Public Participation in the Conservation of the Cerrado and Pantanal Regions
Projeto Político Pedagógico (Pedagogical Political Project – PPP) in Environmental Education by the Cabeceiras do Rio Cuiabá Environmental Protection Area and Águas do Cuiabá State Park – Mato Grosso.
Public participation and the involvement of community leaders is fundamental for the process of conservation of natural environments. The Brazilian Cerrado and Pantanal regions are extremely important biomes, as they are part of the country’s hydrological balance, housing a vast and diverse fauna and flora.
Based on critical environmental education processes, the partnership between the State Secretariat for the Environment (SEMA)/Superintendence of Environmental Education and Citizen Service (SUEA) in the State of Mato Grosso and FunBEA arose. An since 2021, with the support of the Public Ministry of the State of Mato Grosso (MP-MT), it has been developing the participatory process for the construction of the Pedagogical Political Project (PPP) of Environmental Education (EA) in the Cabeceiras do Rio Cuiabá Environmental Protection Area (APACRC) and the Águas do Cuiabá State Park (PEAC).
The project covers 6 municipalities in the state of Mato Grosso: Rosário Oeste, Nobres, Santa Rita do Trivelato, Nova Brasilândia, Chapada dos Guimarães and Planalto da Serra. Coordinated by a council with 22 local government and civil society institutions, the participatory process provides for the construction of a management plan for natural areas, under the eyes of residents and people who work in the cities involved.
Since 2021, there have been 5 cycles of dialogs seeking to understand the importance of the PPP as an instrument for the management and implementation of environmental education in UCs, the concepts that permeate this process, as well as specific activities to start the participatory diagnosis of the local reality.
The project also intends to continue the dialogs with local actors, with the identification of the perception, socio-environmental demands and understanding of the local reality from the eyes of these audiences to format the management instrument of these Conservation Units.
“Public policy for the protection of conservation units through the recognition of local knowledge, strengthening of socio-environmental movements and diagnosis of the problems that need to be faced.”