Percepção dos bens e serviços ecossistêmicos pelos usuários das praias do Seixas e da Penha em João Pessoa-PB com destaque para o ambiente recifal

Abstract

The human being is daily benefited by a huge variety of elements and services provided by nature. Despite their welfare is directly linked to the continuous flow of these goods and ecosystem services, they are invisible to most of population and to the market. This fact is justified because they are public goods and are not negotiated, which in many cases were left out to local decision-making and public policy formulation. As a result, biodiversity is being reduced, ecosystems are being continuously degraded and consequently its populations suffer this loss. In this context, the reef environments are good examples of ecosystems that have high productivity and at the same time great sensitivity to changes in environmental conditions, and can operate with a good indicator of local environmental quality. There are many benefits and services provided by reefs, for example, supply of fisheries, shore protection, regulation of nitrogen concentration, waste assimilation, besides recreation, inspiration and research. This work had as main objective to analyses the users perception of the beaches of Ponta do Seixas and Penha (João Pessoa - PB) on goods and ecosystem services of the reef environments and their surrounding, aiming evaluate how this concept is embedded in popular knowledge and what is its importance for public policies involving environmental management practices. The studied areas in this work were the reef environments from the beaches of Ponta do Seixas (7º08'53S 34º47'46 "W) and Penha (7º09'54S 34º47'52" W) and vicinity, located on the southern coast of João Pessoa - PB, both located in neighborhoods that give them their names. To obtain data were used semi-structured interviews associated with photos taken to raise the socio-cultural profile of Ponta do Seixas and Penha users. Concomitantly sought to raise the perception of the beaches users about the goods and ecosystem services provided by reef environments, as well as the perception of the pressures and impacts on natural environments presents in the study area. It can thus divide the interviewees into three groups: residents non-fishers (55% of respondents), tourists (33%), and resident fishermen (12%). The data showed that the group of fishermen has social, economic and cultural characteristics that makes possible being active subjects into coastal management plans, as an example of its great dependence of the area for their occupation. Thus, on the observed data, as proposals for improve the management of reef environments of the studied beaches, this paper proposes two lines of action. First, the environmental education as a vehicle for social, economic and environmental transformation of these beaches' users, regarding to conscious use of reef environments. And second, the economic valuation of services such as protection of the coast, which could give subsidies for refinement local environmental laws and public policies.