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Abstract
This work focuses on the issue of public use management in protected natural areas, based on shared responsibility between management and visitors and the potential for development of environmental ethics to inspire respect for those areas, help protect them, and reduce the need for restrictive control interventions. Based on the premise that responsible, well-informed visitors will act to minimize impacts, allowing regulations in protected areas to be less restrictive, we worked with the following hypotheses: (1) visitors have no knowledge of appropriate minimum impact techniques to be used in natural areas; (2) the greater the experience level in visiting natural areas, the greater the knowledge of appropriate minimum impact techniques, and (3) there are impacts to campsites and trails which can be traced back to visitor behavior and may be minimized through minimum impact practices and techniques. Generally, results show that previous experience, referred to as “number of trips,” does not reflect an increase in the knowledge of appropriate minimum impact techniques. Furthermore, frequent visits do not add to visitors’ learning, due to the fact that the highlands of Itatiaia National Park are not prepared to receive them, as there are no visitor education programs underway. Thus, those people who visit the park several times during a year or many times through several years exhibit unchanged knowledge of visitor impacts and techniques to minimize them.
Parent Publication
Keywords
wilderness,
biodiversity,
protected areas,
economics,
subsistence,
tourism,
traditional knowledge,
community involvement,
policy,
stewardship,
education,
spiritual values
Citation
de Barros, Maria Isabel Amando; Magro, Teresa Cristina. 2007. Visitors'' experience and lack of knowledge of minimum impact techniques in the highlands of Brazil''s Itatiaia National Park. 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. 374-379
