Socio-Environmental Problems Arising from Urbanization and Tourism: Lagoa das Capivaras, Garopaba (SC), Brazil Case Study

Abstract

The municipalities of the Brazilian coast have been experiencing an accelerated demographic growth in the last decades, followed by the destruction of the coastal ecosystems. This study aimed at understanding, through the memory of Garopaba residents, the changes occurred in two lagoons located in the center of the municipality, the Lagoa das Capivaras and Lagoa Pequena. The latter was grounded for the implementation of a real estate development, while the former is undergoing a serious process of degradation. The qualitative research was carried out through in-depth interviews with 25 local residents. The results demonstrate that the alterations suffered by the lagoons and their surroundings must be understood in parallel to the processes of urbanization and the growth of mass tourism in Garopaba. These processes are linked to the construction of spaces for leisure for middle and high classes and the distancing of the locals from these most noble spaces of the municipality. Given this context, it is necessary to implement integrated and shared coastal management programs with the local community, in order to minimize the effects of this evolutionary tendency and to recover the affected areas, as well as the search for new models of development, seeking an environmental and social conception for the coastal zone.