TRADITIONAL COMMUNITIES WEAVING TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT: THREE EXPERIENCES OF INTERACTIONS BETWEEN SOCIO-BIODIVERSITY, MARKETS, PUBLIC POLICIES AND COLLECTIVE ACTION

Since the 1990s, the state of Amapa has invested in sustainable territorial development based on the economic valorisation of sociobiodiversity products, the recognition of the knowledge associated with these resources and held by traditional populations and communities (PCT). This model of endogenous development occurred in synergy with global dynamics in Brazilian federal policy, as well as in global markets. The article questions the role of several factors starting with the role of traditional populations in the success of the acai market, which today is recognized as a catalyst for sustainable territorial development. Based on a reflexive analysis of three experiences in different parts of the state (Mazagao, Bailique, Oiapoque), the authors show different strategies relating traditional populations to the market according to their proximity (geographical and social) and degree of collective organization. Strategies in which public or private funding instruments are needed and mobilised in different ways (PGPM-Bio in riverside communities near the capital, PNGATI in indigenous lands, private funds in riverside communities in Bailique), in order to reinforce internal social dynamics. The informality still strongly weakens the position of the traditional populations and communities in all links of the chain, but opens spaces for consolidation of local markets, and thus food sovereignty.