A gestão e os impactos do uso público em unidades de conservação municipais: o caso do Parque Natural Municipal do Espalhado (Ibicoara– Bahia)

Abstract

Conservation units (UC's) in the strict protection category, notably those of the Park type, have become the preferred stage for the practice of ecotourism in Brazil, according to data from ICMBIO (2020), which, in 2019 alone, accounted for 15 million visitors. For this reason, this type of tourism must unite the conservation of natural resources and the enhancement of indigenous cultures and needs to be planned to minimize their possible impacts, which constitutes a major challenge for the structurally less prepared municipal authorities of the financial and technical point of view, to undertake this task. This study aimed to evaluate the levels of implementation and management effectiveness of the Espalhado Municipal Natural Park, in the municipality of Ibicoara, Chapada Diamantina region (BA), with regard to its ability to control the impacts of public use resulting from tourist activity. For this, the Rapid Assessment and Prioritization of Protected Areas Management (RAPPAM) methods developed by WWF were used to assess the effectiveness of management and the level of implementation of the Unit, the Visitor Impact Management (VIM), to monitor and indicate mitigation measures focused on the impacts caused by visitation, in addition to conducting a survey with tourists, through the application of questionnaires on the infrastructure and perception of environmental impacts. The results found showed that, despite the difficulties faced, the unit presents five of the six parameters used to assess its level of implementation, not only counting on the existence of a management plan. Regarding the effectiveness of management, of the sixteen parameters evaluated by RAPPAM, the UC obtained a high percentage in only five of them, a result very influenced by the lack of formal planning instruments. Regarding the verification of the environmental impacts caused by the visitation, The variation in the width of the trail, the existence of unofficial trails, trees used as support for the transposition of obstacles, exposed roots, breakage and cutting of branches and vandalism and social impacts resulting from the encounter of groups of visitors were considered. For these impacts, corrective measures were established to help remedy them. Furthermore, it was also noticed that these impacts are not perceived by visitors and, therefore, do not constitute factors that may, at the present time, harm the experience of tourists