Traditional knowledge and biodiversity conservation: uses, practices and experience of smallholders of a community in Ananindeua – PA

Abstract

In the current environmental crisis people seek a new form of relationship between society and nature that can integrate the use of natural resources and biodiversity conservation. In this sense are included productive activities such as fishing, agriculture, harvesting and hunting, among others. In this context, this study investigates knowledge of biodiversity conservation present in the agriculture of the inhabitants of Igarapé Grande on João Pilatos Island in Ananindeua – Pará. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with nine smallholders and a dozen more non-structured interviews with area residents along with participant observation, and were evaluated using content analysis. The smallholders from Igarapé Grande develop, mostly, agriculture systems based on ‘roçados’ and homegardens for which the main crop is Manihot esculenta Crantz, Euterpe oleracea Mart. e Theobroma grandiflorum (Wild. Ex Spreng.) Schum. Fishing, plant extractivism, poultry creation, handicraft and, in smaller scale, hunting and cattle raising, are other activities performed. Agrarian activity in Igarapé Grande is based on environmental knowledge related to selection of crop sites, time of planting and harvesting, procedures and techniques and areas with no crops. Smallholders recognize the importance of biodiversity conservation in Igarapé Grande, and, thus, developed techniques that promote secondary forest enrichment, primary and riparian forest preservation and agrobiodiversity conservation.