ABSTRACT
Conservation policies and strategies can contribute to securing farmers’ livelihoods in areas with important features for biodiversity conservation. In Brazil, the sustainable development reserve (SDR) is a protected area that reconciles biodiversity conservation with sustainable natural resource management in a manner that is mediated by its traditional people, with their local culture and local ecological knowledge. In the current chapter, we look at the development of SDRs in Brazil and discuss their potential for securing the rights of traditional people and local communities over access to territories on which their livelihoods depend. We refer in detail to one case in particular, concerning the establishment of an SDR in Areais da Ribanceira, in the municipality of Imbituba, in the state of Santa Catarina.
