Semas presents advances in community oyster management during panels at COP30
The Secretary of Environment, Climate and Sustainability of Pará (Semas) presented, this Monday (17), in the Green Zone of COP30, the results of the project to strengthen traditional oyster management in the Mãe Grande de Curuçá Extractive Reserve. The panel "Community arrangements and partnerships to strengthen traditional oyster management in the Mãe Grande de Curuçá Extractive Reserve" brought together representatives from Semas, New Fortress Energy, and the Aquavila community to discuss the social, productive, and environmental impacts of the initiative that has been boosting the oyster chain in the coastal zone of Pará.
The initiative is the result of a cooperation agreement signed between Semas, New Fortress Energy, and the community of the Mãe Grande de Curuçá Extractive Reserve, consolidating a partnership model that unites public power, the private sector, and local organizations around strengthening the oyster chain. The shared work has ensured technical security, continuous support for management, and direct investments in the infrastructure used by the community, increasing production capacity and stimulating the sustainability of the activity.
The Deputy Secretary of Environmental Management and Regularity of Semas, Rodolpho Zahluth Bastos, highlighted that the work reveals common challenges faced by various communities that, for years, have received promises without effective actions reaching their territory. "The challenges we encounter are not isolated cases. Participating in this process and seeing the change happen on the ground was very significant. This arrangement uniting the private sector, government, and local organizations was essential, as was choosing a territory with strong social representation. Many traditional populations almost never receive the due attention of climate financing, and here we managed to show that it works. Now, we are entering a more robust phase, with increased production, new infrastructure, and technical stability of floating cultivation. We have already received inquiries from companies interested in replicating this experience, and we want this case to inspire other territories," he stated.
New Fortress Energy representative, Cristiane Parry, emphasized that the partnership has already brought concrete results. "We signed a cooperation agreement at the beginning of the year, and several actions have been executed since then: donation of pillows, blankets, and nets used in production, which is already licensed; in addition to the delivery of the boat, which completely changed the daily work. The project is aligned with environmental policies and support for traditional communities," she stated.
Representing the Aquavila Association, producer José Galvão spoke about the transformations experienced by the community. "I have been working with oyster cultivation for many years; this is how I support my family and several families in the village. Since 2000, we have collected the seed and done the cultivation, and this seed supplies other states. Today we are migrating from fixed cultivation to floating cultivation to have a good quantity to sell in the market. We can only thank Semas for their support; we have been waiting for this support for over 20 years, and now it has arrived and is making a difference by realizing our goal of expanding floating cultivation and strengthening the activity in the community," he said.
The experience reinforces the potential of arrangements that value traditional knowledge, strengthen the local economy, and contribute to environmental conservation in the coastal zone of Pará, highlighting the role of the State, through Semas, in articulating and implementing initiatives that bring together environmental policy, innovation, and sustainable development.
Voices of the Ocean House echoing Mãe Grande de Curuçá - in addition to the panel held at the Pará Pavilion of the Green Zone, the theme "Management and Conservation of Biodiversity: The experience in the Mãe Grande de Curuçá Extractive Reserve" also integrated the programming of the Voices of the Ocean House, a space promoted by the Schurmann Family as a parallel activity to COP30.
The presence of the debate in two environments reinforced the relevance of the experience of the Extractive Reserve for the climate agenda and for the expansion of sustainable practices aimed at protecting marine-coastal biodiversity.
