Assessment of volunteer monitoring as a tool for Social Learning in the area of environmental preservation Embu Verde (Embu das Artes - SP).

Author(s)

Caroline Cichoski

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Eletrotécnica e Energia (IEE/BT)
• Defense date: 2013-02-14

Examining board members

Ana Lucia Brandimarte; Pedro Roberto Jacobi; Alexander Turra

• Advisor: Ana Lucia Brandimarte

Abstract

The Brazil\'s water resources management is relevant to the public sector but there is a growing recognition that the traditional regulatory tools are not enough to ensure the protection of water minimizing the anthropic impacts. In order to solve this problem, the legislation expects the participation of the communitie in several stages of the water resource management. In this context, this research performed by APA Embu Verde located in Embu das Artes, (the metropolitan area of São Paulo) rates the implantation of a participatory monitoring program by interviewing people, participant observation, questionnaires and focus group considering the level of social learning from the actors after their participation in the program and the application of a simplified tool of biomonitoring for the volunteers. Regarding the social learning, the volunteers reached the levels of Single loop learning and Double loop learning indicating that the processes of participation collaborate for the acquisition of knowledge about techniques, methods and physical means. However, the circuit of triple - loop learning has not been identified given the complexity of them. The data generated by the tool of biomonitoring, showed results very near those generated by more sophisticated techniquesperformed by experts presenting only difficulty in distinguishing environments intermediate impacts. In addition to that, the index of volunteers presents conservative character indicating that the quality of the site goes down, preventing initial impacts to be observed. Therefore, the practice of participatory monitoring was considered a good tool to enhance the social learning process and to assess water quality in streams. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 10/04183-4 - Water quality in the Area of Environmental Conservation Embu-Verde (Embu das Artes - SP): evaluation of participatory monitoring as a tool of social learning
• Grantee: Caroline Cichoski
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master