The community demand identified around the Mamori River, through interactions established in the project Promoting Governance and Transparency in the BR-319 Region (funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, 2019–2025), combined with FGVces’s experience in local development programs addressing governance and monitoring of fishing territories under the Independent Territorial Monitoring Network (funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation since 2020), led FGVces to develop the project “Fisheries Agreements as an Instrument for Participatory and Effective Management of Biodiversity Resources,” funded by the Tinker Foundation.

With an 18-month duration (July 2023 – December 2024), the project had two main objectives:

1. To build, through participatory methods, an evaluation process for the Mamori River Fisheries Agreement and design a model for its territorial monitoring;
2. To produce policy recommendations for improving public policies related to fisheries agreements in the Brazilian Amazon.

To achieve these goals, the project was structured around three main axes:

• Axis 1: Collective construction through community engagement in workshops and meetings to evaluate the Mamori River Fisheries Agreement and design a monitoring model for it.
• Axis 2: A research component focused on identifying best practices in fisheries agreements across the Amazon. Based on literature review, consultations, and interviews with experts and policymakers—especially in the state of Amazonas—the study mapped the historical evolution of fisheries agreements as a territorial management instrument and analyzed current challenges.
• Axis 3: Institutional outreach to governmental and non-governmental actors to raise awareness about the importance of fisheries agreements as tools for territorial governance, with particular attention to the Mamori region.

Beyond progress in these areas, the activities around the Mamori Agreement evaluation led community members, users, and local authorities to mobilize more actively for its revision. With FGVces’s support—through assemblies, documentation of activities, and preparation of a draft Normative Instruction—the Fisheries Agreement Review Committee formally submitted a request for revision to SEMA/AM in August 2025.

The expectation is that the New Fisheries Agreement will contribute effectively to strengthening fisheries governance in the Mamori River and to valuing the ways of life of local communities.

FGV São Paulo School of Business Administration (FGV EAESP)

FGV Center for Sustainability Studies (FGVces)

Researchers: Kena Chaves/ Samir Eid

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