ISSN: 2578-4994
Authors: Meier M*, de Mattos DB, Mujalli D, Pinheiro NZ and Ridolfi ARC
Several families and communities depend on tropical forests while making the sustainable use of plants, including planting and managing them, contributing to their conservation. The Atlantic Forest biome originally occurs, totally or partially in 17 states of the Brazilian territory. Since colonization by the Portuguese, the biome has suffered and still suffers from severe changes in its ecosystems composition, especially due to the loss and fragmentation of habitats. Today the remnants of native vegetation are reduced to less than 20% of their original cover and are in different stages of regeneration. Even reduced and very fragmented, it is estimated that in the Atlantic Forest there are about 20,000 plant species (about 35% of the existing species in Brazil), including several endemic and endangered species, which gives the Atlantic Forest the status of “hotspot for biodiversity” being among the areas of the planet with the highest priority for biodiversity conservation. In relation to the Juçara Palm (Euterpe edulis Mart.), historically, the irresponsible use of the strain as a wood product (wood and meristem) was conflicting and today it has legal restrictions with the inclusion of the species in the threatened list, implying legal and bureaucratic complications for its use. This situation makes communities that use the species in a sustainable way, end up being the target of the command control imposed by the State Environment Organizations, which in a perspective of preserving the species, penalize the traditional management. The need to prepare a Management Plan, at a very complex technical level, discourages families from using the species economically. The regulation must create processes that, as foreseen in the legislation, simplify the bureaucratization around the management for family farmers and traditional populations. This document brings the pillars of agroforestry management of Juçara Palm for agroforestry development in Brazil.
Keywords: Atlantic Forest; Agroforestry; Euterpe edulis; Environmental Legislation
