POVOS DO CERRADO: MAPPING TRADITIONAL PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES
These communities have a strong relationship of belonging to their territory and carrying tradition in their different ways of living with the standing Cerrado. Their knowledge, ways of life, identities, cultural and economic practices depend directly on the preservation of the territory.
The Povos Do Cerrado Program seeks to map and strengthen the territoriality of traditional peoples and communities and family farmers who live in the Cerrado.
The Program's lines of action bring together the identification of communities through bibliographic research, support for self-mapping and registration in the "Tô no Mapa" mobile app, developed by the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), Society, Population and Nature Institute (ISPN ) and Cerrado Network.
Peoples and Communities registered with Povos do Cerrado can choose to learn how to use the Suindara Fire and Deforestation Alert System, developed by Cerrados Institute to monitor partners’ areas.
In addition, the Territory Formalization Guide is offered, an unprecedented document that points out the institutional paths that some segments of Traditional Peoples and Communities must follow to start the regularization of their territories.
We carry out actions under this program with the support of the Good Growth Partnership (GGP), Global Environment Facility (GEF), WWF-Brazil, as well asAmazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), Society, Population and Nature Society Institute (ISPN), Rede Cerrado, Climate and Land Alliance - CLUA, and Global Witness.
Methodology
The Program's methodology was built with the objective of identifying and supporting Traditional Peoples and Communities in the process of self-mapping and registration in the Tô no Mapa tool.
In the research phase, an extensive bibliographic survey is carried out seeking records of Traditional Peoples and Communities, providing a first overview of the universe of traditional communities in each of the municipalities that make up the Cerrado biome. This work stands out as an unprecedented effort.
For the first phase of the project, the presence of Traditional Peoples and Communities in more than 583 municipalities in the Cerrado, half of the territorial extension occupied by the biome, was analyzed. An area equivalent to more than 100 thousand hectares (1 million km²), larger than Portugal, Spain, France, Germany and Switzerland combined.
At this stage, we have identified more than five thousand traditional communities. In the second phase, we have so far tracked more than 600 traditional and rural family farming communities in 140 municipalities.
The local articulation line is developed in partnership with local institutions and organizations that already operate in the territory. From this point on, the Peoples of the Cerrado Program offers a workshop to support the complete self-mapping of communities through registration in the “Tô no Mapa” mobile app. In this process, the community has full autonomy to enter and edit its data, as well as share the report generated by the app.
More than 90 traditional communities have already been mapped with the registration completed in the Povos do Cerrado project and in the “Tô no Mapa” app of the mapped area and 135 territories occupied by Traditional Peoples and Communities and Family Farmers, with 60 territories in the first stage and 75 in the second.
In July 2022, the 3rd stage of self-mapping of Povos do Cerrado began in the Tô no Mapa app, in partnership with IPAM. We are currently in the process of registering territories in the State of Maranhão, covering the self-mapping of 50 territories where Traditional Peoples and Communities and Family Farmers of the Cerrado biome are located.
Follow our continuous map with the communities that have registered for the Povos do Cerrado Project:
Source: Inpe
General Guide to Formalization of Traditional Territories
Paths to the recognition of Traditional Communities
Based on the mapping of traditional communities, the Povos do Cerrado project identified the difficulty of communities in understanding the process of recognition and land tenure regularization in their territories. The information is dispersed in different bodies, which makes it difficult for interested parties to access and understand it.
The General Guide to the Formalization of Traditional Territories gathers information on the path that each type of community must take to formalize their territories. The purpose of the Guide is to mobilize traditional communities towards the recognition and regularization of their territories.
The Guide, prepared by Cerrados Institute in consultation with the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), ISPN and Cerrado Network, is shared with community representatives after the Pre-Registration with Povos do Cerrado.
Paths to the recognition of Traditional Communities
Based on the mapping of traditional communities, the Povos do Cerrado project identified the difficulty of communities in understanding the process of recognition and land tenure regularization in their territories. The information is dispersed in different bodies, which makes it difficult for interested parties to access and understand it.
The General Guide to the Formalization of Traditional Territories gathers information on the path that each type of community must take to formalize their territories. The purpose of the Guide is to mobilize traditional communities towards the recognition and regularization of their territories.
The Guide, prepared by Cerrados Institute in consultation with the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), ISPN and Cerrado Network, is shared with community representatives after the Pre-Registration with Povos do Cerrado.
Suindara Fire and Deforestation Alert System
The Suindara Alert System was developed to promote easy and continuous monitoring focused on the territory. The tool brings agility and efficiency, as it sends alert messages directly to area managers and actors involved, with a map indicating the location of the occurrence, enabling navigation and action on the spot. The System collects and filters the data, making it available in an easy way to managers, who receive information relevant only to their territories and surroundings.
In addition to sending alerts of hotspots and deforestation detected via satellite, the System allows managers and actors in the region to complement the detections by issuing alerts generated in locu, which are also sent by the System. All of these alerts contain information about hotspots and deforestation, their exact location, the distance between the user and the focus of each threat, and a topographic map.
The protection of territories such as: RPPNs and other Conservation Units, Indigenous Lands and Traditional Territories can be quite challenging considering that most managers work alone or with little structure to manage their territories. The Suindara System fills this gap since it does not need large structures, only the use of messaging and internet applications.
Why is it important to map the traditional communities of the Cerrado?
The Cerrado is home to a very rich sociobiodiversity. There are countless traditional, indigenous, quilombola, agro-extractive communities, geraizeiros, riverside communities, babassu trees collectors, among many others that traditionally occupy the biome. These are communities that have a strong relationship of belonging to these regions carrying tradition in their different ways of living with the standing Cerrado. Their knowledge, ways of life, identities, cultural and economic practices depend directly on the preservation of the territory.
The absence of official data on these communities and the intense agricultural occupation in the Cerrado, especially aimed at the export of agricultural commodities, makes it essential to strengthen and mobilize the Traditional Peoples who occupy areas where official maps point to population gaps.
This invisibility makes access to social rights difficult and becomes a challenge in the struggle for the recognition of traditionally occupied territories. Povos do Cerrado works within the scope of the valorization and visibility of the traditional communities of the Cerrado so that society as a whole has a dimension of its contribution to culture, economy and, mainly, environmental conservation.
The Cerrado is home to a very rich sociobiodiversity. There are countless traditional, indigenous, quilombola, agro-extractive communities, geraizeiros, riverside communities, babassu trees collectors, among many others that traditionally occupy the biome. These are communities that have a strong relationship of belonging to these regions carrying tradition in their different ways of living with the standing Cerrado. Their knowledge, ways of life, identities, cultural and economic practices depend directly on the preservation of the territory.
The absence of official data on these communities and the intense agricultural occupation in the Cerrado, especially aimed at the export of agricultural commodities, makes it essential to strengthen and mobilize the Traditional Peoples who occupy areas where official maps point to population gaps.
This invisibility makes access to social rights difficult and becomes a challenge in the struggle for the recognition of traditionally occupied territories. Povos do Cerrado works within the scope of the valorization and visibility of the traditional communities of the Cerrado so that society as a whole has a dimension of its contribution to culture, economy and, mainly, environmental conservation.
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