Forests as a Heuristic Tool for Discussing Societies and Social Sustainability in the Sustainable and Healthy Territories of Bocaina

Abstract

"The model of protecting ecosystems in the form of Conservation Units in Brazil has been developed in a context of deep socio-environmental conflict. Conservation Units have been created in the territories of traditional peoples and communities, including quilombolas, impacting their way of life. Marginalized in relation to environmental policies, they resist, organize themselves, seek recognition of their ancestry, guaranteed rights, participatory management and integrated sustainable development. Thus, the aim of this inductive study was to verify how the quilombola communities of Fazenda and Caçandoca relate to forests on the basis of sustainability, protect ecosystem services and develop systems of active citizen participation that strengthen governance. From the theoretical-conceptual basis of Geography, aligned with the decolonial dialectical perspective, we criticized neo-colonial conceptions of Brazilian landscapes which make the social construction of forests by traditional peoples and communities invisible. Through qualitative and quantitative research, based on Grounded Theory, electronic questionnaires and interviews were applied, including field activities, gathering information and data that supported the establishment of relationships and proposals. This was followed by lexical and content analysis using the MAXQDA® program. The results made it possible to interpret how the 20 interviewees view socio-environmental management in the study area, reaching at the categories: preservationist, conservationist and autonomist. In addition, the interviewees valued cultural and provisioning ecosystem services more. Technocratic understandings predominate among the 102 respondents who answered the questionnaire, justifying the proposition of a counter-hegemonic concept of forest."