Socio-environmental analysis and diagnosis of the Timburi environmental protection area for a proposal for rural multifunctionality

Author(s)

Emanuela Sanches Moreira

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Presidente Prudente. 2023-08-31.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia. Presidente Prudente
• Defense date: 2023-08-24
• Advisor: João Osvaldo Rodrigues Nunes

Abstract

The relationship between the society and the nature in a certain territory becomes an analysis object by Geography which aims to understand the multiple aspects that shape the world we live in. The environmental question is a discussion generated from this relationship, which many times happens in a predatory manner, requiring the pursuit for a balance between nature conservation and economic activities, especially those related to rural areas. As a result of this debate, it was appropriated, in this master’s research, the concept of rural multifunctionality, which promotes the pursuit for the balance in the relationship between the society and the environment. The territorial investigation scope is the Sustainable Use Environmental Protection Area (APA) in Timburi, located in the municipality of Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brazil. It comprises a territory which has been the scene of interest conflicts between residents and the company responsible for the attempt to implement the sanitary landfill in the area, considered as a hegemonic subject. After surveys of the physical and environmental characteristics of the area, there was a need to know who the individuals living there are and how they relate to the environment. For this purpose, it performed fieldworks, residents and government interviews and the identification of the population demands. It was also performed an abroad research internship, which has enabled to mature the rural multifunctionality debate, based on examples found in the Province of Alicante, Spain. From the survey of the population demands, it was understood that public policy projects are the way to make the Management Plan of the APA and reach the foreseen objectives in the homologation law of the same, which are to protect the biological diversity, to discipline the occupation process, to secure the sustainability of the use of the environmental resources, to secure the human population wellbeing and to maintain or improve the local ecological conditions. Therefore, the main result offered by this research was the characterization of the residents of the EPA Timburi and the intervention proposals elaboration based on the observed reality and on the concept of rural multifunctionality. Those proposals aim to fulfill the objectives of the Conservation Unit and to put into practice the Management Plan, meeting the population demands and establishing the balance between the agricultural production and environment preservation. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 21/00194-6 - The geographical space of the Timburi environmental protection area from a socio-environmental perspective
• Grantee: Emanuela Sanches Moreira
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master