Traditional knowledge gathered in a festival to strengthen sustainable development on the margins of the BR-319 highway

Mencius Melo – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Bring together the knowledge of traditional populations to help leverage entrepreneurship and sustainable development in the Community of Careiro Castanho, municipality located on the margins of BR-319, the road that connects Manaus, in Amazonas, to Porto Velho, in Rondônia. This is the proposal of the “Forest Knowledge” Festival, which will take place on February 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, at the Professora Maria Adelaide Marinho Hortência Full Time Education Center (Ceti), at kilometer 111 of the BR-319 highway.

The festival has a program totally focused on the development of a positive agenda for the community. The proposal is to provide residents with technical information for the construction of actions that yield dividends from agroecology, community-based tourism, and bioproducts.

The event counts with the participation of traditional peoples of the Amazon, farmers, producers, young people, and women entrepreneurs. The initiative is of the civil society organizations “Casa do Rio” and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS Brazil) with support from the Segré Foundation.

In an interview to CENARIUM MAGAZINE, Eliane Soares, director of “Casa do Rio”, declared that the festival is of unique importance. “It is very important to promote this event focused on the interests, needs and potentialities of this region that has its particularities, due to the influence of the BR-319″, highlighted the director.

The professional also points out that in addition to the uniqueness of the road, the “Saberes…” comes to strengthen the community. “The event is for the residents, making them protagonists, opening space for them to present experiences, sell their products and acquire more experience. Thus, they improve their businesses,” he detailed.

Essential

According to Marcos Amend, conservation director of WCS Brazil, the economy can and should be an ally of the forest. “What WCS tries to do is understand the needs and potentialities of traditional populations, because this is essential to make nature conservation and regional development compatible,” he said.

For Marcos, initiatives like the “Forest Knowledge” festival come to clarify these horizons. “With the festival, we want to explore the opportunities for those who live in the region”, he explained.

Also according to the environmentalist, the idea of another world is possible when talking about natural resources, so the binomial “man x nature” needs to be another reality when it comes to the Amazon.

“We have to promote entrepreneurship and reinforce that an economy allied to the maintenance of the forest is not only possible, but also fundamental for all of us,” concluded Marcos Amend.