Public-Community Partnership for the promotion of visitation in protected areas as a strategy for historical reparation and convivial conservation

• Grant number: 25/03153-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2025
• End date: April 30, 2029
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Cristiana Simão Seixas
• Grantee: Natália Cristina Fidelis Bahia
• Host Institution: Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas Ambientais (NEPAM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 23/12037-8 - From local to global: transdisciplinary processes to transform conflicts in the coastal zone, AP.BTA.R

Abstract

To protect what remains of the planet's biodiversity is a priority, but the conservation strategies often are motives of political disputes. Tourism plays a crucial role in encouraging processes of mediation of socio-environmental conflicts arising from restrictions generated by the protected áreas. It serves as a drive of local development and biodiversity conservation. The formalization of local tourism arrangements in protected areas has significant potential. However, the concessions for provision of tourism services and areas to develop these activities for large companies have been prioritized on environmental policy. The establishment of public-community partnerships presents an opportunity to reconcile different views and processes of spatial appropriation between environmental managers and local communities. It is important to adopt a systemic and integrated perspective that recognizes the complexity of the human-nature relationship. The sustainability of traditional territories and livelihoods is essential to the convivial conservation, which is connected to equity and social and environmental justice. The primary objective of this project is to analyze how public-community partnerships are structured in protected areas and to assess whether these arrangements provide effective historical reparation and convivial conservation processes. Specifically, the aim is to: (i) map whether there are any historical reparation instruments available in the literature on environmental conservation; (ii) understand how the process of construction and implementation of two public-community partnerships occurred, including the development trajectory of both Caiçara communities involved; (iii) investigate learnings and challenges in establishing and operating two public-community partnerships, as well as what transformations are generated in the relationships among environmental agencies, societies and nature; and (iv) analyze how public-community partnerships contribute to the sustainability of protected areas and traditional territories. For that, this research will focus on two processes built over the last 15 years in the Serra da Bocaina National Park (PNSB) and Cardoso Island State Park (PEIC). Being them, the authorization to carry out boat trips in PNSB issued by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation to Association of Small-scale Fishermen and Boatmen of Trindade, and agreement to community management and development of community-based tourism activities in the Perequê Center (PEIC) established between the Itacuruçá and Pereirinha Communities Residents' Association and Forest Foundation of the State of São Paulo. The thesis proposal is aligned with the objectives of the FAPESP project (23/12037-8) entitled "From local to global: transdiciplinary process to transform conflicts in the coastal zone". The present project is a participatory research with a transdisciplinary focus based on the methodological approach of Grounded Theory, and which will adopt multiple investigative methods. Individual and group semi-structured interviews will be carried out with leaders and representatives of the two Caiçara communities, and with environmental managers. Participant observation techniques will be also adopted in management council meetings and specific working groups. The qualitative analysis will be conducted using Atlas.ti software and categories will be identified. The data triangulation methods will provide enhancement of the research validity. The results intend to contribute to scientific discussions and practical actions in the field of Brazilian environmental governance.