The Terra Grande-Pracuúba Extractive Reserve () is an

extractive reserve An extractive reserve ( or RESEX) is a type of sustainable use protected area in Brazil. The land is publicly owned, but the people who live there have the right to traditional extractive practices, such as hunting, fishing and harvesting wild pla ...

in the state of

Pará Pará () is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian st ...

, Brazil.

Location

The Terra Grande-Pracuúba Extractive Reserve is divided between the municipalities of São Sebastião da Boa Vista (35.42%) and Curralinho (64.58%), both in the state of Pará. It is on the island of

Marajó Marajó () is a large coastal island in the state of Pará, Brazil. It is the main and largest of the islands in the Marajó Archipelago. Marajó Island is separated from the mainland by Marajó Bay, Pará River, smaller rivers (especially M ...

to the northwest of

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará), often called Belém of Pará, is the capital and largest city of the state of Pará in the north of B ...

in the delta region where the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

and

Tocantins Tocantins () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is the newest state, formed in 1988 and encompassing what had formerly been the northern two-fifths of the state of Goiás. Tocantins covers and had an estimated population of 1,496,880 in 2014 ...

rivers empty into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. It is contained within the

Marajó Archipelago Environmental Protection Area The Marajó Archipelago Environmental Protection Area () is an environmental protection area in the state of Pará, Brazil. It protects the Marajó Archipelago, made up of marine fluvial islands in the area where the Amazon and Tocantins rivers ...

. It adjoins the

Mapuá Extractive Reserve The Mapuá Extractive Reserve () is an extractive reserve in the state of Pará, Brazil. Location The Mapuá Extractive Reserve is in the municipality of Breves, Pará. It is on the island of Marajó to the northwest of Belém in the delta regio ...

to the west. It has an area of . The reserve is just over 95% covered by dense rainforest, 3% by savanna and 2% by pioneer formations. The main rivers are the Guajará, Piriá, Mucutá, Mutuacá, Canaticú and

Pracuúba Pracuúba () is a municipality located in the mideast of the state of Amapá in Brazil. It became an independent municipality in 1992. The town can be accessed from the BR-156 highway. Geography The population of Pracuúba is 5,246 and its area i ...

. Access to the Canaticú and Pracuúba is difficult during the summer dry season.

History

The Terra Grande-Pracuúba Extractive Reserve was created by presidential decree on 5 June 2006. It is administered by the

Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation ( Portuguese: ''Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade'', ICMBio) is a government agency under the administration of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment. It is nam ...

(ICMBio). It has with the objective of protecting the livelihoods and culture of the people and ensure sustainable use of renewable natural resources traditionally used by the extractive population. The conservation unit is supported by the

Amazon Region Protected Areas Program The Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA; ) is a joint initiative sponsored by government and non-government agencies to expand protection of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Foundation The Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA) orig ...

. On 30 September 2008 the

Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária The Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária - INCRA (''National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform'') is a federal government authority of the public administration of Brazil. INCRA administers the land reform issues. ...

(National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform) recognised the reserve as meeting the needs of 800 families of small farmers. The deliberative council was created on 20 April 2012. The management plan was approved on 28 February 2013. On 17 March 2016 regulations were published for fishing in the Canaticú and its tributaries, the Curralinho and Paráementa.

Population and economy

The Terra Grande-Pracuúba Extractive Reserve is mostly inhabited by the traditional extractive population. There are 23 communities with about 800 families located on the rivers and lakes in the area. They exploit

açaí palm The açaí palm (, , from Nheengatu ''asai''), '' Euterpe oleracea'', is a species of palm tree (Arecaceae) cultivated for its fruit (açaí berries, or simply açaí), hearts of palm (a vegetable), leaves, and trunk wood. Global demand for th ...

s, extract wood, fish, hunt and graze livestock. The communities on the Canaticú and Pracuúba rivers have an açaí crop that ripens in the winter, between seasons in other areas, which therefore commands a high price. Communities in the Guajará, Mutuacá, Mucutá and Piriá rivers and their tributaries do not usually have açaí and other forest products, but depend on timber as their main source of income. Many residents of these rivers are replanting açaí, which is scarce due to indiscriminate cutting for

heart of palm Heart of palm is a vegetable harvested from the inner core and growing bud of certain Palm tree, palm trees, most notably the coconut (''Cocos nucifera''), juçara (''Euterpe edulis''), açaí palm (''Euterpe oleracea''), sabal, palmetto (''Sabal ...

. Environmental groups are trying to facilitate sustainable extraction of non-timber products. Before the council was formed there were conflicts between residents over use of the resources, which compromise the ecological integrity of the reserve.

Notes

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Terra Grande-Pracuuba Extractive Reserve 2006 establishments in Brazil Extractive reserves of Brazil Protected areas of Pará