Gone with the flow: Belo Monte dam plays with Amazonian socioecological systems

 

While COVID-19 is taking a very high toll on Brazilian indigenous people, especially by reaping the elderly, who are the main holders of forest knowledge (1), the moment is being used to bend the rules and to force environmental deregulation (2). In 2016, Belo Monte, the third largest hydroelectric dam in the world, started operating partially despite its expected socioecological impacts over a 100 km stretch known as “Volta Grande do Xingu” (3). Full dam operation was due to begin in early 2020 and, along with it, a 6-year highly contested hydrograph test period that would alternate between a harsh and a harsher flood control annually (4).

However, a strong El-Niño in 2015-2016 significantly reduced the river flow to levels that, although above those of the alternate hydrograph, prevented the natural forest flooding. This natural experiment compromised ecological processes, including the reproduction and growth of fish and turtles, and impacted the Indigenous peoples who depend on the natural environment (4). In April 2020, after strong and continuous pressure from the civil society, the Brazilian Environmental Agency (IBAMA) demanded the adoption of a less severe transition hydrograph for the year. This decision was not initially questioned by Belo Monte operating company, possibly because the Covid-19 pandemic first resulted in a significant drop in industrial activities, and therefore, in the energy demand. As demand for energy resumes, a dangerous strategy seems to have been set in motion to avoid fines and still achieve the required average flow. For example, the required flow for July is 1300 m³/s), which one supposes would be more or less the daily flow every day of the month. However, the operating company adopted another strategy: it strongly reduced the flow during the first 20 days of July to an average of 1022 m³/s, which compromised navigation, fishing and regular river-related activities. In the last days of the month, the company greatly increased the flow to a daily average of 1517 m³/s. By doing that, the company probably maximized its energy production and decreased its chance of being fined, with no concern whatsoever for the socioecological consequences of playing with the flow.

Locals leaving the area afraid of further unexpected floods (last week of July, 2020)

Sudden increases in flow were made without due notice to communities, who still lack alarm systems. The Indigenous peoples reported losses of boats, engines and ornamental fishponds, which represent, for many, all of their assets. At a time of extreme vulnerability, Amazonia and its people are paying the highest price for a policy that promotes impunity (5), with consequences yet to be seen. This example also raises the question: will this be the “new normal” to Amazonia’s environmental policies?

 

By Priscila Lopes, Cristiane C. Carneiro & Juarez C. B. Pezzuti

 

 

1.         L. Ferrante, P. M. Fearnside, Protect Indigenous peoples from COVID-19. Science. 368, 251–251 (2020).

2.         A. Press, Brazil: blow to Bolsonaro as judge orders release of expletive-ridden video. The Guardian (2020), (available at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/22/bolsonaro-brazil-cabinet-video-court-judge).

3.         D. B. Fitzgerald, M. H. Sabaj Perez, L. M. Sousa, A. P. Gonçalves, L. Rapp Py-Daniel, N. K. Lujan, J. Zuanon, K. O. Winemiller, J. G. Lundberg, Diversity and community structure of rapids-dwelling fishes of the Xingu River: Implications for conservation amid large-scale hydroelectric development. Biol. Conserv. 222, 104–112 (2018).

4.         J. Zuanon, A. Sawakuchi, M. Camargo, I. Wahnfried, L. Sousa, A. Akama, J. Muriel-Cunha, C. Ribas, F. D’Horta, T. Pereira, P. Lopes, T. Mantovanelli, T. S. Lima, B. Garzón, C. Carneiro, C. P. Reis, G. Rocha, A. L. Santos, E. M. D. Paula, M. Pennino, J. Pezzuti, Condições para a manutenção da dinâmica sazonal de inundação, a conservação do ecossistema aquático e manutenção dos modos de vida dos povos da volta grande do Xingu. Pap. NAEA. 28 (2020), doi:10.18542/papersnaea.v28i2.8106.

5.         H. Escobar, Illegal deforestation in Brazil soars amid climate of impunity. Sci. AAAS (2020) (available at https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/08/illegal-deforestation-brazil-soars-amid-climate-impunity).

SERI: A new approach to measure resilience of small-scale fishers

Do you know what social-ecological resilience means?  Well, it can be a little bit tricky to understand but I will try to explain it to you. Resilience is defined as the ability of a system to cope with disturbances while maintaining its functions. For instance, the ecological resilience of coral reefs has declined because of overfishing, rising temperatures, and other factors, which has led to radical regime shifts that make them more vulnerable to natural disasters. In the social context, resilience is the capacity of human communities to absorb changes and adversities while maintaining their livelihoods. For example, fishing communities may maintain their social resilience despite transformative changes, e.g., technological or cultural, that involve regime shifts, such as a shift from a fishing economy to a tourism-based economy, if such transformations maintain or improve their livelihoods. So, when social systems are nested in ecological systems through mutual feedbacks, i.e., fisheries system, the term social-ecological resilience  (SER) is adopted.

But can we measure fishers' resilience? Yes, we can do it. A new research just published in Ecology & Society proposed a new index to measure social-ecological resilience of small-scale fishers. The SERI – Social-Ecological Resilience Index – is a practical tool based on an integrative ecosystem approach and it can be of great value to marine conservation planning.

The new approach consider the social-ecological system as a whole, that is, human and environmental systems must be considered in unison, as an integrated system. The authors believe that altering the relationship between fishers and fisheries resources could influence fisher resilience, which is likely to depend on how management strategies are delivered and perceived, how environmental changes are felt, and on the intensity of resource dependency (Fig. 1). 

Figure 1: A conceptual framework for assessing the social-ecological resilience (SER) of small-scale fishers as a function of policy, environmental, and socioeconomic changes in the system. SRi = Social Resilience at the individual level; SRc = Social Resilience at the community level; ER = Ecological Resilience. Adapted from Marshall et al. 2009.

The variables used to compose the SERI are assigned to the individual, community, and ecosystem levels of the fisheries system, because fisher resilience is influenced by fishers themselves, fisheries resources, and aspects related to resource dependency at the community level (Fig.2). 

Figure 2: Proposed components (three circles forming SERI), indicators (represented by icons), and subindicators (variables in the rectangles) to measure the SERI of small-scale fishers, where SERI = (SRi + SRc + ER)/3. SRi = Social Resilience at the individual level; SRc = Social Resilience at the community level; ER = Ecological Resilience.

The SERI was applied to fishers living in three marine protected areas located in the northeastern coast of Brazil: Extractive Reserve Batoque, Extractive Reserve Prainha do Canto Verde, and State Sustainable Development Reserve Ponta do Tubarão (Fig. 3). The results show that the social resilience at both individual and community levels and the ecological resilience are important to fisher SER. Given the high contribution of the biological sensitivity indicator to form SERI, together with the lower ecological resilience values found in the three reserves, working toward the protection, restoration, and maintenance of biodiversity may enhance SER in these marine reserves. Individual and community resilience, especially through capacity building and leadership, should also be promoted. In addition, some fisher socioeconomic aspects are crucial to defining individual resilienceamong small-scale fishers in the considered areas. For example, older fishers, fishers who depend solely on fishing, and fishers who had higher-mean CPUEs were found to be less resilient.

Figure 3: Study area located on the Brazilian northeastern coast, highlighting the reserves located in the states of Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará. Pictures on the left, from top to bottom: the fisher association in RESEX Batoque, rafts (the main fishing craft in RESEX Canto Verde), and the estuary in RDSE Ponta do Tubarão.  

The findings of this study may provide a key to understanding the most important aspects of SER in coastal areas. By knowing the aspects that affect fisher coping strategies in response to changes to their social-ecological system, we can devise smarter management approaches that inform where conservation strategies and policy decisions are likely to be most effective. 

Besides being a feasible tool and to broaden the resilience discussion, this new index is a useful framework that can assist governments and environmental organizations to better understand SER among fishing communities. How resilient are the coastal fishing communities in your country? If you are interested in applying this index to your country, you can find all the necessary information and source data used to calculate the SERI in the supplementary materials of the research.



Silva, M. R. O., M. G. Pennino, and P. F. M. Lopes. 2020. A social-ecological approach to estimate fisher resilience: a case study from Brazil. Ecology and Society 25(1):23. 
https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11361-250123

Some species play a key cultural role in our lives – could that be used to protect nature and benefit local people?

This text was originally published in the People and Nature blog.

Protecting nature is a challenge we have been failing to tackle. The longer we take, the harder finding solutions becomes, given the growing demand for natural resources by an ever-increasing human population.

Fishers waiting for an arapaima (Arapaima sp.) to come up to the surface to harpoon it, during an arapaima co-management harvest season in the Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve, Amazonas, Brazil. Photo credit: Carolina Freitas)

Human activities have triggered the extinction or sharp decline of numerous species in the last centuries, and the artificial imbalance of many, if not most ecosystems worldwide. Over the last decades, parks and reserves have been showcased and implemented as one of the main solutions to protect wildlife and ecosystems. However, these initiatives often fail to reconcile environmental goals with the social rights of local peoples with a long history of living in close dependence on nature. In many cases and contrarily to expectations, market insertion has not necessarily undermined the connection, respect and customary rules local people adopt towards nature, but the collapse of some species might have such negative impact. Preventing species collapse and promoting ecosystem protection needs us to include aspects we may have overlooked. Ecologists have long used keystone species as the basis for conservation plans and decision making, but what about species that play a key role in human culture? Could conservation efforts be focused on these culturally important species (CIS) as a way of protecting both nature and traditional ways of life? In this perspective article, we use data from the literature and explore the outcomes of two management schemes, both encompassing multiple independent initiatives, to show that the cultural importance of some species should be regarded as a highly relevant aspect of conservation strategies in places where natural resource use is critical to local livelihoods.

Local fishers interacting with aquatic resources in the Juruá River basin, Amazonas, Brazil. Left: Man carrying an arapaima (Arapaima sp.) individual (Photo: Helder Espírito-Santo). Right: Man carrying a yellow-spotted river turtle (Podocnemis unifilis) (Photo: Carolina Freitas)

We argue that management initiatives focusing on the recovery of CIS will likely stimulate the interests of local people, their engagement and compliance, as well as local surveillance against infractions. Local and continuous enforcement is potentially more effective than official institutional mechanisms, which are typically funding and staff-deficient and only sporadically deployed, especially in developing countries. CIS-management can achieve a wide range of positive ecological, social, cultural and economic outcomes and be an effective tool to reconcile biodiversity conservation with local people quality of life.

                                                                                            By Carolina Freitas & Priscila Lopes

Freitas et al. 2019. Co‐management of culturally important species: A tool to promote biodiversity conservation and human well‐being. People and Nature:https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10064