THE TRANSESCALAR MANAGEMENT OF PROTECTED AREAS IN AMAPA AND NORTH OF PARA AND EFFECTIVE OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

This paper aims to organize the available information about joint management arrangements for protected areas in the Guyana Plateau Region and in the Northern Corridor of Amazonia, especially in the states Amapa and North Para. The paper discusses the existing opportunities that allow communities representatives, especially those who are members of Conservation Units management councils to know and to understand those arrangements. The purpose is to analyze if the form those proposals are presented to the population allows any sociopolitical influences, since there exist public policies and laws which could regulate and equalize these relationships. Three ongoing initiatives in this area ( corridor, block and mosaic) are analyzed and the conclusion is that there are few opportunities for the inclusion of community representatives on proposals, such as those led by the big conservation NGOs. The greatest inclusion of community representatives can be observed in a mosaic proposal produced by an indigenous NGO with public funding, since there were used tools which seek to create opportunities allowing actuallyunderstanding and real participation.