Parques ambientais: entre a Ética e o Direito

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to understand Environmental Parks, both in their philosophical foundations and in their legal archetype, considering their origin in the United States of America. National Parks, extremely important in protecting natural spaces, a symbol of a nascent Environmental Movement, inspired similar initiatives around the world, including in Brazil, they have been deemed America's best idea. The creation and development of the Environmental Parks permeate the ambivalence of the notion of wilderness, which translates as an uncivilized nature to be domesticated, having come to be valued by its own wild state, a place of escape from the urban environment, manifesting a mystical vision of spiritual appeal, whose turning point is only realised when the wild nature is elevated to the condition of moral and cultural asset, which would singularize the United States. In this way, being conceived as special places to protect a timeless nature, it demands us to question the understanding of the ecosystem and the beings that inhabit these spaces. What is the ethics behind its creation and development? Can Environmental Parks be more than the expression of Anthropocentric Ethics? This thesis also investigates the similarities and differences between the conception and history of the US and Brazil. In addition, it examines the legal contours of the administrative regime of the National Parks in Brazil, as well as the current impulse to increase concessions, which brings the Brazilian model closer to the National Park model. This research has been carried out through a comparative study between Yosemite National Park, the first Environmental Park, and the Itatiaia National Park, the first National Park in Brazil