Environmental interpretation and community participation: the case of the interpretative plan of the Abrolhos Marine National Park

Abstract

This research is a case study, whose objective is making a qualitative diagnosis on the participatory character of the elaboration process of the Interpretive Plan (IP) of the Abrolhos National Marine Park, Brazil, which was carried out between 2017 and 2018. Three sources of evidence were used: documentation, unsystematic observation, and open semi-structured interviews, conducted in April 2022. Among the interviewees, there are ICMBIO employees who coordinated the process, and local collaborators representing the thirteen participating institutions. The theoretical perspective chosen for the analysis of the collected data was the Critical Environmental Education (EE), which provided the evaluative key used here: the more a practice reflects the principles of critical EE, the more it will be able to transform social values and face the present planetary problems. The results show that the environmental interpretation (EI) activity has gained prominence within ICMBIO as there is an increase in visitation in Conservation Units (CUs) and in the concern about the environmental impacts generated by tourists. Furthermore, they demonstrate that the UC management has great merits for the realization of this IP, for having created the opportunity to carry it out and engaging the participants. In addition, it was unanimous in the reports that all participants felt heard, with freedom and space to put themselves in the workshops. However, it was noted that there was a lack of a better understanding of the participants in the EI workshops. Also consensual was the perception that two days of workshops was not enough, and that it would be necessary to involve more people from the local community in the process. There was also a lack of feedback on the results offered to employees. The ICMBIO team that coordinated the workshops used a methodology aimed at emotional involvement, focused on “provocations”; therefore, it was well evaluated by   the participants. However, it was found that the awareness obtained as a result of the  process was punctual and ephemeral. Our main diagnosis of the case is that, by not linking the IP to a deeper educational character, according to the principles of critical EE, the opportunity to encourage participants to question more directly certain values and principles of society was lost. This in a way of contributing to a greater clarification and engagement of the subjects on the structural transformations that our current environmental problems require.