Distribuição espacial das RPPNS da caatinga: motivações e desafios para sua gestão como instrumento de conservação

Abstract

The Caatinga is a Brazilian phytogeographic domain that has lost about 15% of its vegetation cover in the last decade and one of the ways to protect its biodiversity is through the creation of a Conservation Unit (Unidade de Conservção, UC) by the National System of Conservation Units (Sistema Nacional de Unidades de Conservação, SNUC). The Private Reserve of Natural Heritage (Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural, RPPN) is a type of UC that comes from the private sector and therefore represents an alternative to the type of conservation by public instruments. Nevertheless, there are many factors that influence its creation and maintenance. This work aims to map these units in the Caatinga ecoregions through Geographic Information Systems (GIS). And, jointly, to investigate the main motivations and difficulties of the owners for the establishment of the RPPN, through the application of questionnaires by e-mail. It was noted that within the Caatinga phytogeographic domain the highest concentration of RPPN is in the state of Ceara and that the motivations and difficulties of the owners are related according to the Social Capital (SC) in which they are inserted. That said, it is evident that the social interactions existing in a region or in a group of people are essential for the expansion of environmental conservation policies. And the creation of RPPNs represents the results of these private initiatives that contribute significantly to the New Social Movements (NSMs), increasing and diversifying the number of actors involved and decentralizing the focus of debates on environmental conservation. Nevertheless, in order to guarantee the perpetuity of the RPPNs, it is necessary that all the agents involved and responsible for them perform their function, which does not happen among the units located in the Caatinga.