Contedas na Linha Verde: turismo e conflitos socioambientais da APA Litoral Norte - BA

Abstract

This thesis focused on the socio-environmental conflicts that occurred in the Northern Coast Environmental Protection Area of Bahia (APA-LN/BA) between 1988 and 2017. The concept of event (Shalins, 2003) served as the theoretical and methodological framework for the temporal delimitation of the investigation. In general terms, this concept defines that an occurrence becomes an event for a social group when it is interpreted and elaborated as such and is seen as a turning point in their sociocultural structure. The local population interprets the expansion of the BA-099 (Linha Verde) highway and the implementation of the Sauípe Project (Costa Sauípe Resort) in a way that allows them to be categorized as events. Both were driven by state and federal tourism programs, particularly the National Tourism Development Program (PRODETUR). Thus, the central objective was to analyze the socio-environmental conflicts triggered by these two tourism-related events in the APA-LN/BA. In addition to reviewing relevant literature on the subject and the APA-LN/BA, and analyzing the short documentary “Linha Verde: Estrada Cicatriz” (Linha, 2008), the Environmental Impact Studies and Environmental Impact Reports (EIAs/RIMAs) for these events were also examined. Data was collected from the archives of the newspapers Folha de São Paulo (1990 to 2017) and A Tarde (1988 to 2000), and official documents concerning APAs in Bahia, particularly those related to APA-LN and the PRODETUR-NE I, as well as the planning for Phase II. NVivo software was used for organizing, systematizing, and analytically processing the corpus, except for the EIAs/RIMAs. The triangulation of data sources confirmed that socio-environmental conflicts arose from the aforementioned events, and that some of them evolved over time into impacts of a similar nature. The State/government emerged as a central social actor in promoting the APA-LN/BA as a tourism hub. Furthermore, Odebrecht was one of the main actors in the expansion of the tourism sector in the region, occupying this role with state support at various levels of government.