Acções de educação ambiental realizadas pelos operadores turísticos no âmbito das actividades de categoria A, em Macaneta, em cumprimento do exigido na avaliação de impacto ambiental

Abstract

The present research sought to diagnose the environmental education actions of category A tour operators in the locality of Macaneta in compliance with the requirements of the Environmental Impact Assessment process - EIA. This is a qualitative study, in which data were obtained from the analysis of documents made available by the National Directorate for the Environment of the Ministry of Land and Environment, and interviews with tour operators and the local community. All category A tour operators and four members of the local community (selected for convenience) were interviewed. The results show that there are four category A tourist enterprises that operate in Macaneta and that have passed through the AIA. However, none of them has an environmental education program (as required by the regulation), however, one of them was identified that carries out environmental education actions through lectures accompanied by practical actions focused on the collection and controlled disposal of solid waste, cleaning and planting. of trees. These actions are carried out in commemorations of the International Environment Day and for a very restricted audience. The environmental education actions carried out in this scope do not generate a positive impact on behavior change and this may be associated with the low coverage of the target audience and low frequency of implementation. Thus, it is recommended that the National Directorate for the Environment be more rigorous in verifying plans and programs that are part of the EIA process, in particular environmental education programs; tour operators are advised to develop environmental education programs that promote the structured, continuous and permanent implementation of environmental education actions.