Perception of Nature’s Contributions to People in Rural Communities in the Eastern Amazon

Abstract

Nature’s contributions to people (NCP) are increasingly being considered in decisions by policy-makers because of their relevance to the well-being of people. Learning the value of nature from the perception of communities can help to define priorities and to guide the development of public policies for environmental conservation. The objective of this study was to analyze the perception of the importance, benefits, and problems of NCP among residents of five rural communities, and their opinion about the protected areas of the municipality, considering their socioeconomic characteristics. The method consisted of conducting questionnaire-based, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with a sample of 214 randomly selected households in five rural communities of Parauapebas (Pará, Eastern Amazon). We used appropriate statistical tests for data analysis. The main results show that the communities were highly homogeneous and that 52% of the households had low income (below a minimum wage of USD 250). A high proportion of respondents gave the highest importance to all categories of NCP (2/3 of respondents for material, 3/4 for non-material, and 4/5 for regulating NCP). The most commonly mentioned benefits of NCP referred to subsistence or livelihood and quality of life (40% of total mentions). Environmental degradation problems were the most cited (38% of total mentions). Almost all respondents stated that they had a positive opinion about the protected areas of the municipality, despite underusing them. This study is relevant because it analyses, for the first time, the perceptions of NCP among residents of rural communities in the Eastern Amazon, an essential aspect for decision-and public policy-making.

Who Cares for Nature in Rural Areas? Exploration of Relationships between People’s Socio-Economic Characteristics and the Perception of Nature as a Value in Poland and Lithuania

“…In the research by Brito et al [7], almost all of the respondents stated that they had a positive opinion about the protected areas of the analyzed municipality, and the essential aspect for caring for nature was related to decision making and public policy making.…”

“…The abundance of scientific literature dealing with environmental issues, environmental protection, and climate change emphasizes that people are not only a part of nature, but they themselves are heavily influenced by the changes taking place in nature. Therefore, as a result of people's presence in nature and various economic and social activities, many countries have already realized that it is necessary to make appropriate contributions for the purpose of the conservation of nature [7,18,19]. On the other hand, many scientists acknowledge that people's activities, behavior, and motives depend on their values in relation to nature, e.g., the extent of our concern, care for, or sense of responsibility for the conservation and preservation of nature [4,20,21].…”

“…The scientific literature analyzes various attitudes representing how people act, react, and behave in nature [4][5][6][7], their emotional/psychological attachment to nature [8,9], and the value of nature for them and how they care for it [10][11][12]. However, research on the links between the socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics in relation to the care for nature has been much less analyzed.…”

Cooperativismo, Sustentabilidade E Fortalecimento De Produtores Locais No Sudeste Paraense

“…A pesquisa foi desenvolvida no município de Parauapebas, localizado no sudeste do estado do Pará, Amazônia Oriental (BRITO et al, 2020), abrangendo uma área de 6.885,794 km² (IBGE, 2020), com população estimada em 213.576 pessoas (IBGE, 2020). Parauapebas surgiu em função da descoberta de jazidas de minério de ferro, no final da década de 1960, com a construção de um núcleo urbano para abrigar trabalhadores e seus familiares, de empreiteiras que dariam apoio ao Programa Grande Carajás (PGC) e subsidiárias da Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, hoje denominada apenas como Vale, provocando um fluxo migratório para o local (TRINDADE; OLIVEIRA; BORGES, 2014).…”

Estado e tendências dos serviços ecossistêmicos na área de proteção ambiental de Campinas

“…This concept has also been a target of critiques (Braat, 2018;Kenter, 2018), and recent literature in the area has been evaluating theoretical advancements of the nature's contributions approach and how researchers have been utilizing the concept (Kadykalo et al, 2019;Pires et al, 2020). More recently, it has been deployed to perform place-based assessments of ecosystem's benefits (Brito et al, 2020;Topp et al, 2021).…”