The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

12. Protecting landscapes and seascapes: experience from coastal regions of Brazil
With this in mind, the workshop designed a Management Plan, which proposed programmes
and projects aimed at improving local citizens’ standard of living, by using natural resources
according to principles and techniques of sustainability. In addition, health and education
initiatives were developed, and the plan included strong emphasis on local/regional economy,
through the implementation of a framework for ecotourism. In addition to programmes on
health, education and eco-tourism, were those focusing on heritage conservation, environmental
conservation, sustainable management of natural resources and agriculture.
A Management Committee was established to steer and implement the programme, an
approach that was very advanced at the time, although it has since become mandatory. Speakers
from each of the 20 communities that had been visited were chosen for a second five-day
workshop, which resulted in a new format for the Management Committee. This new
governance structure included community members from each Management Unit, allowing
decision-making processes to be closer to local problems, perceptions and wishes.
A management system is important for raising funds to implement decisions, and may
facilitate involving people in achieving the mission of development and conservation. The
inclusion of local people in a real development process, with clear opportunities to contribute to
and participate in this process, can make a difference in fostering a stewardship approach to
conserving the landscape and seascape.
Final considerations
These case-studies demonstrate the important and complementary roles played by the
Biosphere Reserve and the Environmental Protection Area (APA) designations in Brazil’s
coastal zone.
The Mata Atlantica Biosphere Reserve is playing an important role both in conservation of
the Mata Atlantica biome and, as noted earlier, in the development of Brazil’s biosphere reserve
programme. The Brazilian experience with Biosphere Reserves is a recent one, and the
programme still faces constant challenges, including the consolidation of biosphere reserves to
make them an effective instrument in the various biomes. In these areas it is necessary to create
systems for permanent monitoring, reverse the degradation of the natural and cultural patrimony,
and promote territorial organization and the sustainable use of natural resources, while
fostering an improvement in the quality of life of the people. It is obvious that the creation of
Biosphere Reserves alone cannot do all this, but they have certainly helped consolidate some of
these objectives.
The special characteristics of APAs – for example, their emphasis on participatory and
democratic approaches to management, their reliance on stewardship by local communities,
and their ability to be flexible and adapt to different contexts – make that protected area
category a useful tool for the management of working landscapes and, more generally, rural
lands. In a vast country such as Brazil, where planning and management are so often absent, the
APA designation may be considered not only a protected area, but also an instrument for
environmental planning and management. The APA designation can be developed with a view
toward accommodating another approach: the conservation of private lands through the
promotion of stewardship and participatory processes.
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