Juma Sustainable Development Reserve: The ... - The REDD Desk

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Amazonas Sustainable Foundation
3.3.6 Project stakeholders
The Juma Reserve RED Project was created to serve diff erent demands. Local communities
identifi ed the creation of the Reserve as a way to protect their forests and to
improve their welfare and quality of life. Throughout the process of creating the Juma
Sustainable Development Reserve, there was participation by all types of local residents,
involved in many lines of work (fi shermen, extractivists, farmers, ranchers, etc.).
The process also included informal community associations (mothers, professors, artisans,
etc).
On March 15, 2006, two public hearings were held, one being in Novo Aripuanã city.
These meetings brought together the community leaders and major local stakeholders,
with representatives from City Hall, the City Council, local churches, and local civil
society organizations in attendance, to express their interest in the Project’s implementation.
Inhabitants from all communities within the Reserve were interviewed to obtain
their perspectives on the social, economic and environmental context of the Reserve,
most being favorable to the project’s implementation, and thus a better understanding
and knowledge of the direct stakeholders of the project was obtained.
The use of participatory methods in all of these meetings, workshops and public
hearings throughout the Reserve creation process was very important to increase the
understanding on the level of community organization and to communicate the modus
operandi to the local communities. This is an important input for establishing the
dynamics and process for developing the Reserve’s management plan.
The local communities and stakeholders are involved in the development and implementation
of the Reserve’s management plan, and in the management decisions
regarding the Juma RED Project through its Deliberative Council (Conselho Deliberativo).
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All of the project activities as well as the technical and administrative processes
are consistently being made public available at the project’s operational bases located
inside the Juma Reserve and in the Novo Aripuanã City offi ce. All eff orts are constantly
made in order to inform the communities and other stakeholders that they can access
project information and comment on and infl uence its management. These documents
will also be made available in the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation website (www.fasamazonas.org).
14 The Deliberative Council is in charge of deliberating on the running of the protected area, and has the right to speak and vote on
foreseen activities. The people who live inside the protected area make up 50% of it, and the other 50% consists of institutions acting in
the PA, being either from the government or not. Included among its main roles are approving the budget for the PA, following up and
approving the management plan, and reporting on actions that may have significant impact inside and around the area, among others.