HEALTH CARE IN ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION UNITS IN AMAZONAS: CONFLICT OF COMPETENCY OR RESPONSIBILITY ISSUE?

Abstract

This article analyzes the discursive representations in the collective thinking of socio-environmentalists about the competencies and responsibilities of the policy of protected areas with the attention to the health of the riverside populations. The method is an exploratory descriptive of qualitative approach based on the collective thinking of socioenvironmentalists working in the protected areas policy of Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve from seven interviews collected through a semi-structured script which were analyzed by the Collective Subject Discourse technique. Respondents express knowledge about the constitutional competences of the municipality with health, but they have difficulty in dialogue with the city halls on the subject; the responsibilities of the management of conservation units (UC) and public non-state organizations that work in support of co-management are attributed the responsibility as to captain the public policies and the formulator of scientific information for the improvement of local health. The absence of dialogue adds to the lack of a public agenda within the scope of environmental policy. There are experiences of access to health in the rural area adapted to the socio-environmental context of the reserve, however, these suffer discontinuity. The discursive representations of the collective thinking of socioenvironmentalists express knowledge about municipal competences with health and concerns regarding meeting these needs. The meeting of social needs is organized in a conflictual manner, and this is due to the lack of coordination between the various institutions that operate in this territory. The decentralization of competences and responsibilities over natural resources through the co-management of UCs imposed new roles and authorities on the territories.