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Since October 5th, 1,172 extractive families residents in the extractive reserves Arapixi , in the municipality of Boca do Acre, Purus Medium (Lábrea, Pauini and Tapauá), and Auati-Paraná , received the Document Granting Right to Use(CDRU).

In addition to the Federal areas,  eight other identical documents were also delivered to communities that occupied areas of State protection. In total, the claims of this early October amount to 750,000 hectares.

The CDRU is the legal document that ensures extractivist communities installed in federal areas effective access and the right to use community protected areas where they live and work, being allowed only sustainable economic activities.

With the document, the resident populations in the reserves, in addition to regularize the use of natural resources, obtain formal recognition and can have access to public policies, especially the land reform credits and other government social programs.

The titles were granted after intense dialogues promoted between federal and State institutions by the Amazon Dialogues Forum, mediated by the Federal Public Attorney’s Office (MPF/AM). The Dialogue was coordinated by Amazon  International Institute of Education in Brazil (IEB) and by the National Council of Extractive Populations (CNS),

Founded by Chico Mendes and his companions during the 1st national meeting of rubber tappers in Brasilia, in the year 1985, the National Council of Extractivist Populations (CNS) currently has the support, the partnership and the participation of civil society entities and various government agencies such as the MPF, the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBIO), the Attorney General, the Secretary of State for Land Policy (SPF) , Secretary of State for the Environment of the Amazon, the Heritage Department of the Union (SPU).

The forum’s puprose was born from the need to address the existing problems in cases of occupation in State and federal protected areas and overlapping areas in the South of the Amazon, among other topics.

Since 2012, the Forum has been periodically holding meetings in the city of Manaus to negotiate the settlement of 13 protected areas in the State of Amazonas, including the Extractivist Reserve of Arapixi (created in 2006) and the others formalized this October.

According to MPF/AM, there are still cases under discussion by the Forum in which a consensus between the entities involved has yet to be arrived at, so the debates continue.

Original source of this story:  pram-ascom@mpf.mp.br

Source of image: ICMBio