INDIGENOUS RESERVES CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT


(Projects BR0878)


The project is part of WWF's overall strategy of promoting conservation through management of natural resources and supporting traditional peoples as stewards of their own land





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ndian reserves are of crucial importance for conservation in Brazil because they represent a larger area than that of the national system of protected areas. WWF is working with indigenous groups in three reserves in the Amazon and Cerrado regions to improve management of the key natural resources they depend on for survival - game and fish, subsistence crops, agroforestry, and non­timber forest products such as rubber. The project is part of WWF's overall strategy of promoting conservation through management of natural resources and supporting traditional peoples as stewards of their own land.


In the Pimentel Barbosa Reserve in the Cerrado, WWF is working with the Xavante Indians to implement a game management system to ensure that subsistence hunting is sustainable. The principal researcher, Dutch biologist Frans Leeuwenberg, has been accepted by the Xavante as an apprentice hunter and he has trained three young Xavante to help gather data.


The research team has gathered valuable information on Xavante hunting methods - the most heavily hunted species, the main hunting periods, the hunting range, and the nutritional and spiritual importance of certain animals. The study has shown that as the Xavante have become less nomadic and rely more on subsistence agriculture, their hunting range has decreased from the entire reserve (400,000ha) to a 25 km radius around the village. The Xavante are now planning to cut a trail to the north of the village in order to open up new areas for hunting and reduce pressure on the areas currently over­hunted.


In the Rio Jordão Indian Reserve in Acre, where about 1,200 Kaxinawá Indians live, WWF is studying natural resource use to help the Indians boost their income from rubber processing and handicraft production. The rubber tappers are being helped to reduce production costs and improve marketing through the Kaxinawá Association of the Rio Jordão, one of the oldest indigenous cooperatives in the region. Efforts will also be made to improve the organizational capacity of the cooperative and establish a rotating credit fund for the purchase of rubber and handicrafts. Meanwhile, WWF is gathering detailed information on hunting activities to determine whether certain species are being over­hunted. Subsistence farming methods are also being analysed to see how production of crops (including fruit, manioc, corn, peanuts, and beans) can be boosted.


Elsewhere, WWF is working with the Tikuna Indians to study the use of local fisheries in order to draw up a resource management plan.




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