The ACRI Project is aimed at improving community-based management of natural resources as a strategy for sustainable development at the local level in the Amazon basin. The project has three main strategies for reaching this goal, including:

1. Clarify complex ecological and social factors related to community-based natural resource management. The process includes identifying factors leading to the success of local initiatives by indigenous and riverine communities in tropical Amazonian regions of Brazil and Peru.
2. Overcome the barriers that impede deeper understanding of the links between the depredation of natural resources and impoverishment, encouraging dialogue among interested stakeholders to explore the potential of community-based resource management as the best response to environmental deterioration and local economic deterioration.
3. Strengthen institutions in the United States and the countries in the Amazon basin so they can better deal with the underlying socio-cultural and ecological issues for sustainable use.

Conceptual framework

The ACRI Project views community-based natural resource management as a process through which a group of users, made up of a series of domestic units that live relatively close together, have common institutions and depend on the same source for natural resources, chose to develop a viable, long-term system for managing natural resources. The project distinguishes between two kinds of community systems for managing natural resources in the Amazon basin. On the one hand there are community systems with implicit management or those based on tradition and culture, while on the other hand there are explicit systems, which are linked to institutions and actions and have specific management objectives. The ACRI is interested in identifying and analyzing the factors that lead to success in the most explicit systems. These systems are characterized as intentional because they are carried out in a market context and maintain a collaborative relationship with external agents from universities, NGOs or the government.

To achieve its objectives, ACRI has concentrated its actions on three case studies, two in Peru and one in Brazil.

 Case 1.  Fish management in ponds in the El Chino community, along the Tahuayo River in Loreto, Peru

El Chino is a riverine community located in the Tahuayo River basin in the Loreto region.  The residents in this community are involved in different economic activities, such as farming, hunting, fishing, animal rearing, crafts, charcoal production, gathering forest products, trade, and working as manual laborers.  Fish represent one of the principal food sources in El Chino.

Case 2. Community management in the Infierno Native Community, Madre de Dios, Peru
Infierno is a native community located on both banks of the Tambopata River, in the Madre de Dios region.  It is a socially and culturally heterogeneous community that is home to Ese’eja indigenous peoples, Andean and mestizo settlers, and riverine dwellers.  The paved highway that links the community with Puerto Maldonado, the regional capital,   allows for market access and the presence of external agents, such as NGOs, researchers and tourism companies.  The external agents are interested in the community’s strategic location with regard to the Tambopata Candamo National Reserve, considered one of the biodiverse spots in the world.

Case 3.  Fish management in the seasonally flooded lakes in the Solimões and Japurá river basins, Tefé, Amazonas, Brazil.

The mid-Solimões region, located in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, has been the site of dozens of community management initiatives for lakes and fish resources over the past 25 years.  The ACRI Project studied these efforts for lake preservation.   

Considerations for the case studies  

Public policies for awarding and using natural resources differ depending on space and time.  They need to take into account favorable legislation and regulations as possible factors that condition community-based resource management.  In addition, political-institutional frameworks, market conditions for resources, violence and interest in financing projects also have an influence on the successful management of natural resources.  Given that local communities are part of a wider socio-economic network and depend on this for access to markets, among other things, it is important to interpret and describe these inter-connected relations, identify the characteristics of points of contact, and discover the most efficient routes within this system.