Adaptive management under uncertainty: sustained participatory management of endemic species in Brazilian Cerrado

Summary

Given land-use change threatening both biodiversity and traditional extractive livelihoods since 2004, an action research process in Minas Gerais (Brazil) has focused on the management of two endemic species: the giant earthworm Rhinodrilus alatus and the pequi tree Caryocar brasiliense . Socio-ecological assessments, ecological field surveys and market analyses generated the evidence that extractivists and public institutions used to negotiate management agreements. Despite more than a decade of institutional uncertainty and the absence of formal regulation, local actors maintained voluntary harvesting restrictions, including a closed season during the reproductive period. Ecological evidence supported reassessing the conservation status of R. alatus , enabling discussions on regulated sustainable use. To address seasonal income losses, we developed a community-based pequi processing initiative that aligns livelihood activities with ecological cycles. Over two decades, sustained collaboration, co-produced knowledge and livelihood diversification reduced conflict, strengthened local organization and supported adaptive management under legal uncertainty. This demonstrates that long-term participatory processes can sustain conservation outcomes and reconcile biodiversity conservation with rural livelihoods in socially and biologically diverse landscapes.