Government of Pará promotes consultation with traditional communities on the REDD+ Jurisdictional System in Abaetetuba
The meeting brought together local leaders and traditional populations in three days of programming, from October 1 to 3
The Government of Pará, through the State Secretariat for Environment, Climate and Sustainability (Semas), held from October 1 to 3, in Abaetetuba, another stage of the Free, Preliminary and Informed Consultations (CLPI) on the REDD+ Jurisdictional System (SJREDD+). The meeting brought together traditional communities, associations, representatives of the public power, and local leaders in three days of programming focused on dialogue, experience sharing, and collective policy building.
The initiative follows the recommendations of Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and is considered the largest consultation process ever promoted by the State with traditional communities, reinforcing Pará's commitment to transparency, climate justice, and social participation.
Active participation of communities
According to Renata Nobre, the deputy secretary of Water and Climate Management at Semas, the format of the consultations reflects the essence of the policy.
“Pará is developing a REDD+ model that is not imposed but built together with the communities. This dialogue ensures that quilombolas, extractivists, family farmers, indigenous peoples, and forest peoples have an active voice, present their demands, and directly influence the axes of the policy. This is the great differential of our process: legitimacy, transparency, and participation,” she emphasized.
Representatives from different territories highlighted the relevance of the initiative. Maria Tereza, from the Ilha Manoel Raimundo settlement in Cametá, stated that the experience was unprecedented.
“For the first time, we were invited to participate in an event of this magnitude. We are very happy and learned a lot in these three days. Now, we will take all the proposals back to our island and talk to the families living there. It is essential to have this space to protect our forests and for our demands to be considered as well,” she said.
For Augusto Emílio Farias, president of the Calmaria II Project association in Moju, the process expands community action.
“This event represents the beginning of a great work that will be expanded throughout Pará. With the government's support, we can develop our activities in a more structured way and achieve better results for our communities. We leave here more prepared and confident that we are being heard,” he assessed.
Nelson Meirelles Barroso, from Mocajuba, highlighted the learnings provided.
“We arrived with many doubts, but we left clarified about what Jurisdictional REDD+ means. I really liked the methodology and the way the information was conveyed. This is a debate that needs to continue, with the participation of quilombolas, family farmers, extractivists, and forest peoples. There are still challenges, but it was a very important step for us to continue building this public policy, which is essential for our communities and for the future of the State,” he stated.
The program included panels on the history of Jurisdictional REDD+, presentation of the benefit-sharing proposal, discussions on socio-environmental safeguards, and discussions on the draft law of SJREDD+. Communities were able to present proposals, register regional demands, and actively participate in deliberations about the next steps of the process.
The Free, Preliminary and Informed Consultations represent a fundamental stage to ensure that traditional peoples and communities are protagonists in the construction and implementation of the Jurisdictional REDD+, strengthening the role of forest populations in defending the environment and in the sustainable future of Pará.
