Educação ambiental e gestão participativa: das denúncias nos órgãos ambientais do estado do Amazonas, de 2010 a 2015, à sensibilização da sociedade

Abstract

The global changes of our time herald transformations in the perceptions of the world and the values that guide human conduct and decision making. The discourse of sustainability has highlighted the value of nature and the commodification of the environment that results from neoliberal policies, implying a devaluation of knowledge. The concept of Environment is a complex subject in itself, since the term is used both in the narrow sense and in the broad sense, implying, consequently, in contrasting postures in the treatment of the Environmental Question, related to the nature of the conception. Environmental problems can not be interpreted from simplistic purposes, one must overcome the linear causality models that the traditional scientific method has emphasized throughout its existence. The seriousness of the environmental problem is thus linked to the complexity of its causes and its results. It is impossible to try to understand it or to solve it by analytical procedures, fragmented, taking here and there the parts for the whole, explaining with laws and theories what is, in reality, the crisis of a paradigm. Therefore, the participation of society is of fundamental importance for the process of environmental management. Participatory environmental management requires that Environmental Education fulfill its role of sensitizing, involving, and committing people to the management of problems with the competent public agencies so that legislation can be fulfilled. For this purpose, surveys were carried out between 2000 to 2010 (CASABLANCA and SILVA, 2011), effecting the collection of complaints filed with the environmental agencies of the State of Amazonas, in order to characterize society's participation in the management of environmental problems of the city of Manaus. In continuity, the present research had as general objective to investigate the participation of the society in the period of 2011 to 2015, aiming to design alternatives, based on the reference frames of Environmental Education and Participatory Management, so that society can understand the dimension of the problems and commit itself by denouncing environmental aggressions to the competent bodies, requiring compliance with current legislation. The research was characterized as qualitative research, considering the elements emphasized by Bogdan and Bicklen (1994) since qualitative research has the natural environment as its direct source of data and the researcher as its main instrument; the data collected are predominantly descriptive; the concern with the process is much greater than with the product; the meaning that people give to things and their life are focus of special attention by the researcher; data analysis tends to following an inductive process. It is a Case Study, agreeing with Yin (2005) because it investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context. The research was developed based on participant observation and document analysis. From a perspective of continuity, the research intends to send the proposed alternatives to the Specialized Chamber of the Environment and Agrarian Question of the State of Amazonas, both those constructed by the researches of Casablanca and Bittencourt (2011) as well as the current one, so that the possibility of being used as alternative penalties for the environmental crimes judged can be verified, to allow a reflection on the conduct of the aggressors that compromise the conservation and preservation of the environment.