The reconciliation between biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development translates into complex challenges, which is why FVA adopts strategies based on a multidisciplinary approach, looking at different scales of the landscape, and works on specific thematic areas:
Developing alternatives to generate income is a huge challenge in regions such as Rio Negro, where a complex set of protected areas imposes unique challenges for the implementation of sustainable businesses.
With a scientific basis for sustainable and rational exploitation of diverse natural resources, FVA supports local social groups in strengthening value chains based on the region’s natural resources, such as non-timber forest products (fibers, fruits and oils), agroforestry and family farming products and protected area tourism services (community-based tourism, ecotourism, sport fishing tourism, etc.), among others.
The FVA believes that Amazonian peoples and populations are protagonists of their history and are the defenders of their own rights and territories, requiring the development of specific skills aimed at solving local problems. For the organization and articulation of communities for effective citizen participation, we support processes that strengthen local associations and cooperatives both for the promotion of collective social, environmental and human rights and for the development of regional economies.
FVA believes in education as the basis for the development of a just and equal society. We work with training processes for young people and community leaders, we provide training for public agents in order to improve public policies implementation and we cooperate with municipal education departments to strengthen and innovate in public schools.
Biodiversity conservation and territorial management must be based on solid scientific bases. In a region like the Amazon there is a growing demand for consistent decision-making supporting information. Valuing traditional knowledge, FVA adopts modern technologies, such as geoprocessing, and develops partnerships with research institutions in the Amazon and other regions of the country and abroad.
We develop research in the biological, social and economic areas, which contributes to decision-making processes at different scales: River Basins, Municipalities, Protected Areas, etc. We develop, for example, participatory research methodologies, such as monitoring the use of natural resources, or the of monitoring social and environmental risks at regional and local scales.
Throughout history, development policies in the Amazon have led to environmental problems and few concrete benefits for populations living in the region. FVA seeks to operate in networks of organizations, councils and public committees to contribute to decisions, attitudes and legislations for the advocacy of a public and social paradigm in favor of conserving the environment and improving the quality of life of the inhabitants of the Amazon region.
Based on research and on results of the other Strategic Focuses, we have developed technical analyzes and recommendations for public policies aiming at qualifying public debates on sustainable regional development and improving the institutional legal framework of the federal government, the state and municipalities.