Puxirão dos Povos Faxinalenses Group

Defining together with state and municipal authorities an agenda that enforces compliance with state and municipal laws to create and maintain the Aresurs (Special Areas of Regulated Use) and the due transfer of resources from the Ecological ICMS to the Faxinalenses communities.

• Hold a seminar to present the project and mobilize groups to elaborate a work strategy.
• Provide capacity training workshops.
• Confront institutional violence.

Despite the achievements made at the state level by the Faxinalense communities that make up the Puxirão dos Povos Faxinalenses group, these communities face problems that can be classified into two fields of institutional violence: 1) State Scope – resistance and disregard by the Environmental Institute of Paraná (IAP) to create new ARESURs in the Faxinalense areas which have been demanded by the communities; and 2) Municipal scope – violation of laws and rights by the municipal management, by not transferring the financial resources related to Ecological ICMS to traditional communities or by just transferring a small part of it.

In 2005, in the municipality of Irati, the First State Meeting of the Faxinalense People was held and the “Puxirão dos Povos Faxinalenses” group was organized, which was later included in the “Puxirão Network of Traditional Peoples and Communities”. The group was created to politically organize the Faxinalense communities and propose ways to build their identity and strategies to resist the violations of rights caused by the state’s omission. The main achievements of the Puxirão of the Faxinalense Peoples group were: 1) A mapping of several communities that made visible their traditional practices, as well as their resistance efforts and demands; 2) Regulation of new Aresurs (Special Areas of Regulated Use), recognizing the importance of the collective use of the Faxinalense territory in the promotion of biodiversity; 4) Conducting trainings on Ethnic and Collective Rights, discussing their rights as a traditional community, which are guaranteed by legal apparatus; 6) Approval of State Law 15,673 / 2007, which establishes the recognition of the Faxinalense identity and their community agreements.