Experiência de extensão universitária em serviço social na Amazônia / Experience of university extension in social work in the Amazon

Este artigo relata a experiência de extensão universitária do Grupo Interdisciplinar de Estudos Socioambientais e de Desenvolvimento de Tecnologias Sociais, da Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM), no "Programa Inter-Ação: práticas de sustentabilidade visando o desenvolvimento regional", no meio urbano e junto a povos e comunidades tradicionais da Amazônia. Os procedimentos metodológicos, baseados no Método Interação (modalidade de pesquisa-ação), abrangem um conjunto de técnicas e instrumentais de coleta de dados: observação participante, grupo focal, dinâmicas de abordagem grupal e outras. O resultado das ações de extensão permitiu: formar competências dinâmicas compromissadas em atuar pelo protagonismo social dos povos amazônidas; fortalecer as organizações dos grupos sociais; disponibilizar subsídios para instituições de políticas públicas com proposições coerentes com os interesses e necessidades dos grupos sociais da região

This article reports the experience of university extension of the Interdisciplinary Group of Socio-environmental Studies and Development of Social Technologies, of the Federal University of Amazonas, in the "Inter-Action Program: sustainability practices aiming at regional development", in the urban environment and with the people and traditional communities in the Amazon. The methodological procedures, based on the Interaction Method (action-research modality), cover a set of data collection techniques and instruments: participant observation, focus group, dynamics of group approach, and others. The result of the extension actions allowed: to form dynamic competences committed to acting for the social protagonism of the Amazonian peoples; strengthen the organizations of social groups; provide subsidies for public policy institutions with propositions that are coherent with the interests and needs of social groups in the region

Local ecological knowledge concerning the invasion of Amerindian lands in the northern Brazilian Amazon by Acacia mangium (Willd.).

INTRODUCTION: Invasive plants can impact biodiversity as well as the lives of native human populations. Natural ecosystems represent sources of natural resources essential for the subsistence and socio-cultural continuity of these social groups. Approximately 30,000 ha of Acacia mangium were planted for commercial purposes in savanna areas surrounding indigenous lands in Roraima State, Brazil, at the end of the 1990s. We examined the local ecological knowledge of indigenous Wapichana and Macuxi Amerindians, members of the Arawak and Carib linguistic families, respectively, concerning A. mangium Willdenow (Fabaceae) in a savanna ecosystem ("Lavrado") to attempt to understand its propagation beyond the limits of the commercial plantations and contribute to mitigating its impacts on socio-ecological systems. METHODS: The present study was undertaken in the Moskow, São Domingos, and Malacacheta communities in the Moskow and Malacacheta Indigenous Lands (ILs) in the Serra da Lua region of Roraima State, in the northern Brazilian Amazon region. Interviews were conducted with a total of 94 indigenous individuals of both sexes, with ages between 18 and 76, and low levels of formal schooling, with an average time of permanence in the area of 21 years; some still spoke only their native languages. The interviews focused on their ecological knowledge of the invasive, non-native A. mangium and their uses of it. RESULTS: The informants affirmed that A. mangium negatively impacted the local fauna and flora, making their subsistence more difficult and altering their daily routines. Among the problems cited were alterations of water quality (71.3%), negative impacts on crops (60.6%), negative impacts on the equilibrium of the local fauna (52.1%), increased farm labor requirements (41.5%), and restriction of access to indigenous lands (23.4%). There were no significant differences between the opinions of men and women, nor between community leaders and nonleaders. Most of the interviewees (89%) felt that A. mangium had no positive importance for the local economy and saw no future prospects of beneficial use. CONCLUSIONS: The Wapichana and Macuxi informants felt that the invasion by A. mangium had caused negative effects on the natural environment and on community subsistence in the indigenous lands due to its rapid and unwanted propagation. The similarity between the opinions of men and women and between community leaders and nonleaders demonstrates the existence of knowledge that is well distributed among these communities and transmitted within their communities through social-cultural interactions.