Transformations observed by social actors in the Igarapé-Miri (PA) floodplain from the increase of the açaí production (Euterpe oleracea Mart.)

• Autor(a) principal: Almeida, Benedito de Brito
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Cordeiro, Yvens Ely Martins, Beltrão, Norma Ely Santos, Tavares, Francinei Bentes, Sousa, Ronaldo Lopes de, Nascimento, Afonso Welliton de Sousa
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Research, Society and Development
• Texto Completo: https://rsdjournal.org/index.php/rsd/article/view/18548
• topic: Comunidad de Riverside; Transformación de bosques inundados; Impactos sociales y ambientales.; Riverside dwellers; Floodplain transformations; Socio-environmental impacts.; Comunidade ribeirinha; Transformação da várzea; Impactos socioambientais.

The production of açaí (Euterpe oleracea Mart), which in the early 1990s was basically extractive, became the main occupation and source of income for the riverside dwellers from Pará state, leading to a new form of social organization and countless transformations in their territory. To better understand this process, this work sought to evaluate, through the eyes of these subjects, the changes perceived from the expansion and consolidation of açaí in the floodplain of the municipality of Igarapé-Miri. To achieve this goal, the cognitive maps methodology was used, as it is an effective tool in qualitative research, both in data collection and in the presentation of results, graphically distributing the links between the middle and end concepts informed by the respondents. At last, the maps proved to be efficient and adequate to the purpose in question, as they allowed the verification of the main changes perceived by the decision makers and to classify them as positive or negative, attributing values and weights individually. It was concluded that the current production of açaí follows a model that seeks greater financial returns and that is above environmental awareness: while on the one hand, economic transformations are considered positive in the vast majority of cases, on the other hand, the transformations in the environment are completely opposite.