Análise das configurações socioambientais em litorais da margem atlântica: lagunas de Aveiro (PT) e Araruama (BR)

Abstract

Ecosystems anthropization has been occurring with high intensity, resulting in profound environmental changes. It is expected that populations will become increasingly vulnerable to this climate change scenario. Contextually, coastal ecosystems, particularly lagoonal ecosystems, are highly exposed to this problem. Complex interactions resulted in either human adaptation to the environment or in attempts to model it. The geomorphological evolution of the lagoonal coastal zones, as sheltered areas, allowed, since an early age, the establishment of populations that caused an impact on the established relations with the environment. These impacts resulted in changes in ecosystems, generating socio-environmental vulnerabilities, with special relevance in the Contemporary Period (XIX and XX centuries). In this study, the rhythm and intensity of the anthropization that occurred in two lagoon systems located in the Atlantic margin - the Aveiro lagoonal system (Portugal) and the Araruama lagoonal system (Brazil) - are compared via an interdisciplinary analysis, based on the precepts of Environmental History. Through hermeneutics made on the basis of written and cartographic historical documentation, the geomorphological development of the lagoonal systems in its relation with the human occupation and influence is demonstrated, along with the anthropic alterations caused in the respective ecosystems and the vulnerabilities to which they are subjected. For this purpose, a long chronological analysis is carried out, with the a quo limit being the year 897 in Portugal and the year 1503 in Brazil, and with the ad quem limit is the year 2014. The intent is to answer fundamental questions (to better understand the anthropization of these coastal systems): when and how, in the historical time, human fixation has occurred; to what extent the forms of exploitation of these natural systems have impacted them; how they have been induced relevant changes to the point of influencing their configuration; and what were the similarities and differences between these impacts and the rhythms of such transformations in the ecosystems. We consider that the comparison of the interrelations established between the societies and these lagoonal environments, in their construction processes throughout the historical time, can point out elements for the understanding of their own vulnerabilities, and contribute to the knowledge of the human/nature relational dynamics. Such considerations allows the construction of possible social actions capable of delaying and/or overcoming the risks experienced by public policies that favour economic development in detriment of human security and well-being, as well as the sustainability of ecosystems. Thereby, the final purpose of the present study it is to increase the knowledge of the evolution of the lagoonal systems in order to develop a model of comparative diachronic analysis between coastal systems, based on the vulnerabilities and potentialities existing in Portugal and Brazil, therefore contributing to the integrated coastal management.