ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES IN THE CANTAREIRA SYSTEM ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTED AREA - A STUDY ON THE ATIBAIA RIVER WATERSHED

Abstract

Analyses of environmental issues allow to identify different ways of conceiving the relationship between society and nature and the different social practices associated. The recognition of these perspectives is crucial when considering proposals made by multiple social actors – such as, for example, public and private sector and civil society – for the use and conservation of natural resources, and may assist in the characterization and critical analysis of their sustainability. In this paper is presented an environmental diagnosis of the Cantareira System EPA and the Atibaia River Watershed Basin, with emphasis on current dynamics and proposed use of natural resources. There is, for this study area, the need for the development and implementation of projects and action plans that enable an effective management of natural resources, and that involve the regional communities that lives in this protected area promoting an improvement in their quality of life.