An iterative learning process of community-based management of a flooded forest in the Brazilian Amazon is approaching a framework that simultaneously benefits biodiversity conservation and local communities.

Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve (MSDR) is located in one of the world’s largest flooded forests and part of the Brazilian Amazon. Annually, the forest floods by roughly 12 meters to the tree tops for a six-month period. This flooded forest is thus not only of extremely high local and global biodiversity value but also of value as a regional floodplain. In 1992, in response to deforestation pressures, the area was designated an Ecological Station which required the complete restriction of human influence on the area. However, within a few years, scientists noted that continued intense pressure from external commercial interests coupled with lack of state means for surveillance and enforcement threatened the longevity and sustainability of the forest area under the strict management scheme. Rather, the involvement of local people in the area’s management was essential to its long-term viability. Therefore, in 1996, the area was re-classified as a Sustainable Development Reserve which allowed residents and legitimate users of the forest to both manage the conservation imperatives of the area and regain access to the benefits and livelihoods they had derived from the forest for generations. Since this designation, the NGO Sociedade Civil Mamirauá (SCM) has worked to develop and implement suitable approaches for carrying out effective conservation while also improving livelihoods of the residents of the area. For example, community fisheries and forestry schemes based on traditional low-impact practices have been devised to ensure sustainable harvesting of these forest resources. One of the greatest innovations of the SCM has been the combination of traditional and indigenous knowledge with modern science and monitoring to bolster sustainable resource management. This has been particularly successful in the management of local fisheries.