Karla Santos

Thèse soutenue le 30/04/2024

The Amazon is facing an intense transformation of the landscape as a result of anthropogenic activities, which are causing various environmental problems such as extreme weather events, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, silting up of rivers and a reduction in carbon storage. These environmental impacts don't just affect the Amazon region, but have global consequences. To tackle these problems, Brazil has committed itself at the international level to implementing extensive forest recovery programs. Recent literature on forest recovery points to the importance of defining strategies at the landscape level in order to achieve scale. Studies indicate that in the northeast of Pará, more precisely in Irituia, some of the practices of family farmers are helping to restore the landscape at a local level. This thesis aims to answer the following question: Does the forest recovery process taking place in Irituia have the potential to gain scale in the landscape? The aim was to analyze the trajectories of deforestation and forest recovery carried out by family farmers at different scales of the landscape in the municipality of Irituia - Pará, using the methods of direct observation, documentary analysis, historical interviews, questionnaires, retrospective interviews and spatial analysis. The research covers different temporal and spatial scales, for a more representative analysis of the landscape, giving rise to 3 articles on complementary scales. Article 01 shows that the forest recovery of the landscape in the municipality of Irituia stands out on the scale of Northeast Pará, pointing out that the forest recovery movement in the municipality is real and specific. This movement is the result of various actions over time, so that today forest recovery can take place with greater visibility. Article 02, on the scale of the municipality, shows with quantitative data that family farmers are mainly responsible for the gain in scale of the forest landscape in Irituia. They are the class that has recovered the most forest areas in the municipality over the 30 years analyzed, when compared to non-family farmers. Article 03 analyzes how changes in Irituia's family farm production systems have played a decisive role in transforming the municipality's forest landscapes at the farm level. It identifies the multiple ways in which forest recovery has expanded its scale in Irituia. Taken together, the articles show the potential of family farming to gain scale in forest landscapes, presenting itself as a valuable alternative for tackling the region's environmental challenges caused by deforestation. It shows that even with little government investment, Irituia's family farmers are gaining scale in the recovery of forest landscapes, providing valuable information for forest recovery policies and initiatives.