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Abstract
The protection of relatively pristine areas in Brazil provides a great opportunity to recognize the values of natural ecosystems. At the same time, it provides opportunities for economic development. The growing interest in these areas in Brazil has stimulated techniques for management and research to study the consequences of human activities on the natural environment and the experience of visitors. Protection of the values received from these areas in relation to ecological and social conditions and threats to those values and conditions are priority research topics in Brazil. In the year 2003, a Symposium, “Protecting and restoring relationships between humans and wilderness landscapes,” was held in Piracicaba-SP, Brazil. At this meeting a range of protected area issues were discussed; all of them outcomes of actual studies in protected areas and related to defining and protecting the human relationships with natural environments. Participants identified threats, values and attributes of protected areas that could help to guide ecological and social research and monitoring. They used a basic matrix of wilderness attributes and threats used previously at the Leopold Institute. The results reflect, in a way, the situation of other undeveloped countries where the mains threats are related to illegal extraction of wood, traffic in wild animals and inadequate agricultural practices.
Parent Publication
Keywords
wilderness,
biodiversity,
protected areas,
economics,
subsistence,
tourism,
traditional knowledge,
community involvement,
policy,
stewardship,
education,
spiritual values
Citation
Magro, Teresa Cristina; Watson, Alan; Bernasconi, Paula. 2007. Identifying threats, values, and attributes in Brazilian wilderness areas. In: Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet; Dean, Liese, comps. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium; September 30-October 6, 2005; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-49. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 319-322
