Territorialidade e conflito ambiental: monocultura de palma versus comunidades remanescentes de quilombo no vale do Acará (PA)

Abstract

The research aims to analyze the environmental conflicts arising from the expansion of oil palm cultivation and the demarcation/titling of quilombola territories in the Pará Amazon. Despite advances in public policy on the environment and territorial planning, implemented based on guaranteeing the constitutional right to quilombo remnants, with the State of Pará preceding all others in recognizing the first quilombo in Brazil, in 1995, the study observed the decrease in the issuance of titles after the approval of the ecological-economic zoning for oil palm, starting in 2010. The theoretical framework of the research was outlined based on the literature on territorial management, quilombos territory and territoriality, territorial planning and conflicts environmental. Methodologically, the work followed a case study, as a strategy to understand questions of “how” and “why” the contemporary social phenomenon under study develops. The lengthy titling process is part of the context of the specific case analyzed, with the exposure of the problems faced by the quilombos community, located on the banks of the Acará River, on the border of the municipalities of Acará and Thailand, in the search for recognition and titling of the area in question. Dispute with palm oil company, which exemplifies the perennial conflicts in the Amazon between environmental public policies and economic development.