Aplicação da adaptação da metodologia de capacidade de suporte de cifuentes em comparação com a metodologia nbv: parque estadual do Ibitipoca, Minas Gerais, Brasil.

Abstract

As the search for natural areas grows, the pressure on natural areas also grows, because the lack of planning and control over the number of people who frequent them, as well as the lack of guidance to the visiting public can cause degradations to the environment. The systems of Protected Natural Areas (PNA) have in the category "Parks" the most illustrative and recognized PNA, due to the possibility of public use and circulation on trails. Therefore, the Brazilian parks live the dilemma of environmental protection versus visitation, which is assured by the legislation that originated them. The "Parque Estadual do Ibitipoca (PEIb)" is the most visited park in Minas Gerais, a unique and fragile place because of its quartzite formations, further evidencing the need for monitoring. Thus, research that contemplates the planning and management of tourism activities becomes of utmost importance, and several methodologies have been created and adapted for this purpose. About 65% of the load capacity studies applied Cifuentes' (1992) methodology, while the NBV methodology proposed by ICMBio was used by the State Forest Institute in the "Addendum to the Management Plan of the Parque Estadual do Ibitipoca ". With that said, this work proposes the application of the adaptation of the Cifuentes methodology proposed by Rocha (2021) in the PEIb's "Circuito das Águas" in comparison with the application of the NBV methodology proposed by ICMBio and also applied by Silva (2020). To this end, researchers walked the trails of this circuit in November 2022, in which data were collected with GNSS Navigation receivers. On the trails, occurrences involving flooding, erosion, exposed roots and stretches with vegetation cover were mapped. The application of the adaptation proposed by Rocha (2021) indicated a total of 87 visitors for the "Circuito das Águas". On the other hand, the application of the NBV in Silva (2020) resulted in 852 visitors for the same circuit. The numbers show that the Cifuentes methodology, which originates the adaptation proposed by Rocha et. at., 2021, is adequate in small size parks, such as PEIb. On the other hand, the NBV is not suitable for application in PNAs that have more than one attraction along the same trail, being indicated for large open spaces, underscoring the conclusion of Silva (2020). The results for the adaptation of Rocha et. al. (2021) also demonstrates that: flooding, erosion, exposed roots and vegetation are crucial for the visitors' carrying capacity, since the simulation made considering the "Circuit" without the referred occurrences resulted in a total of 146 visitors.