Research that features participation and action orientation, such as participatory action research (PAR), is especially valuable in contexts where there is rapid change, high social inequality, and great uncertainty about the future, which drives stakeholder demands for information to support their goals. The Amazon offers such a context, for it is a region where diverse stakeholders engage in contestation over environmental governance to address issues such as climate change to achieve conservation and sustainable development. Stakeholder mobilization has changed the terms by which research is conducted, from the definition of priority topics to the application of findings. Due to stakeholder mobilization, more and more research in the Amazon is now necessarily participatory, for stakeholders routinely issue demands about how the research will be conducted and for what purpose. In this paper, we provide an overview of several experiences of implementing methods such as PAR by different teams or networks, focusing on the complementary contributions of outside researchers and local stakeholders. The heart of the paper reports on three broad types of experiences focusing on conservation and development in the Amazon: (1) participatory data collection for co-production of knowledge for environmental governance, (2) inclusive environmental monitoring systems, and (3) innovative models of knowledge exchange to facilitate collective action. Within each type, we report multiple experiences with distinct approaches to participation and action in research. These experiences constitute models that can be replicated in other places for broader impact to support conservation and development.

The Amazon region has been viewed as a source of economic growth based on extractive industry and large-scale infrastructure development endeavors, such as roads, dams, oil and gas pipelines and mining. International and national policies advocating for the development of the Amazon often conflict with the environmental sector tasked with conserving its unique ecosystems and peoples through a sustainable development agenda. New practices of environmental governance can help mitigate adverse socio-economic and ecological effects. For example, forming a “community of practice and learning” (CoP-L) is an approach for improving governance via collaboration and knowledge exchange. The Governance and Infrastructure in the Amazon (GIA) project, in which this study is embedded, has proposed that fostering a CoP-L on tools and strategies to improve infrastructure governance can serve as a mechanism to promote learning and action on factors related to governance effectiveness. A particular tool used by the GIA project for generating and sharing knowledge has been participatory mapping (Pmap). This study analyzes Pmap exercises conducted through workshops in four different Amazonian regions. The goal of Pmap was to capture different perspectives from stakeholders based on their experiences and interests to visualize and reflect on (1) areas of value, (2) areas of concern and (3) recommended actions related to reducing impacts of infrastructure development and improvement of governance processes. We used a mixed-methods approach to explore textual analysis, regional multi-iteration discussion with stakeholders, participatory mapping and integration with ancillary geospatial datasets. We believe that by sharing local-knowledge-driven data and strengthening multi-actor dialogue and collaboration, this novel approach can improve day to day practices of CoP-L members and, therefore, the transparency of infrastructure planning and good governance.

There is an extensive literature on environmental governance, which refers to multi-stakeholder processes to arrive at collective decisions about how natural resources will be managed.

Sabo, A. N., M. Arteaga, A. B. Chavez Michaelsen, C. De Oliveira Jordão, S. Ferreira da Fonseca Junior, V. Luna-Celino, P. Montero Alvarez, and S. Perz. 2022. The wisdom of hindsight: a comparative analysis of timelines of environmental governance of infrastructure across the Pan-Amazon. Ecology and Society 27(1):28. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12683-270128

La cuenca del Amazonas se extiende por ocho países y un territorio de ultramar, abarcando más de 100 unidades políticas subnacionales, cada una con trayectorias históricas, patrimonio cultural y características ecológicas únicas. Este capítulo examina las dimensiones ecológica, hidrológica y sociocultural de la conectividad, proporcionando un marco para evaluar la salud ambiental y la resiliencia de la región y sus habitantes, al tiempo que evidencia medidas clave para su mejora. Los enfoques de conservación que reconocen las tres dimensiones son esenciales. Por ejemplo, las áreas protegidas (AP) siguen siendo un enfoque de conservación clave, pero su eficacia depende de la integración con los paisajes circundantes. Aquí nos centramos en la conservación transfronteriza, que requiere la cooperación a través de las fronteras nacionales e internacionales, incluido el intercambio de información, la comunicación, la consulta, la acción coordinada y la aplicación conjunta de decisiones. La gobernanza transfronteriza es esencial para gestionar recursos compartidos como masas de agua y corredores de áreas protegidas en este complejo contexto de objetivos contrapuestos e interacciones a múltiples escalas. A pesar de los complejos retos, la conservación transfronteriza ofrece una vía para abordar las prácticas insostenibles, reforzar la resiliencia ecológica y apoyar a las comunidades vulnerables. Su éxito, sin embargo, depende de enfoques integradores que tengan en cuenta el seguimiento indígena y local, así como el intercambio equitativo de datos. Sin embargo, la capacidad de gobernanza en la región amazónica, así como los esfuerzos hacia una planificación territorial concertada y unos sistemas de datos coordinados, siguen siendo insuficientes. Como se afirma en la Declaración de Belém, la gobernanza transfronteriza en la Amazonia debe tener en cuenta tanto a los pueblos indígenas (PI) y las comunidades locales (CL) como a la gobernanza medioambiental institucional. La conservación transfronteriza presenta numerosas oportunidades para la gobernanza transfronteriza y la cooperación regional, el empoderamiento de los PI y las CL, la mejora de las condiciones socioambientales y la promoción de la conservación y el seguimiento con base científica. La conservación transfronteriza es más necesaria que nunca y requiere una gobernanza conjunta basada en el respeto de la soberanía nacional y guiada por una visión integrada que conecte las AP, los territorios indígenas y los paisajes productivos, garantizando la continuidad funcional de este ecosistema vital para el planeta.