Quilombo Communities and Opportunities for Market-Driven Mechanisms for the Protection of the Amazon Forest

Abstract

Quilombos are communities created since colonial times by emancipated African-descendants who located their free communities in the deep forest north of the Amazon in Brazil. These vulnerable communities are still oppressed and neglected. Paradoxically, their actual economic activities based on Amazon products’ extraction are becoming key for protecting the rainforest in the north of Brazil (state of Para). In this chapter, the analysis of Honey production illustrates their socio-economical context, organizational capabilities, and the potential of their economic activities to preserve the rainforest’s integrity. It also illustrates the challenges and limitations that they face to access markets where the value of their products’ attributes is appreciated based on the profile of blue businesses (e.g., fair trade, organic, rainforest friendly).