Activities undertaken: mobilization and sensitization of the community during meetings with the settlers; mapping of local flora and fauna; seminar on natural resource potential in the São Francisco Settlement; visits to other successful initiatives; dissemination of information about the visits to other settlers; 40-hour training course on agroforestry system implementation; development of a promotional video; signing of a letter of commitment for use and occupation of the area in the São Francisco settlement. Self-esteem was boosted in the participants, who learned much about environmental conservation and its importance. Resource management for sustainable production was shown to be feasible and promising, as in the case of agroforestry systems. Fire is hardly ever used anymore, and it is controlled when used by those who still find it necessary. Synthetic chemicals were eliminated from the planting practices, insuring high quality water (which reaches the Paraguai River further down). Deforestation was also reduced to a minimum. Social Technology was an innovation in this project, which seeks to turn gold-diggers into productive forest planters. Some problems faced include the fact that the project aimed at mobilization of the community for implementation of principles, rather than transferring funds to these beneficiaries, which caused skepticism and rejection at first. The project also coincided with a political campaign, which further fueled the skepticism, as many settlers believed the project to have a political agenda. Finally, the use of fire at the time of project execution ? disorderly and illegal at the time ? caused some settlers to fear that the grantee was a group of government environmental agents trying to incriminate the settlers. Visits to individual households for explanation of the proposed activities, united with perseverance on the part of the grantee was a successful means of solving these difficulties. Lessons learned include the importance of exchanging information with other experiences, and the need for the environment to be part of the agrarian reform settlement agenda.