Prospecting to define new trails in regions where cities develop ecological tourism projects has been contributing to the recovery of Atlantic Forest vegetation, which also brings animals back to their natural environments. The discovery of new trails has yet another positive consequence: it manages to drive away hunters as visitors end up appropriating places that were previously unduly exploited. All this work has received more and more support and, in addition to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Caminho da Mata Atlântica, local populations are getting involved. They participate in meetings that define the region to be visited to see if there could be another trail. The national coordinator of the Atlantic Forest Path governance commission and consultant for the Recôncavo Path with the Viva Água Movement, Chicão Schnoor, said that it is already proven historical data that when a trail is opened for tourism, other illegal uses are removed. “The more we encourage conscious, responsive and regenerative tourism in the territory, the more it can be better preserved and generate income for local populations”, he told Agência Brasil. Chicão stated that two long-distance trails are currently being implemented in Baixada Verde, the name currently given by environmentalists to the Baixada Fluminense around Guanabara Bay. They are the Caminho do Recôncavo da Guanabara and the Caminho da Mata Atlântica. View of the Atlantic forest in the Tijuca Forest, in Rio de Janeiro – Tomaz Silva/Agência Brasil “To do this, we are talking to the local populations, validating with them the itineraries, the places to stop and, from there, looking for the municipal authorities to have this support, which is already coming too. There is still a lack of dissemination of this route so that people know that it exists and start to enjoy it, to strengthen local tourism. There is a lack of structure for local parks, which do not have a concierge, few teams and little inspection capacity”, said the coordinator. “The more I can support and strengthen the Serra da Estrela Refuge, the Três Picos State Park, the Serra dos Órgãos National Park, the Petrópolis Environmental Protection Area (APA), the Suruí APA, the Sustainable Development Reserve (RDS) of Serra de Estrela and so many others, we manage, based on their dissemination and restructuring, to work more and more so that tourism is responsive and regenerative in space.” Schnoor proposed the dissemination of campaigns to encourage knowledge preservation areas. “It is interesting to think about campaigns that bring the population closer to conservation units, showing how they are beneficial in the territory and how we need these environmental services”, he said, highlighting that the Movimento Viva Água project, developed by Fundação Boticário , around Guanabara Bay, which draws attention to the region’s basins and mountains, has very strong environmental services such as temperature, water and erosion regulation. Parnaso According to the coordinator, Magé is the only municipality in the area of the Serra dos Órgãos National Park (Parnaso) that does not have a head office and inspection posts, as Petrópolis, Teresópolis and Guapimirim already have. According to him, the expansion of the Parnaso area has largely advanced towards Magé, which on the one hand can be good, but at the same time it has become an intangible area that cannot be visited and has become restrictive, while there is a very great potential to have income through responsible tourism, creating a zoning of the park with the structuring of the attractions of Magé. “Together with the Magé city hall, we are debating with those responsible for the park the best way to open an entrance and change the zoning, so that the population of Magé and tourists can come to this municipality and enjoy the Serra dos Órgãos National Park”, observed. Chicão revealed that he even prospected for a trail, after notifying those responsible for the park, but as he reached the intangible area, he was unable to consolidate it. “This stretch had waterfalls, caves, lookouts, two centenary jequitibá trees. It’s a closed trail and the hunters make it. I found an illegal hunter’s camp. When the tourist doesn’t come, the hunter goes. This has already been proved, when the Parnassus was closed in the high part which was full of hunters. It has history of the park itself. Instead of closing and letting the hunters come, we are going to open it up and invite tourists to get to know it and invite schools to carry out environmental education. This is the role of a national park and this is what Parnaso has to do in Magé”, he defended. Planned in 2012 as a macro route for trails, the Caminho da Mata Atlântica has already increased planning by more than a thousand kilometers. According to the coordinator, the new hiking routes are defined after conversations with local populations, looking for more interesting detours to attract tourists. Therefore, every definition of a new trail begins with a meeting with the local community, showing the route planned in 2012. This is how the Caminho da Mata Atlântica is gaining extensions, such as the part that currently passes through Guia de Pacobaíba, in Magé. A tourist observes the view from the Vista Chinesa lookout point inside the Atlantic forest in the Tijuca Forest, in Rio de Janeiro – Tomaz Silva/Agência Brasil “From meetings with the local community, the Path started passing here. This job is time consuming. There are places where we arrive and it’s simple, but there are places where we arrive and it’s complex. There are places that advance, others do not. We go little by little. The Caminho da Mata Atlântica is a very long trail, it is 4,300 kilometers (km). We already have 800 km signposted, hotels and guides registered as official partners to support the Path, but as it is a jigsaw puzzle of several existing trails, it can be completed if anyone wants to do it”, he said. The Caminho do Recôncavo da Guanabara, following Schnoor, is based on an initiative with the possibility of a route that has not yet been mapped. In this case, it is necessary to carry out a field survey first, before prospecting for people. The next one is to check the route that can be taken between the Ecological Reserve of Guapiaçu (Regua), in Cachoeiras de Macacu, and the Ecovillage El Nagual, in Santo Aleixo, in Magé. Accessibility The definition of trails also involves the degree of difficulty it represents. While one may be easily accessible to visitors, another may present challenges, especially for those not used to hiking. They are obstacles that appear on the path, such as crossing rivers, dodging fallen logs or walking in dense forest and in swampy areas. May include falls and slips. In some places, placing ropes or footbridges over rivers could make walking much easier. For Thiago Valente, project manager at Fundação Boticário and leader of the Movimento Viva Água Baía de Guanabara, the principle to ensure accessibility on the trails is to make the level of difficulty clear. In the biologist’s view, many places are still explored by hand, with a guide who knows the place, the canyon or the waterfall, but even in formally protected areas, such as national and state parks, intended for public use, there is a great lack of of investments that manage to provide minimum condition to visitors in a safe way. New species of giant tree in the Atlantic Forest – Press Release by JBRJ “This worries not only us, but people who work with tourism. It is different from countries like the United States, which understand the opportunity and operate today a billion dollar industry, which represents, for example, a slice of the North American Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In Brazil, this potential is still dormant”, said Valente, in an interview with Agência Brasil. Accessibility within federal and state government units depends on public investment, but according to the biologist, interest in private projects has been growing, which, he believes, can also be developed through public-private partnerships. In this case, the investments would be up to the entrepreneurs. “For this initial boost, it could be an interesting path to bring the private sector closer together, investors who are looking at projects with the potential to generate this positive social or environmental impact. The infrastructure bottleneck is usually the simplest to resolve from an investment perspective. Carry out accessibility studies, build infrastructure that facilitates the arrival of tourists so that they can have a complete and risk-free experience. Indeed, there are cases in which people go and are faced with a very precarious structure. In this territory of Guanabara Bay, we are seeking to strengthen alliances and create dialogue with public authorities. Even though it’s an assignment, I think we can treat this as a collective challenge,” he commented. The reporter and photographer from Agência Brasil traveled in a group invited by Fundação Boticário.
Agência Brasil
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