Abstract
In order to safeguard the material and immaterial heritage and to foster delightful experiences for visitors, this investigation aimed to define a Matrix of Priorities for management of Visitation Impacts Management on the Geosites of Araripe UNESCO Global Geopark. With a quantitative approach involving the revision of documents, the methods used in this paper determined what the demands for visitation are as well as the impacts of these demands. We identified the offers for activities and occurrences in the geosites. Using this model, we calculated the following variables: (i) evident impacts, (ii) management profile, (iii) visitor demand and (iv) activity zone. We also classified the recommended management actions and presented the priority matrix. We classified the geosites of Ponte de Pedra, Riacho do Meio and Cachoeira de Missão Velha as requiring immediate or priority management action, in view of the high impacts of visitation evidenced. The geosites of Pedra Cariri, Floresta Petrificada and Parque dos Pterossauros were classified as programmed action, highlighting the difficulty of accessing them and the low demand for visitation. The geosites Pontal de Santa Cruz, Colina do Horto and Batateiras presented the best scores and require feedback action. It is emphasized that the deepening the investigations is required in order to produce and interpret the data complexity that guides the management of a dynamic territory such as a UNESCO Global Geopark.
Highlights
In the 20th century, relevant conceptual frameworks sensitized global organizations, political leaders, and the scientific community in regard to the reflection and discussion of the anthropocentric relationship between humans and nature and its resources
As a research study [56], the data sources used in this investigation were the reports from the geoconservation and geotourism sectors produced during the period from 2016 and 2017, in addition the Strategic Plan and Multicentric Master Plan, which were provided by the administration of the Araripe UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGp) in order to permit the development of this study
Related to the “impacts”, this research allowed us to identify the main visible, perceived and reported occurrences described in the reports of the geoconservation sector, as well as classifying them in order to indicate the prevalence of occurrences of impacts observed in the geosites
Summary
In the 20th century, relevant conceptual frameworks sensitized global organizations, political leaders, and the scientific community in regard to the reflection and discussion of the anthropocentric relationship between humans and nature and its resources. As proposed in “The Tragedy of the Commons”, the emerging need for the development of evaluation, management and environmental planning studies of public areas was emphasized in order to regulate the use of ecosystem resources and to prevent the capacity of the environment to regenerate being exceeded [1,2,3] In this context, the Impact Management Plan is a technical document elaborated from the initial planning to the protected areas, conservation units (UCs), environmental reserves, natural parks and related areas, to zone, normalize, regulate and control areas of interest, with the purpose of equipping technicians and managers about the recognition process in order to prioritize, program and optimize decision-making, considering the limitations of available resources and personnel [4,5]. In the existing protected areas, operationalization is limited, due to the shortage of technical personnel, budgetary deficiencies and few successful experiences in the operationalization of management, configuring relatively poor conditions of visitation for UCs [9,10]
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