Revista Brasileira de Geografia Física (Mar 2018)

Landscape ecology and social representations as tools for ecological restoration of restinga landscapes

  • Bruno Borges,
  • João Carlos Ferreira Melo Júnior,
  • Sandra Paschoal Leite de Camargo Guedes,
  • Mariluci Neis Carelli

DOI
https://doi.org/10.26848/rbgf.v10.6.p181-191
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 181 – 191

Abstract

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Restingas are subjected to several elements of degradation, making their restoration necessary for the continued existence of this ecosystem. The involvement of local communities in restoration processes is extremely important; however, efforts to involve the users of beach environments in their restoration are is still incipient. This study aims to evaluate landscape attributes and to understand societal representations of the process of landscape transformation as management tools for the ecological restoration of restinga on the beaches of Itaguaçu/Ubatuba, São Francisco do Sul, SC. Interviews were conducted with people between the ages of 18 and 82; residents, or not, of the area; users, or not, of the beaches; and directly, or not, linked, or not, to organizations and institutions that exercise some kind of influence or governance of the beaches. Interviews employed a research form on which were recorded data regarding the identification and description of the interviewee, and answers to questions designed to understand interviewees’ representations of the restinga and its attributes as a clipping of the coastal landscape. In total, 73 interviews were carried out, which documented the population's general lack of knowledge regarding the restinga environment and its ecological importance, as well as their representations of this environment. This study serves to highlight the need for pre-restoration environmental programs with different social actors with an emphasis on education and participation in the management of natural heritage.

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