The TED will use the “Sisteminha” method from the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), which integrates various activities such as chicken and fish farming, composting, vermicomposting, and growing various vegetables and fruits with significant water savings and environmental protection.
Each initial module will be composed of a small photovoltaic plant that will provide energy autonomy through a converter capable of measuring the clean energy generated. In total, 31 photovoltaic plants will be installed, benefiting around 150 quilombola families.
The project is part of the implementation of the National Policy for Quilombola Territorial and Environmental Management (PNGTAQ), whose objective is to strengthen the governance and environmental and territorial management mechanisms carried out by quilombola communities.
Regarding Alcântara, the initiative foresees the elaboration of local plans for territorial management, aimed at the participatory construction of public policy planning in the quilombola communities of the municipality until 2025. To this end, 23 scholarships will be offered for quilombola students to work on the development of the project with the coordination teams and in the production of Quilombola Territorial and Environmental Management Plans with the communities. A committee will be created with the participation of IFMA, the Ministry of Racial Equality, and the representative quilombola entities of Alcântara.
Territorial titling
Minister of Racial Equality Anielle Franco attended the event after the decision of the representative entities of the quilombola communities of Alcântara to withdraw from the Interministerial Working Group (GTI) to address the territorial titling of the communities at the end of January. Created in April last year, the group aims to find a solution to the deadlock between the quilombola communities and the Alcântara Space Base, which has been ongoing for 40 years.
The Aeronautics, which commands the base, wants to expand the territory from 8.7 thousand hectares to 21.3 thousand hectares, encroaching on quilombola territory.
The communities are opposed to the movement. The entities argue that there has been no presentation of any economic viability study showing “the real economic advantages generated by the aforementioned space privatization policy to be developed from Alcântara and which, according to the government, would require the expansion of the Space Base. They also point out that the expansion will affect at least 27 quilombola communities along the coast, affecting around two thousand people.
“Our main agenda, full titling of the quilombola ethnic territory of Alcântara. That’s our biggest collective. This is what we seek, this is what we have been seeking with the federal government when we go to Brasília,” said Dorinete Serejo Moraes, general coordinator of the Affected by the Alcântara Base Movement (Mabe).
The Attorney General’s Office, responsible for coordinating the work of the GTI, said it is in contact with quilombola entities and is seeking to convince the community representatives to return to the group. According to the department, “maintaining dialogue among all actors involved continues to represent the best possibility of finding convergence between the proposals under discussion, as well as a definitive solution that reconciles the legitimate aspirations of territorial titling with the preservation and development of the Brazilian space program.”
The entities do not rule out the possibility of reconsidering the withdrawal from the GTI, but affirm that the Brazilian government must offer fair and balanced conditions for the debate and, “mainly, make available technical and scientific studies that allow the communities to form opinions and make decisions based on real and concrete data, as well as present the planned actions.”
During the launch of the TED, the minister made an appeal for the entities to return to the GTI. According to Anielle, only the entities have the authority to speak for the communities.
“No one can speak for you, the speech has to be yours, the construction has to be collective and with you,” she said. “This [the solution to the conflict] will not be built only by us, it has to be built with all hands. It is impossible to make any policy without you present, speaking the primary and emergency demands of this place because you are the ones who know. Next year, when the ministerial groups begin and we manage to sit down with the Base, with the FAB, and with everyone we need, so that we can listen and, from there, have a more concrete way forward, we know it is progress. We are talking about 40 years ago, we know it won’t be easy, it hasn’t been easy for us, it has never been easy, but we need to be together, I believe a lot in collective struggle,” the minister added.
The launch event was also attended by the Ministers of Agrarian Development, Paulo Teixeira, and the Attorney General of the Union, Jorge Messias, as well as the state governor, Carlos Brandão, the chief of Embrapa Cocais, Marco Bomfim, and the rector of IFMA, Carlos César Teixeira Ferreira.
