This paper analyzes the assumed opposition between traditional populations and the natural resources conservation needs, evaluating critically the characteristics of the effective environmental preservation policies in Brazil, centered on the creation of Conservation Units of a restrictive character regarding human occupation. In order to overcome the misunderstandings of this model, the paper proposes another path: that of the inclusion of the rural populations perspective in the conservation concept and of the investment in the recognition of their identity, in the legitimation of their knowledge, in the improvement of their life conditions, and in the guarantee of their participation in the construction of a politics of conservation in which they are also benefitted.
environmental politics; units of conservation; indigenous populations; traditional populations