The Role of Social Capital in Fostering Collective Action for Small-Scale Fishery Co-Management in the Baixo Juruá Extractive Reserve, Central-West Brazilian Amazon

Authors

  • Paula Soares Pinheiro Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade , Brasil

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37002/biodiversidadebrasileira.v12i5.1900

Keywords:

Arapaima management, extractive reserves, Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

Social capital is pointed out as a key factor for community social organization and the collective management of natural resources. In this study, I investigated the role of community social capital in facilitating collective action for arapaima (Arapaima sp.) management and the underlying motivations for engagement on collective action, in the six arapaima management systems of the Baixo Juruá Extractive Reserve (Amazonas). Through semi-structured interviews with 62% of the 95 households of communities that participate on management, I compared household participation in arapaima management in relation to demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, social and political engagement, and social capital. In four out of the six management systems, 70% to 86% of households participated on management, compared to only 31% and 33% in the other systems. Participation in collective action for arapaima management varied in a similar fashion with social capital in the community. Both bonding and bridging social capital come into play in fostering collective action. Although human relations are important components in community collective action, people also reveal utilitarian motivations for engagement. Thus, when incentives are provided, they might find it relevant to participate on resource management. This study highlights the role of social capital in natural resource management and may serve both communities and decision makers

References

Acheson JM. Institutional Failure in Resource Management. Annual Review of Anthropology 35:117-134, 2006.

Adler P, Kwon S-W. Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept. The Academy of Management Review, 27(1): 17-40, 2002.

Arantes C.C. 2009. Ecologia do pirarucu Arapaima gigas (Schinz, 1822) na várzea da Reserva de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá, Amazonas, Brasil. Dissertação de Mestrado, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus.

Arantes CC, Castello L, Basurto X, Angeli N, Sene-Harper A, McGrath DG. Institutional effects on ecological outcomes of community-based management of fisheries in the Amazon. Ambio, 51: 678-690, 2022.

Baland JM, Platteau JP. 1996. Halting degradation of natural resources: Is there a role for rural communities? Clarendon Press.

Berkes F, Farvar MT. 1989. Introduction and overview. In Common property resources: ecology and community-based sustainable development. Brock University, St. Catharines: Ontario.

Bourdieu P. 1985. The forms of capital, p. 241-258. In Richardson JG (editor). Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. Greenwood.

Bryman A. 2012. Social research methods. 4 ed. Oxford University Press. 766p.

Campos-Silva JV, Peres CA. Community-based management induces rapid recovery of a high-value tropical freshwater fishery. Scientific Reports, 6: 34745, 2016.

Castello L. A method to count pirarucu Arapaima gigas: fishers' assessment and management. North American Journal of Fisheries Management, 24: 378-389, 2004.

Castello L. Lateral migration of Arapaima gigas in floodplains of the Amazon. Ecology of Freshwater Fish, 17(1): 38-46, 2008a.

Castello L. Nesting habitat of Arapaima gigas (Schinz) in Amazonian floodplains. Journal of Fish Biology, 72(6): 1520-1528, 2008b.

Castello L, Viana JP, Watkins G, Pinedo-Vasquez M, Luzadis VA. Lessons from integrating fishers of Arapaima in small-scale fisheries management at the Mamirauá Reserve, Amazon. Environmental Management, 43: 197-209, 2009.

Castello L, Stewart DJ, Arantes CC. Modeling population dynamics and conservation of arapaima in the Amazon. Review in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 21: 623-640, 2011.

Castro F. 2000. Fishing accords: the political ecology of fishing intensification in the Amazon. Doctoral Dissertation (School of and Environmental Affairs). Indiana University.

Coleman JS. Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94: S95-S120, 1988.

Farias IP, et al. The largest fish in the world's biggest river: Genetic connectivity and conservation of Arapaima gigas in the Amazon and Araguaia-Tocantins drainages. PLoS ONE, 14(8): e0220882, 2019.

Futemma C. 2006. The use of and access to forest resources: the caboclos of the lower Amazon and their socio-cultural attributes, p. 215-237. In: Adams C, Murrieta R, Neves WA. Sociedades caboclas amazônicas: modernidade e invisibilidade. 1 ed. Annablume.

Futemma C, Castro F, Silva-Forsberg MC, Ostrom E. The Emergence and Outcomes of Collective Action: An Institutional and Ecosystem Approach. Society & Natural Resources, 15(6): 503-522, 2002.

Gittell R., Vidal A. 1998. Community organizing: Building social capital as a development strategy. Sage, Thousand Oaks.

Grootaert C, Narayan D. Local Institutions, Poverty and Household Welfare in Bolivia. World Development, 32: 1179-1198, 2001.

Gurdak DJ, Arantes CC, Castello L, Stewart DJ, Watson LC. 2019. Evidence of recoveries from tropical floodplain fisheries: Three examples of management gains for South American giant Arapaima, p. 267-295. In: Krueger CC, Taylor WW, Youn S-J (editors). From Catastrophe to Recovery: Stories of Fishery Management Success. American Fisheries Society.

Gurdak DJ, Stewart DJ, Klimley AP, Thomas, M. Local fisheries conservation and management works: implications of migrations and site fidelity of Arapaima in the Lower Amazon. Environmental Biology of Fishes, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-021-01171-y, 2022.

Gutiérrez NL, Hilborn R, Defeo O. Leadership, social capital and incentives promote successful fisheries. Nature, 470: 386-389, 2011.

Harris M. 2000. Life on the Amazon: the anthropology of a Brazilian peasant village. The British Academy.

ICMBio - Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade. 2009. Plano de Manejo da Reserva Extrativista Baixo Juruá. Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Brasil.

Krishna A. Understanding, measuring and utilizing social capital: clarifying concepts and presenting a field application from India. Agricultural Systems, 82: 291-305, 2004.

Lima D. 2006. The domestic economy in Mamirauá, Tefé, Amazonas State, p. 131-156. In: Adams C, Murrieta R, Neves WA. Sociedades caboclas amazônicas: modernidade e invisibilidade. 1 ed. Annablume.

Murphree MW. 2000. Multiple boundaries, borders and scale, p. 1-18. Annuals of 8th Biennal Conference of the International Association for the Study of Common Property.

Ostrom E. 1990. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge University Press.

Ostrom E. Collective action and social norms. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(3): 137-158, 2000.

Ostrom E. 2005. Understanding institutional diversity. Princeton University Press.

Ostrom E. A general framework for analyzing sustainability of social-ecological systems. Science, 325: 419-422, 2009.

Pinheiro P. 2018. Co-management of natural resources in the Lower Juruá Extractive Reserve, Central-West Brazilian Amazon. PhD Dissertation (School of Natural Resources and Environment). University of Florida. 238p.

Pinho P, Orlove B, Lubell M. Overcoming Barriers to Collective Action in Community-Based Fisheries Management in the Amazon. Human Organization, 71(1): 99-109, 2012.

Portes A. Social capital: Its origins and applications in modern sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 24: 1-24, 1998.

Putnam R. 1993. Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton University Press.

Putnam R. Bowling alone. Journal of Democracy, 6(1): 65-78, 1995.

Pretty J. Social capital and the collective management of resources. Science, 302: 1912-1914, 2003.

Pretty J, Smith D. Social capital in biodiversity conservation and management. Conservation Biology 18(3): 631-638, 2004.

Queiroz HL. 2000. Natural history and conservation of pirarucu, Arapaima gigas, at the Amazonian várzea: red giants in muddy waters. PhD thesis. University of St. Andrews. 230p.

Ruffino ML. 2008. Gestión Compartida de recursos pesqueros en la Amazonia, p. 307-320. In: Pinedo D, Soria C (Editors). El manejo de las pesqueriÌas en los riÌos tropicales de SudameÌrica. Instituto del Bien ComuÌn, Peru and International Development Research Centre.

Schons SZ, Amacher G, Cobourn K, Arantes C. Benefits of community fisheries management to individual households in the floodplains of the Amazon River in Brazil. Ecological Economics, 169: 106531, 2020.

Woolcock MM, Narayan D. 2000. Social capital: Implications for development theory, research and policy. The World Bank Research Observer.

Yan RK. 2003. Case study research: design and methods. Sage tions, Thousand Oaks.

Published

2022-11-01

Issue

Section

Manejo Comunitário de Recursos Naturais em Unidades de Conservação