Impactos ambientais associados ao turismo nos distritos de Maromba e Maringá – RJ - região de Visconde de Mauá – RJ: estudo de caso sobre o Rio Preto

Abstract

Tourism is a source of negative environmental impacts, and the harmful consequences of such activity are aggravated when tourism is carried out in a location rich in natural attributes, as is the case of the study area, located in the Microbacia Hidrográfica do Alto Rio Preto, which has its main tourist attraction on the Rio Preto and, in the villages of Maromba and Maringá-RJ, the axis with the highest concentration of tourists and tourist establishments in the Região de Visconde de Mauá. The general objective of the research is to investigate the occurrence of negative environmental impacts caused to the Rio Preto by tourism practiced in the researched area and, in specific objectives: to identify and analyze the type of tourism practiced in the locality, identify and analyze the main negative environmental impacts that are being caused to the Rio Preto by local tourist activity, identify the agents responsible for the negative environmental impacts caused to the Rio Preto resulting from tourist activity and recommend actions necessary to mitigate identified negative environmental impacts. The methodological basis used in the research was the Case Study, while the materials and methods used were: bibliographical and documentary research, direct participant observation of the researcher in the context of the facts studied, semi-structured interviews with the actors involved in the phenomenon, in addition to the use of geoprocessing tools. The analysis of the primary and secondary data collected allowed to verify the occurrence of serious negative environmental impacts on the Rio Preto, resulting from mass tourism practiced in the villages of Maromba and Maringá-RJ, tourism devoid of tourism and environmental planning and management, predatory and consuming local natural resources to exhaustion. Furthermore, it was concluded that the direct agents causing the aforementioned impacts are tourists, visitors, owners of tourist establishments and the local community itself, through commissive conduct that negatively impacts the Rio Preto, altering the quality of its waters and compromising its destination for bathing purposes. On the other hand, the municipal Public Administration of Itatiaia-RJ and other bodies with environmental competence that operate in the Região de Visconde de Mauá were identified as co-responsible for the aforementioned negative impacts, due to the deficiency in the execution of the exercise of supervisory police power and application of legal sanctions to violators of environmental protection standards, in addition to the municipality's failure to adopt the necessary measures to implement environmental and tourism management focused on sustainability. Finally, given the results achieved, it is recommended the implementation of planned and participatory environmental management in the researched tourist destination, with orchestrated coordination between public authorities, environmental protection bodies operating in the region and local organized civil society, accompanied by the It is necessary to comply with environmental legislation by its recipients, in order to guarantee the quality of local water resources and the sustainability of the tourist activity carried out in MHARP.