Process of local development and environmental preservation of a locality in southern Brazil

Abstract

In the south of the island of Santa Catarina, Brazil, the local de velopment process has taken a different direction from those observed in other parts of Brazil and the world. The place where the research which led to this article was developed, for various generations, place of living and working of small farmers who had all of their lands cultivated, leaving little of the native forest preserved. The process of local and regional development privileged tourism and environmental conservation, leading the people who lived there to search for jobs in other regions and to stop working on the land, which caused important social and environmental impacts: the hil is became “native forests to be conserved” and the belonging of the people to the place was the place was then made based on the social inequalities caused by the contact with occasional and seasonal tourists.