Full text
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| Author(s): |
Cintia Munch Cavalcanti
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | Piracicaba. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALA/BC) |
| Defense date: | 2010-11-10 |
| Examining board members: |
Maria Elisa de Paula Eduardo Garavello;
Silvia Maria Guerra Molina;
Carla Morsello
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| Advisor: | Maria Elisa de Paula Eduardo Garavello |
| Abstract | |
The aim of this study is to analyze local socio-environmental impacts resulting from two commercial agreements for the access to genetic resources and benefit sharing between a cosmetic company and a group of smallholders from Vale do Ribeira-SP region. Although agreements between private companies and local communities for the commercial use of biodiversity components have been encouraged today as a way to conciliate the sustainable use of natural assets with local development, some studies have demonstrate that beyond of its benefits, these agreements may have negative socio-environmental effects on local conditions where it was established. In Brazil, since 2001, the Provisional Executive Order 2.186-16/01 which regulates the Convention of Biological Diversity in country establishing rules for the access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge was released. These rules are fundamentally based on the prior acceptance and benefit sharing along with its providers. Despite the existence of those juridical tools, yet little is known about its practice enforcement and its local impacts. Qualitative techniques (semi-structured interviews, participant observation and documental analysis) were adopted to gather data about the establishment of two commercial agreements for the use of genetic resources and its effects on: (i) income generation and distribution; (ii) local infrastructure and access to technology; (iii) social organization and; (iv) use of local natural assets (i.e. soil, water and vegetable resources). The results show positive direct impacts on income generating, local infrastructure and access to technology. About the social organization of the involved group, the lack of one platform for collective action just as legal acknowledgement are both drawbacks to effective participation of its members and their greater autonomy. As regards environmental impacts it was observed: transformations in land use by increase of cultivating species, reduction of areas occupied by subsistence cultures or animal husbandry, changes in applied handling and raw materials and; transformations in the use of vegetable resources by the raise of target specie, in the first agreement, and by the increase of firewood consume, in second one. On the one hand, the realization of commercial agreements shows oneself to be a possible manner to contribute to local development and to biodiversity conservation. In the other hand, we still need new studies in different contexts for a better understanding of the correlations and trade-offs between social and environmental factors. (AU) | |