Conformidades legais e administrativas de unidades de conservação Federais e Estaduais da Paraíba

Abstract

The Brazilian System of Conservation Units is one of the largest in the world, but its effectiveness as an instrument of environmental protection has been criticized. There is a general perception that federal units are better managed than state and municipal, however, until now, no studies have addressed this issue quantitatively and purposefully. Using environmental auditing techniques for legal compliance and management performance, this article aims to evaluate the influence of the state and federal administrative spheres in the levels of legal and administrative compliance of six conservation units in Paraíba. The selected State Parks units were: the Jacarapé, Aratu and Xém-Xém, the Guaribas Biological Reserve, the National Forest of Sandbanks of Cabedelo and Environmental Protection Area of the Rio Mamanguape. For the state units, 15 legal compliance parameters for the Jacarapé Park and 14 parameters were applied in the Xém-Xém and Aratu Parks. Of the analyzed parameters of legal compliance, 100% were not in compliance with the current legislation in the three state units, compared to 26.6-33.3% of nonconformity in the federal units. Similarly, 100% of the 29 management performance parameters presented non-compliance in the state units, against 23-32% of nonconformity in the federal units. The main nonconformity observed in the feds were a Management Plan elaborated after the 5-year period, determined by the National System of Conservation Units, studies of load capacity and damages caused to the Conservation Units. On the other hand, the state units, besides these, also presented no Management Plan, no Management Council, irregular occupations and no public use. The results clearly demonstrate that the administrative sphere is a determining factor in the effectiveness of the conservation units of Paraíba, a pattern that must also be observed in other Brazilian states with similar political and economic characteristics. It is strongly recommended that (1) federal units be strengthened to reduce their nonconformity to zero, and (2) that state units be managed by a completely different management model from the current one, encouraging Civil Society Organization of Public Interest or other private law entities, whether for profit or not, to assume the management of the areas.