Indigenous peoples should be compensated in return. This article argues for integrating compensation and empowerment into the heart of the research process itself rather than viewing them as post-project undertakings. A strategy to implement RBR based on ethical guidelines and indigenous peoples' empowerment is suggested. The project involved the local communities in documenting their oral knowledge of medicinal plants in a written form, primarily for themselves. But certain cultural settings are better suited to local participation and collective action than others are.
Participation works best when it is based in, rather than in opposition to, existing organizations.
In northeastern Brazil, regional tradition and existing social, economic, and political structures pose strong challenges to horizontal social organization and thus to popular mobilization and participatory development. Although certain democratizing trends have weakened traditional authorities, prior organization still poses challenges, which must be recognized and systematically addressed in policy planning and in project design and implementation. Population growth and increased commercial fishing have led to intense competition and conflict over fishery resources. Conservation can only be successful in these competitive environments when resource management is adapted to solving problems at the local level. The history and organization of the management system is presented with an analysis of the relation between fishing efficiency and specific tenets of the management system.