Rainforest Center Iracambi - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Rainforest Center Iracambi

Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, 2013

This paper is based on research conducted about small-scale coffee farming in Rosário da Limeira,... more This paper is based on research conducted about small-scale coffee farming in Rosário da Limeira, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The paper connects the global coffee market and new trends within the coffee market with the reality of small-scale coffee production. The paper considers the transition to a sustainable coffee production system as a potential tool for environmental conservation and community development. The role of coffee farming in the identity and livelihood of local people is considered, as well as obstacles to change. The paper concludes by proposing different ideas as to how local coffee farmers might be able to make the transition to more sustainable systems of coffee production. The case study examined in this paper is very specific, but the obstacles and opportunities for the communities of Rosário da Limeira parallel rural communities worldwide.

Today, only 7 % of the Atlantic Rainforest, that once covered Brazil, remains scattered across th... more Today, only 7 % of the Atlantic Rainforest, that once covered Brazil, remains scattered across the southern parts of the country. As the forest is rapidly disappearing, the government of Brazil has ...

Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2020

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Croton urucurana Baill. (Euphorbiaceae) is a plant used in Brazil... more Ethnopharmacological relevance: Croton urucurana Baill. (Euphorbiaceae) is a plant used in Brazilian popular medicine for the treatment of wound healing, inflammatory diseases, gastritis, infections, and hemorrhoids. Aim: The present study aimed to evaluate the in vivo wound healing activity of an ointment based on ethanolic extract of C. urucurana stem bark, at concentrations of 5% and 10%, and to relate it with compounds that could be associated with this activity. Materials and methods: Analyses by FIA-ESI-IT-MS n were carried out to investigate the chemical composition of C. urucurana. Knockout IL-10 (n = 60) mice and wild type C57 (n = 12) mice were separated into 6 groups to evaluate the wound healing activity. Knockout IL-10 mice: SAL (0.9% saline); BAS (ointment base); SS (1% silver sulfadiazine); CR1 (ointment with extract of C. urucurana 5%); CR2 (ointment with extract of C. urucurana 10%); and wild mice C57: SALC57 (Saline 0.9%). A circular wound with 10 mm in diameter was generated on the dorsal of the animals. Tissue specimen of the wounds were removed on days 7 and 14 of the treatment for histopathological, oxidative status and analyses of pro-and anti-inflammatory cytokines in scar tissue. Results: In the phytochemical profile, twelve proanthocyanidins were identified (in the form of monomers, di-mers, trimers, and tetramers), based on (epi)catechin and (epi)gallocatechin. Furthermore, two quercetin derivatives and two alkaloids were detected. The groups treated with CR1 and CR2 ointments presented higher rate of wound closure, increased total number of cells, mast cells, blood vessels and higher deposition of type III and I collagen. In addition, they showed increased amount of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-2 and IFN-γ), and anti-inflmatory cytokines (IL-4), on the 7th day of treatment. Conclusion: The results presented support the popular use of preparations based on the bark of C. urucurana as a healing compound.

Abstract The District of Belisário, located in the municipality of Muriaé (MG), and it has 100% o... more Abstract
The District of Belisário, located in the municipality of Muriaé (MG), and it has 100% of its
territory inside conservation unities, including a part belonging to the Serra do Brigadeiro
State Park. However, its inhabitants have been experiencing the effects of rain reduction and
water springs depletion. Despite of the influence of global factors such as climatic changes,
the water crisis in Belisário is also associated to local anthropic factors (e.g.; patterns of land
use and land cover change which influence the maintenance of the hydrological cycle mainly
by the removal of the pristine forest). The present research had as its main goal to determine
the leading factors controlling the water resources availability and quality in the headwaters
of Rio Fumaça basin. In order to achieve this goal, this work employed ArcGIS, individual
interviews with landowners, and water sample analysis collected in a sampling grid in the Rio
Fumaça and its main tributaries. The land use and cover classification indicated that the
pastures predominate on the landscape, occupying approximately 40% of the studied area,
while the forest remnants cover at least 25,3%. At the height of an extended drought – in 2015
- 39,4% of the sampled water springs had its flow interrupted. In spite of that, there were no
significant changes regarding land use and land management, such as the adoption of soil and
water conservation techniques. The water’s chemical physical parameters results indicated
that agriculture and the precarious sanitation conditions are responsible for the enrichment of
dissolved elements – mainly Ca, Mg, K, N – and elevated counts for coliforms in the main
water bodies which integrate Rio Fumaça’s basin. Furthermore, elevated turbidity values –
3,9 NTU average at the areas occupied by intensive agriculture, and 0,65 NTU at forested
areas, on the rain season - suggest that the substitution of native vegetation for agriculture has
caused the acceleration of the erosive processes in the studied watershed. All the studied
tributaries had their original courses impacted by anthropic activities, and this factor has
contributed for the water resources depletion – both quality and availability- on Rio Fumaça’s
headwaters. The high density of water springs – estimated between one for each 6,7 ha and
one for each 9,7 ha – privileges low impact activities at the studied watershed, such as organic
agriculture or agroecology and ecotourism. Furthermore, interventions aiming to restore the
margins of local rivers and the sustainable management of steep slopes occupied by
agriculture are recommended.

Countless theories and models of sustainable development have been contrived in attempts to clari... more Countless theories and models of sustainable development have been contrived in attempts to clarify the term's agenda. Applied strategies, however, continue to exhibit immense diversity. Using an empirical case study, this paper aims to examine the relationship between concept and action, with a view to determining whether different practices can be accounted to underlying perceptions. Iracambi Recursos Naturais Ltda., a small natural resource management company located in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, is addressing the problems of land degradation and poverty in the Mata Atlântica (Atlantic rainforest). In assessing their case, the perspectives held by the organisation's directors are fundamental.

Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research and Conservation Center " The motivation of farmers to appl... more Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research and Conservation Center " The motivation of farmers to apply sustainable agricultural methods " " How motivated are farmers of Rosario da Limeira (Minas Gerais, Brazil) to use sustainable medicinal plants production as an alternative income resource? " 46

In2003,residentsoftheSerradoBrigadeiroTerritory,aruralareaof SoutheasternBrazilinoneofthefewremai... more In2003,residentsoftheSerradoBrigadeiroTerritory,aruralareaof SoutheasternBrazilinoneofthefewremainingpatchesoftheAtlanticForest, learnedofalargenumberofbauxiteconcessionsintheirterritorygivenbythe federalgovernmenttotheprominentCompanhiaBrasileiradeAlumínio(CBA), Brazil'slargestaluminumproducer.Becausetheregionpridesitselfonitssmallscaleagricultureanditslushnaturalenvironment,themininghasbeenthesource ofmuchcontentioninthecommunity.Introducedtothetopicbytheinternational conservationNGOandresearchcenter,Iracambi,Ispenttwomonthsintheterritory thissummer,exploringhowthecommunityperceivesthemining.Anexercisein anthropologicalresearch,thisreporttriestoanswerthequestion:Howhasthe controversysurroundingthebauxitemininginformedhowthecitizensoftheSerra doBrigadeiroterritoryperceivetheircommunalandindividualidentitiesin relationshiptothedevelopmentoftheircommunities?Throughformaland informalinterviewing,participantobservation,andfieldwork,Iconcludedthatthe mininghasinstigatedcommunityinquiryintomanyfacetsoftheregion'sfuture, including:thefateoffamilyagriculture;thevalueofecologicalresources; globalizationanditseffectoneconomicandgenerationalchange;andthelanguages usedtoexpressopinionsonexternalforcessuchasbauxitemining.

In the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, rural households use wood from the endangered Atlantic Fo... more In the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, rural households use wood from the endangered Atlantic Forest as a source of domestic energy. Reasons for household fuel choices were explored in four small rural communities in rural Minas Gerais using a survey of 48 households and semi-structured interviews. Socioeconomic status and the interaction between status and access to fuelwood explained significant percentages of the variance in collection effort, our indirect measure of fuelwood use by households. Access to fuelwood is best explained by the circumstances of a household, which we generalize into typologies that may inform future studies in fuelwood use.

Between June and August of 2011, I was employed as a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Coordin... more Between June and August of 2011, I was employed as a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Coordinator at the Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research and Conservation Center, located in Rosário da Limeira, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Iracambi is an NGO dedicated to conservation and restoration of the Atlantic Rainforest, and is involved with local subsistence farming communities in the region of the Serra do Brigadeiro State Park in developing sustainable farming techniques and lifestyles. I, along with four other

INTRODUCTION Forest exploitation and clearance often lead to forest fragmentation, which occurs w... more INTRODUCTION Forest exploitation and clearance often lead to forest fragmentation, which occurs when continuous forest is broken up by roads, settlements, agriculture and the like. As a result, in forest restoration there is often a natural need to visualise the landscape and for spatial analysis. For a start: where are the forest patches and what separates them? how big are they and who owns them? What's more, given the proximity and intermixture of forest and people, in the restoration of fragmented forests there is often a clear need for a collaborative approach: restoration measures conceived of by outsiders could damage local livelihoods; and anyway, local people often determine what happens in and around the forest. This article describes the development of tools and approaches for spatial visualisation and analysis for use in collaborative forest restoration in a mountainous region of the Atlantic Forest, Minas Gerais, Brazil. We developed them in isolation, to discover afterwards that similar tools and approaches are used in PGIS 1. In this article I give an account of the step-by-step learning process that led us to them. I examine their suitability for collaborative forest restoration and reflect on our attempt to reconcile some of the benefits of participation and of GIS, which can be so inaccessible for non-specialists. Unfortunately, the project was cut short – in effect we could only pilot our tools and approaches – so I also draw lessons from the early end to our work – about the institutional framework required for a collaborative approach. BACKGROUND

Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, 2013

Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2020

A Quetion of Function, 2019

The global development of natural resources is surrounded by extraordinarily high levels of confl... more The global development of natural resources is surrounded by extraordinarily high levels of conflict. Generally, these conflicts revolve around 1) the allocation of benefits and burdens associated with mineral extraction and 2) the identification of relevant stakeholders and appropriate communication channels to consider their perspectives. To contribute to the understanding of global mining conflicts, this paper presents a case study of a mining conflict in several communities of the Serra do Brigadeiro Mountains in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. From 2003 to date, several mining companies, in particular Companhia Brasileira de Alumínio (CBA), attempted to mine bauxite on private farms throughout the region. The challenges associated with this development are the lack of appropriate communication by CBA, conservation issues associated with the removal of remnant patches of the Atlantic Forest, and the distribution of economic benefits and burdens between the company and the local community. Several groups in the community, including the Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research and Conservation Center, have led the opposition to CBA’s mining proposals. Their opposition is not specifically against mining but rather seeks to develop equitable and sustainable mining practices that would serve economic, community, and conservation interests. The paper concludes with an analysis of this mining conflict based on work by Özkaynak and Rodríguez-Labajos (2012), Schlosberg (2003), and Sen and Nussbaum (1993), which shows that tensions began and escalated due to (1) CBA’s deliberate efforts to limit community participation, (2) the unequal distribution of benefits and burdens associated with the mining proposal, (3) CBA’s failure to account for environmental degradation and recognize local experiences, cultures, and moral values in mining conflicts, and (4) the threats the mining proposal posed to the functioning and capabilities of local communities.