Students' Perception of Urban and Rural Environmental Protection Areas in Pernambuco, Brazil (original) (raw)
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2020
Understanding perception about nature is paramount to understanding human behavior and decision making on the environment. We performed a survey-based study in Brazil and Poland to better understand the perception of land sparing for nature and the perceived value of nature. The countries were selected by intentional sampling and given their importance for local and global biodiversity conservation, and complex socio-ecological context of conservation versus agroforestry business. We performed an online questionnaire (N = 1030) in Brazil and face-to-face interviews in Poland (N = 322). We found that Brazilian respondents demonstrated more pro-environmental attitudes than Polish survey participants. Regarding the question: "How much nature that is left should be spared?", nearly 51% of Brazilians answered "everything", compared with 13% of Polish respondents. Just under half of the respondents from Poland (45.6%) indicated that half of the nature that is left should be spared. Brazilian respondents also perceived the intrinsic value of nature to a greater extent compared with Polish respondents; in total, 76% of Brazilians respondents entirely agreed that "Nature, its plants and animals have a value on their own, independent of their usefulness
Sustainability, 2021
The remnants of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil are significant for biodiversity and provide benefits for people (climate regulation, water supply, health and welfare, among others). However, nature’s importance for different people may vary, for social, environmental, and economic reasons. In this paper, we explore such differences among people living in communities surrounding the Cunhambebe State Park (PEC), a large area of Atlantic Forest. We assess their perceptions regarding the plural values of ecosystem services derived from the PEC and explore ways in which this could affect the management of this protected area. Our assumption is that analyzing the perceptions of people who live in the communities surrounding can be a key tool for the formulation of proposals to improve management models and address socio-environmental conflicts. Based on interviews, participant observation, and document analysis, our results show a direct link between culture and environment since relationa...
Learning in the forest: environmental perception of Brazilian teenagers
Frontiers in Psychology
The idea of separation between person and nature, accentuated by current production and consumption models, has generated unthinkable impacts, causing an unprecedented loss and degradation of the global environment. Occupying 13% of the Brazilian territory, the Atlantic Forest is the second-largest tropical rainforest on the American continent; however, it is one of the most threatened biomes in the world, with only 12% of the original cover. In this study, we consider that enabling young people to experience direct contact with nearby natural environments can positively influence their knowledge and feelings about the biodiversity that occurs there, contributing to its protection and conservation for current and future generations. In this study, we explore how teenagers (n = 17) aged between 13 and 17 years old describe and perceive the nearby natural environment before and after an interpretive trail in Una, Bahia, Brazil. Participants were asked to draw the Atlantic Forest with ...
Evaluation of Students’ Perception of Urban Green Areas in Fortaleza City, Ceará State, Brazil
This study evaluated the perception of undergraduate students from the Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC) at the Pici Campus with respect to urban afforestation in the city of Fortaleza in comparison with afforestation on the university campus (UFC) in terms of benefits and disadvantages that urban trees provide. We applied a questionnaire to 274 students. The analyses are based on the variables of gender, age, college course and neighborhood of residence. The results show that the perception of the level of afforestation in the city of Fortaleza as a whole and in the neighborhood of reside nce is considered regular; however, the level of afforestation at the Pici campus is considered good to very good. We applied statistical tests (chi-square) to the data and observed some significant findings linking the college course and students’ perception of afforestation
Journal of Environmental Management
Protected areas are an important strategy to safeguard biodiversity. However, if social development is not considered, biological conservation targets may not be achieved. In this empirical study, we assess the relationship between poverty and conservation goals in dry forests within a 62,000-ha Brazilian National Park (Caatinga biome). We conducted 81 structured household interviews between January and July of 2016 to assess socioeconomic, resource management and land-use variables. We used non-parametric analysis of variance to test for differences in socioecological variables among families living inside and outside the Park and both (double dwelling). The majority of families (76%) residing inside the Park were living below the poverty line while less than 14% in outside and double dwelling residences faced the same issue. Families living inside the park had lower socioeconomic conditions such as limited water availability, poor house infrastructure, low income, and high dependence on firewood than outside and double dwelling families. They were also more dependent on external financial support and natural resources. We found that failures in protected areas inception and implementation have driven people towards a mutually reinforcing and declining situation in which negative socioeconomic outcomes are associated with nature degradation. Therefore, our results suggest that the future of dry forests, characterized worldwide by the presence of low-income populations, will be largely dependent on conservation strategies that address poverty alleviation and human well-being.
Tropical Forests - New Edition
This research explores the perspective of social actors about the ecosystem services (ES) provided by tropical dry forests (TDF) in two protected areas in southern Ecuador that differ in their management schemes. Identifying the ES and understanding the preferences of local communities is seen as a means for improving decision making, especially in the protected areas. Therefore, our goal was to apply social assessment tools in order to have an in depth appreciation of the factors influencing the perception of social actors in a comparative case study. Since the research was conducted in two areas with similar ecosystem, but with different management, it illustrates the potential role that management policies have at shaping the perception of social actors regarding TDF's ecosystem services. The results suggest that people perceive and prioritize ecosystem services differently according to the area and that such perception and prioritization is influenced not only by the management processes but also by the role that social actors play in the protected area.
The Environmentalist, 1999
This paper describes the problems encountered in developing environmental education in Federal protected areas in Brazil. Results of a survey on the current status of environmental education in four categories of Federal protected areas; namely national parks, biological reserves, ecological stations and environmental protection areas, are described and discussed. The study suggests that the development of environmental education in protected areas in the country has several limitations: financial resources, lack of training, material resources and a lack of policy on environmental education. It also identifies that some of these problems seem to be inter-related with those of the National System of Conservation Units of the country which may result in a retarding of the development of environmental education in such areas.
Sustainability, 2019
Studies on the effectiveness of the discourse motivating the creation of protected areas (PAs) and their empirical reality are scarce. The lack of knowledge in this area affects programs and policies on the maintenance and creation of protected areas. Thus, we investigated this matter using the case study of the Nascente Geraizeiras Sustainable Development Reserve (NGSDR) in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The reserve comprises a transition area between Cerrado and the Atlantic Forest, two critical biomes in the world of biodiversity and the only two hotspots in Brazil. Changes in land use were identified over a period of 30 years, from 1987 to 2017, based on a compilation of the arguments associated with the creation of the PA, geographic information system (GIS) techniques, remote sensing (RS) data, and landscape ecology indices. Seven types of land use were identified using Random Forest classifier R software: native forest, silviculture, pasture, bare soil, rocky outcrop, watercours...
HOLOS, 2016
Environmental issues in urban areas have been increasingly discussed in the construction of smart and sustainable cities. Thus, public green spaces have become the focus of studies for bringing several contributions to the urban environment, as well as provide many ecosystem services. However, it is important to know how users of these green spaces perceive the environment around them, especially in the context of creating new parks in areas with intense human settlements. The aim of this study was to investigate the ecological knowledge of residents surrounding an urban green area in the east zone of São Paulo city, which became municipal park after the end of this study. The Municipal Park Jardim da Conquista (PMJC) is located in an area considered one of the largest human settlements in Brazil and the world. 675 interviews were carried out with people living around the urban park in 2013. The profile of the supposed goers varies between 20 and 30 years, belonging predominantly to...