Nature protection and environmental conflicts in rural settlements

Abstract

This paper aims at contributing to the debate on contemporary environmental issues in settlement areasin Brazil. Contrary to other works of evaluative and normative character, this work aims at capturing thedynamics of environmental conflicts and the limitations of nature protection actions in agrarian reformareas through the analytical framework of property rights issues and the efforts of the settled families to regulate access to and the use of collectively appropriated resources. Based on research carried outin two settlements located in Paraiba’s semi-arid region, this paper argues that the settlement process oflandless rural workers goes, necessarily, through the reorganization of property rights and the establishment of social arrangements for the effective control of commonly shared resources as a response to thecollapse of latifundium property rights and settlers’ conflicts, both among themselves and with externalactors, regarding the exploitation of natural resources. The work reveals how the contradictions betweenthe effective use of commonly shared resources, and the institutionalized forms of nature protection anddelay in the land distribution, create uncertainties that favor the “tragedy of commons” and hinder theemergence of environmental conservation initiatives.