Brazil has created an innovative conservation unit called an Extractive Reserve, which has significant potential for demonstrating the feasibility of sustainable development in tropical rainforests and other threatened ecosystems. Based on a progressive socio-economic concept that was developed by Chico Mendes and the National Council of Rubber Tappers, Brazil`s Extractive Reserves are lands owned by the Federal Government which are set aside for the exclusive use of the rubber tappers or other traditional residents of the area. Although the Extractive Reserves were originally designed to provide a stable livelihood for Brazil`s rubber tappers, achieving these socio-economic goals also requires that...
