Gestão integrada de recursos naturais em assentamentos de Reforma Agrária da Mata Sul de Pernambuco

Abstract

The world economic evolution and expansion in the last years has made the different forms of articulation between development and biodiversity resources evident. Such forms are the result of development models which have not only allowed a population growth and uneven development in qualitative terms, but have also induced the integration of international trade, resulting in distortions of the use, appropriation and conservation of those resources. The central objective of the present study is to understand the social agents‘ posture on the management and conservation process of the Permanent Preservation Areas in agrarian reform settlements in the town of Tamandaré-PE, in the area around the Biological Reserve of Saltinho. In the theoretical field, this study uses firstly the arguments of sustainable development defended by the eco-developmental school, whose main theoretician is Ignacy Sachs; secondly, it aims at understanding the perspective of The Natural Resources Integrated Management (Gestão Integrada de Recursos Naturais - GIRN), whose main theoretician is Godard (2002); finally, it presents the analysis of social conflicts based on the suppositions formulated by Northrup (1989). As for the method, semi-structured interviews were done, as well as the analysis of bibliographical material and official documents that supported the materialization of the analysis as far as the man-nature relationship in the town under study is concerned. The results have shown that the present environmental legislation is incompatible with the local reality of the settlements in Zona da Mata de Pernambuco, since the lands destined to agriculture and cattle raising are saturated. The most fertile lands are situated exactly in the permanent preservation areas in agreement with the settlement management plan, which shelter the area around the Biological Reserve of Saltinho. Those in charge of the application of the Environmental Law try to make the settlers aware of the need to preserve the environment in order to improve life quality and the productive activity in their lands in the long term, but the short-term needs (production, food, dwelling, etc.) of those agents result in environmentally degrading actions. In brief, in order to guarantee the sustainable development of the region gradually and constructively, the government actions and the settlers‘ activities as concerns the region‘s natural resources need to be articulated.