Sobreposição de unidade de conservação às terras ocupadas por remanescentes de quilombos: conflitos ambientais e turismo no Parque Estadual do Jalapão (PEJ)

Abstract

At the heart of the environmental issue is the need for an integrated view of the interactions between physical aspects and social dynamics, which includes economic, political and spiritual factors, among others. However, this theme is marked by a plurality both in the theoretical- methodological debate and in the proposition of possible solutions. Within the scope of the environmental debate, the strategy of creating conservation units, among other protected areas, is considered a significant way of protecting biodiversity. Furthermore, they are important instruments of environmental policy and territorial planning in the country. However, the way these units are created and managed can both contribute to the proposed objectives and generate environmental conflicts. This time, the present research aims to analyze the environmental conflicts arising from the overlapping of the Jalapão State Park (PEJ), in the state of Tocantins, Brazil, on the lands occupied by remnants of the quilombos Mumbuca, Boa Esperança, Carrapato, Ambrósio and Mata Formiga. The study is qualitative in nature and has its assumptions in the human sciences and interdisciplinarity. The methodology had as sources of information the unsystematic participant observation (here called autoethnography, depending on the author's degree of imbrication) and documentary sources, in addition to semi-structured interviews and bibliographic analysis. The results point to environmental conflicts and the struggle of communities for the maintenance of their lands and their territory in an integral protection conservation unit that encourages tourism, but, contradictorily, does not admit the permanence of traditional communities. With the land tenure situation still not regularized, the public authorities started a process of concession of tourist services to the private sector, without considering, again, the reality of the territory. As a result, the environmental conflict has worsened between the various actors – government, quilombola communities and entrepreneurs in the tourist trade – involved in controlling the use of natural resources in the PEJ, all of that in a scenario of environmental Injustice.