Práticas cinegéticas em unidades de conservação da floresta atlântica no estado da Paraíba, Nordeste do Brasil.

Abstract

The Atlantic Forest is one of the most complex Brazilian biomes, with high species richness and endemism. In contrast, it is also the biome with the largest number of endangered species. In the Northeast Region of Brazil this situation is more serious, with less than 0.5% of the original Atlantic Forest. In the state of Paraíba, more than 60% of the forest cover has been lost, leaving only small fragments scattered and over-exploited, including the hunting activity (historically and culturally important locally, but by setting a threat to biodiversity). Before this scenario, we recorded the hunting practices in Conservation Areas of the Atlantic Forest in the State of Paraíba, using as tools some methodologies of ethnozoology, oral history and environmental history, establishing conservation priorities of the local fauna and better understand the relationship between society and nature in these areas. The present study advances while allowing the integration of zoological, historical and conservationist aspects in the determination of hunting pressures and perceptions about fauna resources in the Conservation Areas studied. This work joined forces with the main Public Institutions of Higher Education of the State of Paraíba, together with Environmental Protection and Management Organs (ICMBio and Paraíba Military Environmental Police), in order to promote the conservation of the local Atlantic Forest, including the University Campina Grande as an active participant in this partnership. With the dissemination of the data of the present study, it is hoped to provide the scientific academy with consistent information that will contribute to reinforce the foundations of the research in Ethnozoology and Environmental History. It is also hoped to make available to the relevant environmental agencies, important and unpublished information on the universe of the inhabitants of the surroundings of the Conservation Areas studied. It is hoped that the work will arouse interest of the environmental agencies for the knowledge generated, using it in the planning and inspection of the activities of fauna exploration, as well as making effective the involvement of the inhabitants of the surroundings of the Conservation Areas in the discussions about the obtaining of these resources, in order to contribute to the conservation of the species.