Map of the Resex Extractivista created in the state of Roraima which also includes the Xixuaú – Xiparinã
The commitment of some forest inhabitants to the protection and safeguard of the Xixuaú – Xiparinã area dates back to 1992.
With the establishment of the Associação Amazônia and with the help of some volunteers from various nations including Scotland, Italy, Argentina and Denmark, a long process of protection and valorization of the area began.
In the early 2000s, IBAMA, an institute of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment, at the request of the “Ribeirinhos”, the indigenous inhabitants of the rivers, hypothesized the creation of a ResEx do Xixuaú, the first draft of what would become the future Reserva Extractivista do Baixo Rio Branco-Jauaperi.
Several years of struggles and meetings/clashes with local and federal authorities followed. Some events made it particularly difficult to continue the activities, but hope and the desire to realize the ambitious protection project were never lost.
Foreste per Sempre ODV GEV Modena has been a witness and an active collaborator in these activities. It is worth remembering the international pressure on the central government to stop the construction of a road that would have crossed the area and would have certainly led to deforestation and damage to biodiversity.
In 2000, there was the first FpS mission to Xixuaú, with the contribution for the purchase of a vessel (the Certeza I) that allowed the inhabitants of the Xixuau-Xiparina reserve to reach the city of Manaus, almost two days away by boat on the river, thus breaking the isolation to which they were forced.
Several others followed and many ecotourists were given the opportunity to visit a unique place and uncontaminated nature. The collaboration between FpS and the Comunidade Xixuaú– Xiparinã was not limited to ecotourism but also to the realization of several projects including the construction of a school, a health center, the purchase of boats for the connection with the city and missions with volunteer dentists who worked in the villages of Jauaperi.
Thanks to Modena Terzo Mondo, the requests for the creation of a protected area were brought to the attention of the Brazilian Federal Government, first to the Minister of the Environment Marina Silva and then to the President of the Republic Inácio Lula. The Government of Roraima, where part of the Reserve is located, has always opposed its creation by all means until the Federal Government ceded other lands in exchange.
Now with the decree of June 5, 2018, the dream of the inhabitants and those activists who still work to safeguard the Amazon Forest has finally come true.
www.amazoniabr.org – RESEX BRBJ
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