Rural voices and protected areas: the environmental perception of small rural owners about the natural resources: Vozes do campo e áreas protegidas: a percepção ambiental de pequenos proprietários rurais sobre os recursos naturais

Resumen

Perceptions on the environment provided by the Oral History approach enabledan understanding of the historical and social-ecological context regarding natural resources on the part of residents neighboring on a Conservation Unit (CU), in the NationalForest of Ritápolis, Minas Gerais State, Brazil.The resident’s lack of engagement with the management of the CU is a reflexion of an environmental policy based on traditional conservationist practices which leads to a non-identification of the residents with the protected area, resulting in negative perceptions about the role of CU and its administration. This situation culminates in a conflict based on different concepts of territoriality.