USO PÚBLICO EM PARQUES NACIONAIS DA AMAZÔNIA BRASILEIRA: O OLHAR DO GESTOR SOBRE A RELAÇÃO DAS UNIDADES DE CONSERVAÇÃO COM OS CONDUTORES DE VISITANTES

Abstract

National parks are protected areas that have visitor recreation and environmental interpretation as one of their designation goals. However, there is a distance between these goals and reality, mainly in the Brazilian Amazon region, where the society cannot access or even knows about these areas. In this sense, this study aimed to analyze, from the perspective of managers, public use in the 21 national parks of the Brazilian Amazon and its relationship with visitor local guides, considering them important local social actors, with the potential to contribute to advances in public use. To this end, interviews were carried out with managers, local guides and other actors involved with the national parks in the Brazilian Amazon, together with bibliographic and documentary research, contributed to the analysis and understanding of the situation in these parks, to build solutions that are appropriate to reality. It was possible to verify that among the biggest challenges for the development of public use are the lack of financial resources and as well as lack of staff to work on planning and managing public use, difficult access, expensive logistics and lack of infrastructure for visitation. The engagement of visitor guides can contribute greatly to overcoming some challenges because through their services, there is a great potential to raise awareness among visitors, delight them with quality experiences and act promoting national parks, and they can also support the planning and management of the activity. However, institutional management support is necessary for the training and organization of the local guides, as well as to disseminate opportunities in protected areas, so that visitors can be interested in the park or attraction that offers the appropriate opportunities to fulfill their expectations.