This study analyses how changes in land tenure regime influences the use of forests by small
farmers in the Amazon frontier. The study compared the management practices adopted by
farmers in the past, when they hold a communal area of forest, with the practices adopted
after the creation of a settlement with each family holding individual plots. Specifically the
research focused on changes in access to hunt and in use of slash-and-burn agriculture, both
fundamental activities to farmer’s economies. The research was carried out in Santa Maria
Community, part of Olho D’Água settlement, in the municipality of Moju, State of Pará,
Brazil. The research was conduced between May and July 2008 and included literature review
and interviews with local farmers during the field research. The study revealed significant
reduction in capture of hunt by local farmers given to restricted access to hunting areas which
are now privet and also given to higher demand caused by the increasing number of settled
families. As hunt is no longer abundant, farmers intensified slash-and-burn agriculture as a
source of food as well as cash income for buying meet in local markets. It is expected that
such study fill the gap regarding the lack of researches in the Northern Pará's settlements,
especially the relations that the locals have established with the forest in the changes of
property regimes.
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