Uso sustentável da serra de Itabaiana : preservação ou ecoturismo?

• Ano de defesa: 2004
• Autor(a) principal: Menezes, Luiz Carlos de
• Orientador(a): Vargas, Maria Augusta Mundim
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Sergipe
• Programa de Pós-Graduação: Pós-Graduação em Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente
• País: BR
• Palavras-chave em Português: Ecoturismo; Sustentabilidade; Unidades de conservação; Serra de Itabaiana; Sergipe
• Palavras-chave em Inglês: Ecotourism; Sustainability; Conservation units
• Área do conhecimento CNPq: CNPQ::OUTROS
• Link de acesso: https://ri.ufs.br/handle/riufs/4343

This study presents the results of research that consisted of the verification of potentialities and perspectives on the practice of ecotourism activities at Itabaiana Hill, and considers the institutional, legal, economical, ecological, and cultural dimensions of its sustainability. Itabaiana Hill is a Conservation Unit in the phase of implementation as an ecological station since 1978. As such, its use is restricted to preservation, scientific research and environmental education. In the face of the occurrence of conflicts and the dissatisfaction of the nearby communities, due to the prohibition of the Hill s use, we understand ecotourism as a conciliatory activity between the local communities development and nature preservation. Environmental preservation and tourism activity are compatible and they can allow the maintenance of culture and income generation of the populations near the Conservation Units. In ecotourism, nature is the attracting consumable and its practice is based on the ethics of sustainability that understands nature as a natural and cultural asset. The variables adopted were based on the studies of Beni (2002) and Bóullon (2002), supported by the dimensions of sustainability. As research instruments, bibliographical and documental sources, interviews, visits to Itabaiana Hill with geographical reference to tourist points, and photographic records were used. The natural complex that forms Itabaiana Hill, 669m high, is easily noticed against the low landscape around it and was taken as a macro-scenery, subdivided into four potential units for ecotourism: the summit, the West vertex, the East vertex, and the valleys. Its morphology presents an almost vertical and rocky vertex to the West and another one with a softer declination to the East. This vertex is covered by rupestrian fields, cerrados (woodland/savanna regions in South America), restinga (coastal vegetation), and mata atlântica (Atlantic forest), through which four springs with riverbeds with waterfalls, and small basins of accumulation that form natural swimming pools flow, covered by gallery forest, making up a number of ecosystems of great value, that justify restrictions to the use of the area. Another relevant aspect that was identified consists of the incorporation of various elements of the Hill into the culture of Sergipe through stories and legends, which turns it into a special and potential place for ecotourism. As for the perspectives related to the opening of Itabaiana Hill to the use of ecotourism, the interviews conducted with landowners in the area, tourism agencies, tour guides, municipal and state organs, and IBAMA Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources supported our understanding that the use of ecotourism presents itself as a possible alternative, once there is a change made in the typology of the Conservation Unit, from an Ecological Station to another compatible type. Although there is already a study being developed by IBAMA, supported by Law # 9.985/2000 that instituted the National System of Conversation Units (SNUC), and that encourages ecotourism in Conservation Units and their surrounding areas as an alternative for development, a retrospective analysis of the process demonstrates a lack of involvement and commitment, at various levels, by the ones socially and institutionally involved with the preservation of the natural and cultural assets that constitute Itabaiana Hill.