Public-private partnerships in protected areas from a socio-environmental perspective

The truths behind the concessions to private initiative of protected areas in the state of São Paulo.

By Caio Tancredi Zmyslowski

English edit by Carla Elliff

*post originally published in Portuguese on November 12, 2020

Fixed seine for artisanal fishing - Ilha do Cardoso State Park (Source: Noeli Neves, license CC BY SA).

Do you know how a Conservation Unit (or UC - term used in Brazil for various types of protected areas) is managed? What are its objectives and protection categories? What do public-private partnerships represent in this context? In this text, we will explain more about the reality of UCs in Brazil and share some of the experience of the Ilha do Cardoso State Park (PEIC), located on the southern coast of the state of São Paulo. PEIC is a preserved paradise, often visited by the general public. There, traditional communities, who have lived on the island for centuries, are now fighting for their survival, cultural reproduction, and permanence in the territory.

UCs are one of the main international strategies for the conservation of environmental and cultural heritage. In Brazil, the National System of Conservation Units (SNUC) regulates these territories, designating different types and categories of protected areas subdivided into two large groups: those for full protection, whose objective is the complete preservation of biodiversity, allowing only the indirect use of the natural resources present (for example, research, tourism, and environmental education); and those for sustainable use, which accept the presence of populations in these territories, in order to ensure environmental sustainability and the reproduction of the way of life of traditional communities.

However, in Brazil's history, the process of implementing conservation units has followed a "top-down" logic, that is, in an imposing manner. Many fully protected parks were implemented in territories of traditional populations that depend directly on nature, and therefore directly impact their way of life. Traditional populations are internationally recognized as allies of environmental preservation, in addition to having fundamental rights recognized by international conventions and treaties, such as the International Labor Convention (ILO No. 169), ratified by Brazil through Decree No. 5,051 of 2004, which determines that any decisions made about their territories must necessarily and previously be consulted and approved by local populations. In practice, unfortunately, this process of dialogue often does not occur.

A sustainable alternative for communities living in protected areas has been Community-Based Tourism (CBT), which integrates tourism activities focused on valuing local history and culture with environmental preservation. In this sense, CBT represents an opportunity to alleviate territorial conflicts, highlighting the importance of communities within protected areas and favoring social agents with small economic capital in cooperative, supportive and sustainable systems. In other words, CBT is an economic activity associated with low-impact production practices, such as subsistence agriculture, fishing, and crafts carried out by communities. Furthermore, CBT can be understood as a strategy to fight for the fundamental rights of traditional peoples to remain in the territory.

Artisanal fishing carried out by community members in the Ilha do Cardoso State Park (Source: Noeli Neves, license CC BY SA).

In PEIC, this form of tourism has been operating for over 20 years, organized and led by the community in partnership with the UC. Local associations offer schools, groups, excursions, and tourists options for nature trails and walks, workshops, and demonstrations of traditional practices such as artisanal fishing and crafts, environmental education in partnership with environmental technicians and monitors, accommodation and food based on Caiçara cuisine. Due to the restrictive reality of the Park, communities have invested more in the practice of CBT for their survival, sustainability, and reproduction of the Caiçara way of life.

Community member and environmental monitor, Noeli Neves accompanies a group of students in the mangrove of the Ilha do Cardoso State Park (Source: Noeli Neves, license CC BY SA).

The planning, implementation, and management of protected areas is carried out by the government (federal, state or municipal) with legal governance mechanisms and instruments (management councils, management plans) that guarantee the maintenance, participation, effectiveness, and resources for the promotion of sustainable development of the protected area. However, it turns out that most protected areas in Brazil lack the infrastructure and resources necessary for effective management. Thus, combined with the precariousness of government investments in protected areas and the growing wave of Latin American neoliberalism, there is a tendency to transfer public use of protected areas to large private groups. This is the case of concessions and public-private partnerships, encouraged by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) at the national level and in the State of São Paulo, as provided by Law No. 16,260/2016, known as the “concessions law”.

On June 29, 2016, the State of São Paulo approved, as a matter of urgency and under strong pressure from the State Secretariat for the Environment, the “concessions law”, which regulates 25 State Parks (including PEIC), granting concessions for use and services to the private sector for 30 years. The law became controversial because it was not widely discussed, especially in the municipalities that would initially have their parks granted for private use. It was contested by environmentalists and local organizations because it was broad-based, non-participatory and did not address the specificities and characteristics of each UC. Therefore, this process ends up following a market-driven logic and political interests that contradicts the original objectives of the UCs of preserving environmental and cultural heritage to promote sustainable development and improve local quality of life.

As a consequence, this conflict between business and market economic activities and community and traditional productive activities can worsen the situation of social inequality in these locations, in addition to impacting the way of life and the very permanence of the community in its territory.

In my final undergraduate project, completed in 2017 at the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo (USP), I interviewed residents of all seven traditional Caiçara communities on Ilha do Cardoso, and analyzed how important is CBT socioeconomically and culturally for the communities, in addition to analyzing the perception of the community members regarding concessions to private companies. I observed that CBT currently represents a large part of the communities' income. It encourages and reproduces traditional practices and knowledge, such as traditional Caiçara cuisine, local stories, cultural festivals with the Caiçara musical style called fandango, among other things. In the community members' view, all of this rich knowledge and culture can be impacted and replaced by the concession model, mainly because it is an imposing process, without participation and transparency, in which the communities are not involved.

Therefore, I propose a reflection: to what extent can concessions and public-private partnerships, so widely disseminated and encouraged in the current political context in Brazil, be threatening the sustainability of traditional communities and their activities such as the CBT? Why allow large private companies to profit from public parks and carry out activities that are already carried out by traditional communities and local associations? Why do we lack incentives for public-community partnerships in UCs, favoring local development? It is now up to us to actively monitor the process and demand that international conventions and treaties be complied with, encouraging the participation of the local community for the best application of these partnerships.

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About the author:

My name is Caio Tancredi, I am an oceanographer who graduated from the University of São Paulo. Since I was a child, I have been an ocean lover, a surfer and the grandson-great-grandson of fishermen and sailors. Living in traditional communities has awakened in me a great interest in getting to know them better and being part of the fight they wage to guarantee their fundamental rights combined with environmental preservation.

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