Percepção dos moradores da zona de amortecimento acerca de sua relação com a Floresta Nacional de Passo Fundo, Brasil

Abstract

The historical process of the creation of Conservation Units in Brazilian territory has commonly presented conflicts of interest with the communities of the buffer zone generating, in some situations, disharmonious conditions and resentments among residents, managers, and conservation objectives. In order to do so, it was aimed to know the perception of the residents in relation to Passo Fundo National Forest seeking to understand the possibility of articulating actions which are according to the management plan and the community interests, as well socioenvironmental aspects of the studied properties were also described. The study was characterized as a qualitative research with a content analysis approach (Bardin, 2011). Residents were selected from EMATER and Secretaria da Habitação do Município de Mato Castelhano databases. The research was performed by a semi structured interview script, carried out in person. The interview procedures were in accordance with the health resolution (510/16). The interviews were recorded in audio and later transcribed. The data were analyzed and structured into four categories that emerged from the participants' speeches: social interaction; scientific knowledge and information; legal context appropriation and regional sustainability. The content analysis, made it possible to reveal that, currently, the residents do not realize the existence of a positive relationship between the community and the FLONA-PF management, stating it in different conflict situations to the present days. The same way, it was verified that the residents assume as scientific knowledge, the one related to the productive process, which is disseminated by companies of market inputs, receiving the information which is transmitted to them since field days, visits to the properties and field trials of productivity/profitability of the products. In addition to strengthening the economic viability of transgenic production in relation to conventional planting. Considering legal knowledge appropriation, residents realize and identify the legislation existence and the need for inspection in the surrounding area. However, they do not agree with the way it has been carried out and applied today. Finally, it was evidenced the interviewed have got a controversial perception regarding sustainability, because they consider important and positive the presence of FLONA- PF in the community, concerning quality of life the forest offers, as well as the importance of fauna and flora for the future of the generations, but they do not consider a problem the fact of adopting the transgenic production, which is prohibited in the surroundings. We have considered from this study the need to reconstruct the community relationship with the forest, suggesting the creation of strategies which will improve the relationship in the place as well as subsidize alternatives to sustainable development of the region, such as the creation of alternative rural development projects to the conventional model and socio-environmental education projects with the participation and social insertion of the community.