Farmers, attention: science needs you!
Often, we have the impression that science is something that only happens inside laboratories and in universities, far from the reality of rural workers. However, local and traditional knowledge is very important for the success of science. Understand more about it!
Posted on 29/01/2020
Did you know that subproject 05 of the Brumadinho UFMG Project provides the hiring of bushmen and farmers, residents of the region, to assist in field activities? This participation will be essential for the opening of the linear transects (that is, the trails) through which the teams will have access to the workplace.
All trails will be planned in advance, and will be open before the animal capture efforts carried out by the teams. Ideally, the trails are not too wide, just enough for the traps to be positioned. However, it is important that they are very clean to facilitate the visualization of footprints and other marks that animals are likely to leave when crossing there.
Project 05 foresees the capture of wild animals of different taxa (reptiles, amphibians, birds, terrestrial mammals and chiropterans, better known as bats) for the non-lethal collection of samples for toxicological analysis, that is, the researchers will install traps in the forest to capture different animals and then collect small amounts of hair, feathers, blood, feces and urine. This work will be done with great care to prevent animals from getting hurt: no animals will be killed to collect the materials.
For this reason, it is very important that the professional responsible for opening the trails be careful, know the region well and be able to clear the path without injuring the animals that live there, mainly because in the research locations live species at risk of extinction.
Despite having scientific knowledge, it is very common that researchers do not know the region of study well, and that they do not have the technical skills to perform some functions that are essential for the progress of investigations. Meanwhile, the rural worker, raised in the region, is the most qualified professional to carry them out. The example of subproject 05 shows how important it is to combine different knowledge and skills in order to achieve a common goal.
In 2015, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defended the combination of traditional knowledge and scientific knowledge for the prevention of environmental disasters. That year, the director-general of the organization said that one cannot ignore the knowledge available, and that it is necessary to integrate experiences, wherever they are found. The local knowledge and traditional practices of the riverside, indigenous, quilombola population, which are usually transmitted from parents to their children, which are built through observation of the region over decades, are very important for reducing the risk of disasters and for the recovery of areas affected by them.
In the event of a tragedy such as the Brumadinho dam rupture, which occurred two years ago, the entire ecosystem involved may have been affected. When mining tailings hit a river like Paraopeba, the impact can affect regions far from the focus of the disaster, and the first people to feel the change in their lives are those who live on the river bank and depend on it. Therefore, the participation of the population is fundamental for the success of subproject 05, for the entire Brumadinho UFMG Project and for the preservation of nature as we know it.