The public use of conservation areas is growing rapidly every day, bringing out the issue of its landscape’s use potential, fragility and its touristic carrying capacity. Conservation areas in Brazil are protected by a Conservation Unity...
moreThe public use of conservation areas is growing rapidly every day, bringing out the issue of its landscape’s use potential, fragility and its touristic carrying capacity. Conservation areas in Brazil are protected by a Conservation Unity National System, a Brazilian Law that protects every unit with a management plan and a determination of use zones. This study shows the point of view of Serra do Cipó National Park’s users as a tool
to configure its mental maps to value how the landscape represents a parameter at intensive use zone. A virtual navigation was used with different numbers of visitors to better understand tourists and communities’ better environmental comfort at main attraction of the national park. Navigation GPS was distributed to visitors to collect the pattern of spatial use and its density in the national park at intensive use areas. As this study is still in processing its data, the main preliminary results of the interviews demonstrate that tourists are more tolerant than local community to share natural environment. The GPS data shows some alternative tracks used by visitors in the national park not predict in the management plan as intensive zone areas. The methodology applied is satisfactory to establish parameters for its purpose at conservation units or similar areas, as well as other variables more environmental related such as vegetation, soils, geology, declivity and others.
