Efeito das leis conservacionistas sobre a biota, os recursos hídricos e a população humana da área proposta para a APA de Alter do Chão, Santarém, PA

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to assess the legal knowledge and the environmental perception of the people of Alter do Chão, Santarém, PA, their relationship with socioeconomic variables, and the effect of that knowledge on the use of natural resources. Interviews were held with 172 families in 11 communities and 3 suburbs in the Vila de Alter do Chão. The socioeconomic variables analyzed were family monthly income, shortest distance to an urban center, age, gender, schooling, and residence time. To evaluate the consequence of legal knowledge on the use of riparian zones, the position of the streams (regionally known as igarapés ) was digitalized and a deforestation classification was made for satellite images. To evaluate the effect of riparian deforestation and seasonality on water quality, we collected physical-chemical data (pH, conductivity), and samples to analyze sediments and bacterial contamination in 12 sites along the streams, 3 sites on the Lago Verde and 2 sites on the lower reaches of the 2 micro-basins in the study area. The degree of legal knowledge of the population was low. The effect of the socioeconomic variables on that knowledge was weak, and indicated that all socioeconomic groups had poor understanding of the law. Decision on the use of natural resources were strongly influenced by religious beliefs. Water quality (pH, conductivity, amount of sediments and bacterial contamination) was affected by the degree of deforestation in the riparian zones of streams. Legal knowledge had a weak influence on decisions relating to deforestation. The propensity to engage in hunting protected wildlife was affected by the distance to an urban center and the family monthly income, but it was not affected by knowledge of legal prohibitions.