Semas and Acorqe complete the second largest Quilombola Environmental Registry in Brazil

Technicians from the Secretariat of Environment and Sustainability (Semas), through the Regulariza Pará program, completed technical support for the creation of the Rural Environmental Registry of Traditional Peoples and Communities (CAR PCT) with the quilombola community Erepecuru, in Oriximiná, in Baixo Amazon. It is the second largest Quilombola CAR in Brazil, in an area of ​​over 226.1 thousand hectares. The largest quilombola territory in Brazil with CAR PCT is Cachoeira Porteira, in Oriximiná.

The CAR benefits the communities of Pancada, São Joaquim, Espírito Santo, Araçá, Jauari, Varre Vento, Monte dos Oliveiras, Boa Vista do Cuminã, Santa Rita, Jarauacá and Poço Fundo, all on the banks of the Trombetas, Cuminá and Erepecuru rivers. The activities were carried out at the headquarters of the Association of Remaining Communities of Quilombo do Erepecuru (Acorque).

In total, CAR benefits 853 quilombolas in the community, made up of 154 families. Among the main economic activities carried out in the territory, agriculture, flour production, aquaculture, extractivism, community forest management and livestock farming stand out.

“In practice, the CAR PCT officially identifies that territory, with all its characteristics, including the size of the community, the number of families, the type of production that exists there, and in addition it also strengthens territorial conservation actions, ensuring the maintenance of ecosystem services, biodiversity and the management of natural resources. In the case of the Erepecuru community, the area is already titled by Incra (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform) and by the State Land Institute (Iterpa), and is in the process of analysis and rectification. The CAR PCT, in turn, lists conservation areas and areas of traditional use by the community”, explained Semas cartographer Layse Rocha.

The State, through Semas, has worked with the community over the last three years, carrying out participatory workshops to assist the community in organizing the territory’s CAR PCT data. The informative meetings were supported by GIZ Brasil (German Agency for International Cooperation).

“Pará now has the two largest quilombola CARs in Brazil, as part of the Regulariza Pará Program actions. It is a historic milestone, both from the point of view of territorial dimension and pioneering public policy. With the Erepecuru CAR, we reached the milestone of 1.5 million hectares of CAR of collective territorialities in the state of Pará. In this way, we reinforce the prioritization we have given to public policies aimed at collective territories of common use, ensuring that people and communities expand access to public policies from the CAR and strengthen its role in the self-management of territories. This is our priority”, informed the deputy secretary of Environmental Management and Regularity at Semas, Rodolpho Zahluth Bastos.

The CAR of Traditional Peoples and Communities (CAR/PCT) is an environmental planning instrument for territories that have collective territorial management of natural resources. In this case, the application of the Forest Code is built in dialogue with the communities. In Erepecuru, the registrant chosen by the community to train and carry out the CAR PCT was quilombola Rafaela Cardoso Almeida.

“CAR/PCT values ​​forms of collective environmental management that consider territories of common use as territorial spaces that guarantee the existence and cultural and socioeconomic reproduction of peoples and communities. This advance in guaranteeing the territorial rights of the quilombola peoples of Baixo Amazonas, which historically play a fundamental role in the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources associated with traditional ways of life intrinsic to the existence of the forest”, explains the secretary.

THE CAR – The Rural Environmental Registry is a national electronic public registry, created by Law 12,651/2012, which brings together environmental information regarding the situation of forests, rivers, areas of restricted use and others. The CAR is used for environmental and economic planning of rural territories, serving as a basis for Quilombola Territorial and Environmental Management Plans, life plans and other community self-management instruments. The CAR PCT agenda in the State has been prioritized by the Executive, through the Regulariza Pará program, coordinated by the Deputy Secretariat for Management and Environmental Regularity of Semas and executed in partnership with other bodies such as the Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Company of the State of Pará (Emater) and the Pará Land Institute (Iterpa).

The current collective modality of CAR/PCT is the result of the historical process of struggle of communities and their entities representing the quilombola movement, extractivist movement, settlers, agroextractivists, family farming and other peasant territorialities. The CAR/PCT is prepared by the traditional community, which can request support from the State and the quilombola movement in the implementation process.

Support organizations must respect each community’s decision-making process expressed in informational meetings, assemblies, consultation and consent protocols or other forms of autonomous decision-making by each community.