ABSTRACT
The process for implementing protected areas (IUCN categories I, II and III) in Brazil follows a typical ‘parks-no-people’ approach. Local communities are seldom involved in park designation or in the design and implementation of management plans, and intense land tenure conflicts arise as a result. However, some projects in the Amazon, such as the Mamiraua Sustainable Development Reserve, demonstrate the feasibility of an alternative approach to protected area implementation, based on the involvement of local communities throughout the process, from design of the management plan to the application of its management prescriptions. This approach is in line with the concept of integrated conservation and development programmes (ICDPs), which have the dual objective of conserving biological diversity and promoting improved standards of living. Such a model, if it is successful, could have far wider applications throughout the Amazon region and beyond.
