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GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

The Alto Jurá Extractivist Reserve is located in the remote eastern regional of the State of Acre, in Brazil, encompassing the townships of Jordão, Marechal Thaumaturgo, Porto Walter and Tarauacá.  Its inhabitants are rubbertappers descendants of people who migrated from Brazil’s Northeast to Acre during the age of rubber expansion which began in 1890. 7,500 inhabitants live on the Reserve, characterized by their traditional use of the land and of its natural resources. Over the past century, the local population has occupied itself with subsistence activities (agriculture, hunting, fishing and handicrafts) as we as commercial activities (rubber). With the decline in rubber commerce at the end of the 1980’s agriculture has since become the main source of income.

The Reserve borders Peru at its south and at its west of the Kampa tribe of the River Amônea, north with the Jaminawa-Arara tribe, south with the Kampa of the Breu River and east with the Kaximinaua tribe, all within Brazilian territory. As it has a continuous area with the PARNA Border and with four other indigenous areas it serves a protective buffer for neighboring lands

Access to the Reserve may be realized by air in which one travels from Cruzeiro do Sul to the township of  Thaumaturgo de Azevedo, or by boat, also departing from Cruzeiro do Sul through the Juruá river, a trip that may last three to four days by regular boat or one dan by speedboat.

Settlement of local populations in the Alto Juruá Extractivist Reserve.

Source: IBAMA Cruzeiro do Sul.

PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS

The Alto Juruá Extractivist Reserve is inserted in a biome that presents, at a macro-ecological level, at least four types of tropical forest on dry land that are never flooded, one being of dense vegetation and another open. The other two types of forest are connected to the hydrographic network: an alluival tropical forest that is periodically flooded and the tropical terrace forest, as well as other less expressive formations.

The ecological rythms of the region are characterized by rainfall which reaches totals of over 2.200 mm. The months of December, January and February compose the trimester with most heavy rainfall and June, July and August the driest period. The air’s relative humidity, on an annual average, is above 85%. The temperature averages also decrease between the months of June and August and are relatively low in comparison with the rest of the Amazon, situated yearlong below 25 degrees Celsius, with an absolute maximum of 38 Celsius and an absolute minimum of 8 Celsius. Yearly average insolation is slightly inferior to 1,800 hours.

VEGETATION
Vegetation is composed of tropical open and dense forests, characteristics of the low plateau Amazon subregion. There is a high diversity of palms and vines.

FAUNA
Large diversity of primates (16 species), mammals (130 species), of which we highlight  the jaguar, nutria, otter, tapir, deer,  manatee and white lipped peccary. There are 115 species of fish and 527 species of birds. Of the latter we can highlight the araras, parrots, swans and royal hawks. Among the reptiles found we notice the spectacled caiman and the Açu alligator. (Source: IBAMA – www.ibama.gov.br. Update: jul/2008).

TERRAIN
The type of terrain is predominantly hilly with slopes varying from 3% to 20% and high drainage density is very high. The characteristics of the region are marked by lowered, wavy terrain. The geomorphological differences may by represented by two distinct units: the first being dissecated terrain, marked by the predominance of erosive processes active on the Solimôes Formation (Rio Branco Depression) and the second correspondant to deposit rearing forms characterized by wet plains and terraces of “new sediment” (Juruá Hydrographic Basin).

SOIL
The Alto Juruá Extractivist Reserve presents areas of soft wavy terrain and soils classified in the reigon as red mud, which are the red and yellow Podzolic. In the aras of wavy and strong terrain we may find the areiúsco and black cracked mud soils (which are Cambisols and Brunizens, respectively). In the lowlands of the Juruá and Tejo rivers, and in their affluents, we may find white mud  and lowland sand (classified technically as Gleis and Alluvial Soils).

GEOLOGIA
The Extractivist Area of High Juruá is composed mainly of one geological unit: The Solimões Formation. As a part of this geological scenario we see as well the Holocenic Alluvium, consolidated alluvial sediments from terraces and from floodlands connected to the hydrographic netowrk. The Solimões Formation is described in much detail with data on the High Juruá River (in the Cruzeiro do Sul – Foz do Breu section) by  RADAMBRASIL (1977, pp. 48-54); on Holocenic Alluviums, see  RADAMBRASIL (1977, p. 54). A new synthesis of geological data was elaborated by the IBGE geology division and published in 1994  (IBGE and IPEA 1994). The Reserach and Monitoring Project  – USP/UNICAMP held geological and geomorphological studies from 1994 to 1996.

Sources: Nacional Cadaster of Conservation Units. www.mma.gov.br. Last update: 22/10/2014. Accessed on: 02/10/2015. Instituto Socioambiental http://uc.socioambiental.org/uc/177. Accessed on 02/10/2015.

REFERENCES ON THE ALTO JURUÁ EXTRACTIVIST RESERVE

Seu Toinho e Seu Amauri contam um pouco da história da Resex Alto Juruá.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcXTewIypq0

Vozes da Floresta
https://vozesdafloresta.wordpress.com/downloads/

ALMEIDA, M.W.B. Direitos à floresta e ambientalismo: seringueiros e suas lutas.
Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais – Vol. 19 Nº. 55 junho/2004.
https://mwba.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/2004-almeida-direitos-a-floresta-e-ambientalismo-revista-bcs.pdf

ANDRADE, A. A. L. G. de. Artesãos da floresta – população tradicional e inovação tecnológica: o caso do “couro vegetal” na Reserva Extrativista do Alto Juruá, Acre. Dissertação de Mestrado. Unicamp, 2003.

CARNEIRO DA CUNHA, M. & Mauro W. B. Almeida. RESEX Alto Juruá: a conservação adquire sentido local.
http://uc.socioambiental.org/uso-sustent%C3%A1vel/resex-alto-juru%C3%A1-a-conserva%C3%A7%C3%A3o-adquire-sentido-local

COSTA, E.M.L. Da Patronagem à Associação: poderes em disputa na Reserva Extrativista do Alto Juruá, Acre. Dissertação de Mestrado em Sociologia, Campinas: Unicamp, 1998.

COSTA, E.M.L. Uma floresta politizada: relações políticas na Reserva Extrativista do Alto Juruá, Acre (1994-2002). Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Sociais, Unicamp, 2010.

REZENDE, R. Das Colocações à Vila: processos de urbanização no Alto Rio Tejo, Acre. Dissertação de Mestrado em Antropologia Social, IFCH/Unicamp, 2010.

POSTIGO A. A. Gestão democrática na Reserva Extrativista do Alto Juruá: a construção de uma nova cultura política. Instituto de filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Unicamp. 1999.

REZENDE, R. S. Dinâmicas sociais e sociabilidade na Amazônia: o caso da Reserva Extrativista do Alto Juruá, Acre. IFCH/Unicamp, 2010.

FREITAS, J.da S. Efeitos da intervenção governamental na reserva extrativista do Alto Juruá no período 1990 a 2010: identificação dos pontos fortes e fracos. Dissertação de Mestrado em Desenvolvimento Regional, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, 2012.

LANDMANN, R.D. V. “A Alagação Ofende”: A invisibilidade de um desastre relacionado às cheias atípicas na Resex Alto Juruá, Acre. Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos. Ciências da Engenharia Ambiental, 2014.