This thesis aims to understand the dilemmas affecting the Socioecological System of Jalapão
in Tocantins, Brazil, contemplating environmental and community variables concerning the
development of its regional space. The research methods were based on the search for an
understanding how the development process is structured in a complex way in the studied
region. In the thesis, Jalapão, a geographic construction, is (trans)formed in a predominantly
ecological region with innumerable challenges due to the (dis)continuities of development
projects implemented or, still, due to the vulnerabilities that mark environmental,
socioeconomic and cultural aspects of the livelihoods of the Jalapoeiro people. The main
results of the research demonstrate that historical events coupled with the transformations
occurred in Jalapão allowed to identify three disturbances that affected the ecological region:
the creation of the conservation units, the tourist activity and the agribusiness.
Simultaneously, these disorders lead to understand the multiple relationships that the
Jalapoeiro people had to adapt to the use and control of the land, either through the connection
with nature and their sense of belonging to the place, or through the community and social
reproduction relationship of families in the new local economic dynamics. It observed that,
for the local actors, the conditioning factors that demonstrate the vulnerabilities are also
perceived as determining factors and presented as instruments of development, that is, they
result in dilemmas regarding the studied region. The capacity of the Socioecological System
to endure and absorb these shocks has shown that social change is a relevant characteristic for
community resilience and, therefore, needs to be considered in the whole system. Bearing in
mind the uncertainties and risks that permeate the Jalapoeiro people, the study also
contributes to thinking about development alternatives in regions where the social
organization of local actors becomes an alternative to strengthen the community's resilience
and face the dilemmas that affect regions considered ecological.
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