Tourism and Socio-Environmental Conflicts: Challenges and Possibilities for Mediation in the Development of Tourist Activity in Protected Areas of Amapa
Tourism. Socio-environmental conflicts. Protected areas. Conflict mediation.
This paper presents the theoretical concepts of the thesis project “Tourism and Socio-Environmental Conflicts: Challenges and Possibilities of Mediation in the Development of Tourism in Protected Areas of Amapa”. With a significant theme in the current national situation, the problem consists of analyzing the challenges and possibilities of applying the Mediation institute in the resolution of conflicts as an effective means, enabling the development of Tourism in Protected Areas of Amapa, identifying the capacity and/or incapacity of tourism management to improve the quality of life of the host populations and boost the economy of local communities. Regarding the methodological nature of the research, it is a Descriptive-Exploratory Study, with a qualitative-quantitative approach. The locus of this research will be the Conservation Units in the State of Amapa with tourism practices, where a proposal for conflict mediation will be carried out. Regarding the techniques, documentary and bibliographic research will be carried out, as well as field studies with exploratory, semi- structured interviews and virtual research with tourism managers from federal, state and municipal agencies in the state of Amapa, as well as representatives of traditional communities, with analysis and use of graphs and the Likert scale in some questions. The expected results are: a) To identify the Conservation Units in the state of Amapa and which of them develop tourism practices; b) To analyze the conditions of tourism governance in the Conservation Units of Amapa and diagnose which ones present conflicts associated with tourism; c) To verify the challenges and possibilities of conflict resolution in the development of tourism activities in protected areas of Amapa. Our hypothesis is that the application of the Mediation institute in the resolution of socio-environmental conflicts in protected areas can be an effective path, enabling the sustainable development of tourism activities, assisting in the conservation of the environment and in the management of tourism, improving the quality of life of the host populations and boosting the economy of traditional communities.