Conservação em áreas protegidas privadas: influências de fatores sociais e políticos na dinâmica de criação de reservas particulares

Abstract

The preservation of biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services increasingly depend on environmental conservation on private lands. There are many studies demonstrating the capacity of private protected areas to conserve biodiversity. Private conservation has been growing globally, but its management characteristics levels of use and protection differ between countries. Despite these differences, these areas have in common the role of important actors involved in financing and promoting actions for environmental protection. Our aim is to understand possible political and social context factors, in the national and regional scenario, that contributed to the dynamics of creation of Brazilian Private Natural Heritage Reserves (RPPNs). We applied an online questionnaire to owners and managers, collected and analysed data focusing on motivations, difficulties, support received and actors involved in the process of creating RPPNs. Our results showed that around 70% of the owners' motivations were mainly conservationist, although not exclusively so. This was a pattern, independent of region or biome, scope of creation (federal, state or municipal) or type of owner (individual or company). With regard to difficulties, 58% experienced difficulties, regardless of time, the majority of which were bureaucratic (75%), differing between region and biome. Only 57% of landowners received support, 67% from Non-Governmental Organizations and 31% from state governments. For landowners, technical support was more significant than financial support. The creation of RPPNs can be attributed not only to laws or specific policies to encourage it, but also to the altruism of the landowners. The social interactions existing in a region or within a group of people seem to have determined the dynamics. Legislation enacted at different levels of government in combination with socio-economic trends create the conditions for establishing RPPNs. Projects and public notices encouraging the creation of new RPPNs, with the predominant participation of NGOs, were crucial to the emergence of new RPPNs.