This article analyses the process of creation and protection of conservation units in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. This effort has received financial and policy support from the World Bank through different programs of regional development since the 1980s. Based upon a discussion about the key role played by conservation units in the preservation of Amazonian ecosystems, the article reviews the main limitations, of both institutional and human capital aspects, that undermine environmental conservation efforts like the one carried out in Rondônia. A specific discussion is made about persistent road construction as a regional development tool and its negative impacts on conservation units plus Indian and extractive reserves. The article concludes that large investments in restructuring governmental agencies and top-down approaches for public participation do not guarantee the effective creation and protection of conservation units. A suggestion presented to improve the performance of conservation efforts is the involvement of local communities and civil society organizations in all levels and phases of the environmental conservation process.
Amazon; conservation units; Rondônia; World Bank; roads; local communities
