Abstract
We examine the ongoing transformation of the livestock raising component of a complex agrosilvopastoral management system associated with the Geraizeiro of northern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Increasing droughts and regional climate change, associated with large-scale corporate enclosures of upland rangelands and conversion to eucalyptus plantations for industrial charcoal production have undermined solta, a customary form of extensive cattle raising and centerpiece of Geraizeiro lifeways. In response, farmers are adapting and transforming another, more intense form of livestock raising associated with managed agroforestry in lower-lying areas, manga. Using a social-ecological systems approach and drawing on extensive interviews and ecological inventories, we consider such changes within the overall integrity of the system, suggesting the need to reconsider the role of the Geraizeiros and their use of cattle and fire as a potentially useful tool in reconciling livelihoods and conservation, particularly amidst accelerating social and environmental change and the concomitant threats to the savanna biocultural biome.
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Data Availability
The datasets developed and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Notes
The Brazilian Forestry Code requires the designation of 20 % of rural land in the Cerrado to be preserved, with strict limitations imposed on use and management (Brazil, 2012).
The Assentamento Agroextrativista is a modality of land reform specifically aimed at traditional communities whose livelihoods are centered on agrosilvopastoral and forest-based extractivism.
Manejo de Plantas do Cerrado: Subsídios técnicos para Políticas Públicas, Uso Sustentável e Conservação da Biodiversidade (Embrapa/TFCA/FUNBIO). Field data was collected by the main author as part of her doctoral fieldwork.
Between 2012 and 2015 the main author and members of her team spent an average of ten days every two months in Americana, conducting fieldwork and participating in many aspects of daily life, including harvesting and processing native fruits and crops, and attending community meetings.
The concept of adaptability refers to people’s ability to engender resilience through their actions, whereas transformability refers to their capacity to create a new system when the previous one becomes untenable (Folke, 2016).
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge all farmers of the Americana Settlement, especially Maria Elei N. Souza (in memorian), Aparecido (A) Souza, João Altino Neto and Cristovino F. Neto. Embrapa Cenargen provided technical and logistic support. Aelton (B) Giroldo, Juarez P. Amaral, José M. Mendonça, Nilton F. Barbosa, João Benedito, Pedro Vasconcelos and Elisa Pereira helped with fieldwork. We appreciate the revision and valuable contributions by Bruno Ubiali, Igor H. Carvalho, and three anonymous reviewers.
Funding
This research was funded by Funbio/TFCA and the Bem Diverso Project (Embrapa/GEF/UNDP). ILPL received fellowships from CNPq and CAPES.
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Lima, I.L.P., Alexiades, M.N. & Scariot, A. Livestock Management Within a Traditional Agrosilvopastoral System in Northern Minas Gerais, Brazil: A Model for Reconciling Livelihoods and Conservation at a Time of Environmental Change. Hum Ecol 50, 183–193 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-021-00281-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-021-00281-6