Entre a serra e o quintal de casa: em busca da conciliação entre proteção integral e ocupação humana nos Monumentos Naturais Itatiaia e Várzea do Lajeado e Serra do Raio (MG)

Abstract

Protected areas are today one of the main conservation strategies of nature. In Brazil, under the name of Conservation Units (CUs), these territories are represented by twelve categories, each with its management specificities. The Natural Monument (MONA) corresponds to one of these categories, which falls within the group of Integral Protection, aiming at the preservation of rare natural sites, singular or of great scenic beauty, as well as maintenance of ecosystems free of changes caused by human interference, only the indirect use of its natural attributes. Nevertheless, this category, unlike other members of the Integral Protection group, admits the existence of particular properties within it. Considering the apparent inconsistency between the definition of integral protection and the proposal to reconcile it to the human occupation in the MONAs, we aim, as a general objective of this research, to analyze the challenges and possibilities related to this compatibilization. To this end, our research locus includes two MONAs inserted in the Serra do Espinhaço: MONA Itatiaia (Ouro Branco / Ouro Preto - MG) and MONA Várzea do Lajeado and Serra do Raio (Serro - MG). Both were created, respectively in 2009 and 2011, in order to maintain populations residing within them and, therefore, constitute a favorable ground for the development of the analysis that we intend. In view of the problems raised by the MONA category we present the hypothesis that the challenges related to the compatibility between integral protection and human occupation in these territories are closely linked to the lack of clarity regarding the precepts of the category in question. Therefore, in order to clarify the concept of MONA, we carried out an extensive bibliographical review about the same and the discourses of conservation of the nature underlying it in the scope of protected areas. Through this review, we are faced with the fact that during the drafting process of the Law establishing the UCs in Brazil (SNUC), several fundamental elements of the conception of MONA were suppressed by it, making a correct apprehension of this category at the national level impossible. The fieldwork carried out in the Itatiaia and Várzea do Lajeado e Serra do Raio MONAs have corroborated this fact, indicating that both PAs have been managed under the Park category, and as such, they present few possibilities with regard to compatibility between human occupation and integral protection. Although the conciliatory prerogative forces the management of these MONAs in the direction of this compatibilization, it ends up happening as a kind of adjustment in reverse, not presenting guidelines appropriate to the category of protected areas in question. This is because the conceptions of nature protection are quite distinct, and the ecosystemic logic of the Parks does not align with the landscape and cultural proposal of the Natural Monuments, resulting in an inefficiency of the latter's management. Because of this, we propose that the central point of the MONA problem lies in the apprehension of the concept of integral protection, based on the design of ecosystems, would lead to a more restrictive management of the anthropic aspects in the PAs, making it impossible to exercise the conciliatory prerogative of that category, which is more related to the notion of landscape. Therefore, we point out the need to have, within the legal framework or within the environmental bodies responsible for the management of PAs in Brazil, a regulation of the MONA category, which establishes clear guidelines for its effective management. From this, the cultural, memorable, historical, scenic and landscape elements of the MONAs can be evidenced, contributing to a correct compatibility between human occupation and nature conservation in these territories.