In August 2007, Funbio, with the support of Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (the acronym in Portuguese, ICMBio), launched the first public notice on Community Participation in the Program Protected Areas of the Amazon Region for the support of projects in the areas around the six full-protection conservation areas in the states of Acre, Amazonas, Rondônia, Tocantins and Pará. Prior to that, in 2006, in the form of a pilot project, and without the delimitations of the public notice, Arpa approved three projects in the area surrounding the National Park of Cutia, in Rondônia. In both cases, the World Bank donated resources for the selected projects.

Of the fifteen projects supported, fourteen are currently underway, executed by small local associations and medium-sized non-government organizations with regional priority action. Two projects will cease their activities in 2009.

All the projects mobilize and organize neighboring communities of the CUs supported by the program, focusing on alternative means of generating sustainable income to ease the burden on the national resources and local biodiversity, but each project focuses on a particular product or service. The direct beneficiaries are men and women, young people and adults, of the river, extractivist and indigenous communities.

Funbio gives technical support to the projects by means of field visits and detailed reports sent periodically to its executors. It is also responsible for providing the financial resources, and an online system facilitates the planning of costs, according to the approved plan of work.

The protected areas that have community projects in the area supported by Arpa are:

Serra do Divisor National Park (AC)
Jaú National Park (AM)
Jaru Biological Reserve (RO)
Corumbiara State Park (RO)
Serra da Cutia National Park (RO)
Cantão State Park (TO)
Trombetas River Biological Reserve (PA)