Nature conservation policies in different countries are increasingly linked to global ecological decision making. Examples of such linkages abound, and range from priorities and policy objectives defined in international forums and institutions to the action of global environmentally concerned NGOs, to global environmental and sustainable development funds and programmes, and new economic opportunities represented by emerging markets for global ecological services and environmental commodities. These policies often clash with the needs and rights of different populations, since the implementation of man-excluding protected areas is given priority over other models of biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. Brazil is no exception to this rule: today, nature conservation policies are entering in direct conflict with policies preserving indigenous people’s rights to cultural difference. This is happening at different levels, and in several different local contexts, from the Atlantic to the Amazon and the Guyana Shield regions. Global policy priorities and funding can contribute to explain these conflicts, as the global ecological link contributes to redefine national and local political relations. The case of Mount Roraima National Park, overlapping with the Raposa-Serra do Sol Indigenous Land, illustrates how conservation policies based on man exclusion, such as National Parks, conceived and implemented in a top-down fashion, stimulate pre-existing political and land rights conflicts. Approached through a different angle, this case also indicates a possible way to viable solutions. By talking, canoeing and walking with the Ingariko Indians across the Serra do Sol, their own cultural ecological perspective can be perceived as a fundamental element in natural resource conservation. Adopting the indians' cultural perspective to elucidate their effective rules for the use and management of natural resources can be the starting point to develop and implement ecologically effective and socially beneficial management plans. Re-directing global willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation to indigenous peoples would contribute to make that happen.
conservation policies; indigenous peoples; NGOs; Roraima; Brazil
