O QUE PENSAM AS LIDERANÇAS DE SÃO TOMÉ DAS LETRAS SOBRE AS QUESTÕES AMBIENTAIS DO MUNICÍPIO

Abstract

The municipality of Sao Tome das Letras is located in the southern Minas Gerais State, in the western Mantiqueira Range, at the Rio Grande Basin, in a transition zone between the Cerrado and the Atlantic Forest. It has 6.655 habitants, altitude varying de 870m a 1436m and its economy is based on three main activities: the mining of quartzite (pedra sao tome), which employs 70% of the active population, agriculture and tourism. This work aims to study the environmental perception of leaders of the municipality. Three hypothesis were formed: 1) leaders has restrict vision about environment at understand it at a group of natural resources, excluding human people 2) know superficially the environmental problems of the city and 3) yours conservationist reasons are anthropocentric. Sixty three individuals were interviewed individually by semi-structural interview (social, political, economical, educational, environmental, cultural, religious, sportive, communitarian associations and public institutions segments). The results indicated that the interviewed known about the environmental problems of the city, especially those of mining, and theirs reasons to conservation are anthropocentric and utilitarian. Socioambiental sustainability at the municipality will depends on accords among workers, class that has the economical powerful, legal representants of the community and the leaders of fiscalization and structuration of the mainly economical activities: quartzite mining and tourism.