Component 8

 Local institutions/community groups trained in specific skills for land management and land-use monitoring.

The Project aims to strengthen local institutions by developing specific skills and building local capacity with special emphasis on cartographic skills for land management and land use monitoring. Workshops and training sessions have been designed to appropriately respond to the needs and skills of each particular stakeholder group (e.g. shamans, women, farmers, hunters, etc.). For example, in the village of Kwamalasamutu, in collaboration with the University of Suriname, a food security training session focusing on sustainable agriculture techniques was held for 25 indigenous women (). The relevance and immediacy of the need for this type of training became painfully obvious following an infestation of leaf cutter ants that severely damaged the cassava production in the indigenous lands in 2006: the OAS office in Suriname was very active in garnering a supply of emergency food relief for the region, but ultimately the Project aims for supporting indigenous self-sufficiency for addressing these issues before they become an emergency situation. In Brazil, in Amapá, mini-courses were also provided by Project personnel to key indigenous representatives on particular aspects of land-use to facilitate a discussion of management plans for protected areas. 

In Brazil, Project partner ACT trained 29 representatives of state and nonprofit institutions involved in environmental protection in the northern Brazilian Amazon as Park Guards; those trained will work in protected areas of Amapá or on behalf of the environment as a whole.  The trainees were drawn from a wide range of institutions including IBAMA, SEMA, the Amapá Firefighting Brigade, the Amapá Environmental Battalion, and the Federal University of Amapá.  Several indigenous park guards were present to exchange experiences.  A new Park Ranger Association was developed (Associaçao de Guardaparques do Amapá, the Amapá Park Ranger Association) with representation in the internacional Ranger Federation.  An online discussion group between instructors and trainees was established.  Some of the trained Rangers will be contracted by IBAMA for the protection of the Tumucumaque Mountains National Park (the world’s largest tropical rainforest Park). 

In Suriname, on August 16, 2006, the Trio and Wayana peoples of southern Suriname formally established a joint indigenous association named TALAWA for the purpose of presenting a unified front in their efforts to protect their traditional lands.  The establishment of the association was incumbent upon the provision by Project partner ACT of administrative and financial training courses to leaders and key representatives of the communities, instruction in the essentials of forming an association, as well as training in land rights negotiation and land management concepts.

This page was last updated on Friday June 15, 2007.