Percepção e educação ambiental como subsídios de monitoramento e conservação de quelônios no município de Santa Maria das Barreiras, Pará, Brasil

Abstract

The Amazonian turtles, especially Podocnemididae family, were and have being one of the main sources of food and protein for riverine people, indigenous people and rural populations throughout the Amazon region. Your consumption being considered a rooted tradition in their culture. Thus, this research aimed to make the assessment the perception and socio environmental profile of people who use and/or trade Amazonian turtles, provide guidelines for Environmental Education programs, through semi-structured interviews and content analysis. The research was conducted specifically with urban populations of Santa Maria das Barreiras town, in the state of Pará - Brazil, which were selected using the snowball sampling method. For this, 59 people were interviewed, who represented four social groups: public servants of Castro State School of Basic Education, 7th year of Elementary School students, and 3rd year of Medium School students of the same school, urban population of the town and people involved with Araguaia Chelonian Project, who represented different profiles. The sample shows a good level of education and age, varying from 12 to 71 years old, with 64.40% (n = 38) of men and 35.59% (n = 21) of women. The study found that the majority of respondents are municipal and/or state public servants, with monthly family income about one or more than three basic salaries, with about one to twenty individuals per residence (average of 4.40 individuals). Because of this study, it was identified that 72.86% (n = 43) consume chelonian meat, of which 76.74% (n = 33) have a predilection for species of Podocnemis expansa. Only 25.38% (n = 15) consume chelonian eggs, of which 89.66% (n = 13) have a preference for Podocnemis unifilis eggs. Furthermore, the interviewees assert that they acquire these animals through trade, hunting/fishing or donations, from friends, colleagues or indigenous people. All the interviewees assert that the survival of the turtles in the region is mainly affected by the anthropic action (hunting/fishing and egg collection), causing a reduction in the natural stocks of the region and the majority recommends intense inspection and environmental education as the main forms of guarantee the survival of the turtles in the region. Most of the respondents consider that chelonian have great socio-environmental importance, highlighting the cultural custom and flavour this kind of meat, as the main reasons for the consumption of chelonian in that region. They also say that would encourage their family and friends to avoid the consumption of those animals; they also affirm that they know the Araguaia Chelonian Project, but are not engaged with it; despite that, most of interviewees recognize that the Project has contributed to changing negative people's attitudes towards chelonian. In addition, this research elaborated a set of proposals that can assist the work of conservation of turtles focused on environmental education, the strengthening of inspection actions and community engagement, in order to contribute for awareness and understanding of the social and ecological relevance of the chelonian, considering the perspective of enabling responsible use and enhancing the potential of this species. The wide consumption presented reinforces the urgent character of conservation actions needed in the area, in addition to Araguaia Chelonian Project, since the pressure of consumption is high, and there is not sufficient population data that allow establishing the real impact of this consumption for the maintenance of viability of the natural chelonian populations.