In Vao Grande, the Rio Jauquara Popular Committee is working to protect the Jauquara River and the lives and livelihoods of the area’s Afro-Brazilian Quilombola community. Organised with the support the Wetlands without Borders network in 2018, the committee has successfully halted the construction of a small dam on the Jauquara river and set up a consultation protocol which serves as a model for other committees.
Mapping the territory
The community-based organisation PesquisAção, together with Wetlands without Borders network members Fé e Vida and Escola de Ativismo, have been working with the Quilombola community of Vão Grande to ensure their rights are respected. Through workshops and legal education, the community learned about their rights under Indigenous and traditional peoples, including their right to be consulted about projects and decisions that affect their territory, known as the right to Consultation and Free, Prior and Informed Consent, or FPIC.
After successfully fighting a proposed dam on the Jauquara river, which the Quilombola community had not been consulted about and was opposed to, the Rio Jauquara Popular Committee took action to prevent potentially harmful projects in the future. They decided that it was important to explain to outsiders how to consult their people, thus defining whether a given consultation is valid or not.
With the support of the Wetlands without Borders network, the community developed its own formal Consultation and Consent Protocol. As part of the protocol, the community engaged in mapping exercises to identify the places where they live, prayer houses, schools and soccer fields as well as natural areas of importance for their community, such as streams and those with medicinal plants.
With the support of the Wetlands without Borders network, the Rio Jauquara Popular Committee developed its own formal Consultation and Consent Protocol.
As part of the protocol, the community engaged in mapping exercises.
Formal launch of the protocol
On October 14, 2023, on the inauguration of the Month of the Paraguay River , the Consultation and Consent Protocol for the Quilombola Territory of Vão Grande was officially launched – the result of years of work. The event was attended by local and state officials. Going forward, the protocol will serve as a vital tool for the community. It can be used in advocacy with government agencies and institutions and ensure greater bargaining power for communities in their efforts to prevent construction of dams and other harmful projects in their region. The Consultation and Consent Protocol must be respected when decisions are taken – either by the government or companies – that affect Vão Grande. This work has had some outcomes, for example currently the community is using the protocol to prevent the closure of their local school by the education board.
Through the Wetlands without Border network, the protocol is being shared across the La Plata Basin. It serves as a valuable model for other communities and a vital tool for protecting this unique ecosystem, their culture, lives and livelihoods.
