STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS (SWOT MATRIX) OF TRADITIONAL COMMUNITIES UNDER THE PERSPECTIVE OF ECOLOGICAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL RESILIENCE IN THE PANTANAL BIOSPHERE RESERVE, MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL

Abstract

This study analyzed how the traditional communities of Sesmaria Boa Ventura and Água Branca see and respond to socio-environmental changes and public policies. These communities are located in the municipality of Santo Antônio de Leverger, with a population of 15 and 12 families, respectively, between the rivers Cupim and Água Branca in the inland region of Morrarias São Vicente, with the mouth in the Chacororé–Sinhá Mariana lake system in the Pantanal of the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. The SWOT method (S - strengths, W - weaknesses, O - opportunities, T - threats) served as a guide for the semistructured interviews and data organization, and the Snowball method was used to indicate participants. The participants were born and always lived in the region, had a mean age of 71 years and 73% were male. The communities practice subsistence family farming, their residents have a low education level and social habits. The 15 participants mentioned 19 strengths, 16 weaknesses, 10 opportunities, and 16 threats. The most mentioned strengths were public security (15.48%), and peace and nature (11.90%), The weaknesses were water (18.87%) and food insecurity (15.09%) and deficient health (11.32%). The opportunities were electric power for everyone and the construction of roads (25.71%), construction of schools (17.14%), and health centers (11.43%). The threats were environmental (27.59%) and economic insecurity (13.79%), use of pesticides, and lack of rain (10.34%). The communities responded to weaknesses and threats with adaptations such as building and expanding wells (18.42%), changing the agricultural calendar (15.79%), and using agricultural input (10.53%). Unused traditional ecological knowledge was reincorporated as cultural adaptations in situations of high vulnerability, highlighting oral transmission as a resilience mechanism.