Direct management of public forest in the Brazilian Amazon: a critical analysis based on the case of the Antimary State Forest, state of Acre

Abstract

The paper deals with direct management of public forests in the Brazilian Amazon, particularly on the state of Acre. It takes as case study the Antimary State Forest. Based on an historical-descriptive methodology, the paper rebuilds the sociopolitical movementof Acre which culminated in the proposition for creation of forest reserves for local communities’ direct management. The paper analyzes the managing experience of Antimary and its contributions to the public forest management, particularly to the method called “forest direct management”. The article demonstrates that forest use held in Antimary cannot be considered direct management in all its essence. The state adopts a pattern of forest use that does not fit in the Brazilian environmental legislation and consequently there are not defined regulatory mechanisms for positive outcomes. The Antimary experience shows that many challenges still threaten the direct management as method of management to public forests.