Sociobioeconomia amazônica: entre a inovação científica e os saberes tradicionais no enfrentamento da crise socioecológica

Abstract

The Amazon, a territory of extraordinary biological and cultural diversity, currently stands as a battleground for intense disputes between development models. This thesis critically investigates sociobioeconomy as an alternative proposal to the hegemonic paradigm, articulating traditional knowledge, scientific innovation, and ecological justice. Starting from the recognition of the historical marginalization of Indigenous and traditional peoples—recurrent targets of territorial, epistemological, and symbolic expropriation—the research proposes a situated, interdisciplinary, and transformative approach. It dialogues with the foundations of the ecology of knowledge, environmental rationality, and Buen Vivir, repositioning the forest’s collective subjects as protagonists of the ecological transition. A qualitative methodology inspired by action research was adopted, using the Interação modality and supported by interviews with Indigenous leaders, community representatives, and researchers active in Amazonian territories. Thematic content analysis revealed key categories such as reciprocity, autonomy, regeneration, territoriality, and inclusive innovation. The results demonstrate that, although still incipient, sociobioeconomy represents a promising path to break with the extractivist and neocolonial logic by promoting economic circuits rooted in sustainable forms of using sociobiodiversity, ensuring the protagonism of traditional peoples. However, the research also highlights persistent barriers to the realization of sociobioeconomy, such as the fragmentation between scientific and traditional knowledge, the scarcity of specific legal instruments, and the symbolic capture of narratives by official discourses, which often obscure land conflicts, threats to territorial integrity, and the self-determination of traditional peoples. By integrating the debate on public policies, legal frameworks, and epistemologies of the South, the thesis reaffirms the urgency of regenerative models capable of keeping the forest alive with its peoples and contributing to the construction of plural, just, and bioculturally rooted futures in the Amazon.