ENVIRONMENTAL PERCEPTION AND PARTICIPATORY PLANNING - A STUDY IN THE LOPO CREEK WATERSHED BASIN/VARGEM/SP

Abstract

The study area of this research corresponds to the Lopo Creek Watershed Basin located in Vargem/SP. This municipality belongs to the Cantareira System Environmental Protected Area and despite of environmental and economic constrains, several impacts have been observed in the region, which is undergoing diverse changes caused by different perceptions of key social actors active in the space dynamics. Thus, the study of the perceptions of the groups involved in this process becomes relevant for the understanding of this dynamic, in order to enable and assist future participatory planning towards a regional sustainability. The methodological procedures involved the use of questionnaires with residents of Vargem divided between rural and urban population and influential people in order to highlight and explore the possible relationship between the perception, value and attitude toward the place with the impacts observed through field research and data collection. The results show that the environmental perception of social actors identified can be classified according to the views of preservation, conservation and developmental, which intertwine and are often responsible for land use conflicts existing in the water basin, reflecting, in general, on the Cantareira EPA.