Over five years, between 2005 and 2010, Floresta Viva developed two programs aimed at strengthening rural communities living within the territory of this Environmental Protection Area, seeking to disseminate alternatives that generate income without having to cut down the forest, such as sustainable tourism.

1) With funding from the Ministry of Environment, it carried out an Environmental Demonstration Projects (PDA for its acronym in Portuguese), in which it worked with technical assistance on agroecology and ecotourism in rural communities, in addition to having supported the development of the Itacaré organic fair (between 2005 and 2007)

2) The program, with IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) support, also contributed to improve agronomic production and productive inclusion of rural communities, mainly with the production and sale of organic products. The IFV provided advice for the creation of social associations. One of the main results was the creation of Embaúba (Association of Organic Producers of APA Itacaré/Serra Grande), in 2007.