Percepção ambiental em uma unidade de conservação de proteção integral

Abstract

The end of the last century is marked by social-environmentalists and preservationists conflicts and by the race for deployments of units of conservation as a means of seeking to preserve, occasionally, natural areas and their resources. In the twenty-first century, the need for a more efficient management of natural resources becomes increasingly evident and a reflection on the establishment of protected areas of human actions becomes increasingly severe. Researches have pointed to the importance of investigative environmental perception since the 1970s, highlighted the proposal of UNESCO in 1973, through the program “Man and Biosphere”, in which the conception of the different analysis of environmental perceptions of different actors is highlighted as a major relevance in the construction of strategies and tools for environmental management. The debate around the environmental theme is not neutral and reflects primarily the interests of different social groups. In this perspective, this study aimed to analyze the environmental perception of different groups of actors in the Wildlife Refuge of Pandeiros, full protection unit, located in North of Minas Gerais state: Governing Body; operating institutions; Researchers and residents of local communities. To achieve the research objectives, we chose that method of analysis of environmental perception based primarily at the junction of three approaches as the geographer Anne Whyte (1977): observation, listening and questioning. The interrogation includes interviews that were guided by a semi-structured questionnaire, with closed questions and a predominance of open questions. The approach emphasizes concerning aspects to the: Profile of the interviewee, meanings, expectations, values assigned to the Conservation Unit, actions and attitudes towards the environment and the relationships between the active groups. For analysis of the interviews was used content analysis. The results show that the different perceptions analyzed reorganized into two rationales for the differences and similarities: a group of residents of local communities and the rationality of the groups of researchers, agency manager and staff representatives of institutions working in Revis. Regard to relations, the results point to a disconnection between the groups belonging to two rationales, limited, inefficient or no involvement from residents in the process of establishment and management of UC, thus providing conflicting relations, and point to the necessity and possibility of openness to a more democratic management of the protected area.