two questions: what is the influence of the geographical location of the island of Combú in the metropolitan area of Belém, PA, and whether its current status as an Area of Environmental Protection (APA) has any impact on biodiversity and socioeconomic development? Similar to other riverside areas in the Amazon, Combú has a long history of involvement in the trade of extractive products. However, its geographical proximity to Belém and consequent access to markets made producers less dependent on intermediaries, while the ownership of resources was based on independent family units. Therefore, the dominant mode of caboclo extractivism, together with limited access to motorized transport to reach Belém until the 1990s, guaranteed a relatively high level of environmental conservation. The declaration of APA in 1997 served to maintain this situation against increasing pressure from urbanization. The results show that the impact of the protected status introduced externally has been somewhat contradictory. Although it has facilitated access to some modern facilities, such as electricity, the island still suffers from a lack of important services, such as drinking water and waste treatment. Although the APA had a limited effect on the conservation of biodiversity, the high demand for açaí allowed the continuity of relatively sustainable extractive production, although with a tendency towards monoculture. The main threats come from uncontrolled leisure tourism and the rapid increase in motorized traffic -both due to the proximity of Belém.