Percepção ambiental de diferentes grupos sociais sobre a Reserva Biológica de Saltinho, Pernambuco

Abstract

Conflicts between management and populations around Conservation Units are one of the risks found for the maintenance of biodiversity in protected areas. By understanding the environmental perceptions of surrounding communities UCs can understand the man-nature relationship. In this context, the present study aimed to identify the environmental perception of different social groups in the surroundings of the Saltinho Biological Reserve, Tamandaré-PE, in order to know positive and negative aspects, environmental problems and impacts, potential risks and the importance of UC to the maintenance of local biodiversity and the quality of life of the surrounding population. To this end, 115 participants were randomly selected, representing 30% of the components of the four groups of social actors, being: 1. Students from three groups of the third year of the High School Reference School of Tamandaré; 2. Teachers of these classes; 3. Residents of the Brejo, Mascatinho and Laranjeiras settlements, located near ReBio; 4. Members of the Unit Management Board. Data collection was done through semi-structured interviews, with open and closed questions. The relative frequencies were calculated, for open questions the data were categorized and analyzed by the Content Analysis methodology, and for the perception about the environment the answers were classified by anthropocentric, naturalistic and globalizing conceptions. The main results were the predominance of environmental perceptions in naturalistic and globalizing visions. The participants recognize the importance of the existence of the UC for conservation / preservation of natural resources. The most cited environmental problems and impacts in the surroundings of the UC were deforestation, illegal hunting and burning, considered the main risks for the maintenance of the UC, the coexistence with the detected problems annoys more than 80% of the interviewees in all the groups for influencing in the quality of life of the population. The population is singled out as primarily responsible for the emergence of environmental problems by the majority of students, teachers and settlers, while the government is primarily responsible for the counselors. Observed the predominance of knowledge about the existence of the Saltinho Biological Reserve with a percentage greater than 58% in all the groups, although they can not conceptualize the category of Biological Reserve, the participants correlated it with preservation and conservation of nature. There is a lack of knowledge about the limits of the UC and the relevant legislation. Considering the perceptions presented, it is suggested to the managers and the EREM of Tamandaré, to carry out environmental education actions with a main focus on the settlers and students, in order to meet the needs of information listed, so that, in this way, objective proposed in the creation of this conservation unit.