O uso público em unidade de conservação: uma análise das influências do uso na qualidade da água do Rio Dona Eugênia no Parque Natural Municipal de Nova Iguaçu (RJ)

Abstract

Parks and other natural areas have several factors that make them important social spaces. The practice of sports, the contemplation of preserved natural elements, social relations, the use of ecosystem services offered by nature (fresh air, water, thermal balance, among others), leisure and recreation are some of the factors that contribute to the affirmation of its importance and all fit the perspective of Public Use. In this context, we started a debate about the social and environmental relations proposed by Geography and developed the understanding of these relationships from the analysis of the development of Public Use activities in Conservation Units (UC). To discuss and reflect on the reality of natural spaces, we selected the Nova Iguaçu Municipal Natural Park (PNMNI) as the object of study. We affirm that the Conservation Units are natural spaces created with the objective of preserving and / or conserving the ecosystem elements that characterize them, thus, we seek to present the reality of these natural spaces in general, but we want to expose in more detail the experiences, the research processes and experiences gained at PNMNI. As it is a Conservation Unit, inserted in the Park category, with its conserved natural elements and frequently used in different Public Use activities, the general objective here stands out: to analyze the way in which Public Use activities are carried out in the PNMNI and its impacts on the Dona Eugênia River. Through the Phenomenological method, we seek to understand how Public Use activities and users' relations with PNMNI water resources occur, identifying from then on whether this Use compromises the water quality of the UC. For this it is necessary to draw methodologies, among them: the accomplishment of physicochemical and microbiological laboratory analyzes in PNMNI water; application of questionnaires to users of natural space; and the evaluation and monitoring of Public Use Management in Parks (AMUP). Thus, we seek to understand the perception of PNMNI users, to understand how they view the dynamics of the natural space; identify how Public Use activities occur within the UC; and how is water quality found as an ecosystem element of the natural space. From the results obtained in this research, it can be concluded that the body of water that runs through the Water Path of Nova Iguaçu Municipal Park, meets the parameters established by the CONAMA resolution, therefore, the same classification applies: class II. We emphasize the need for an improvement in several factors that involve public use practices, but the results obtained so far lead us to affirm that there is a balance in the activities developed in the UC and it has guaranteed the natural quality of the space.