Municipal private natural heritage reserves: Uses and attributions of natural protected areas in the City of Curitiba (PR)

Abstract

The creation of protected natural areas has been one of the main global strategies for biodiversity conservation, ensuring human well-being and ecosystems preservation. Most nations of the world, concerned about conservation and trying to reverse the picture of environmental imbalances, have sought to establish legal measures to protect and regulate land use in their territories. Among the main regulatory instruments are the Conservation Units (CU). In the city of Curitiba, Paraná (Brazil), public policies and legal and fiscal mechanisms have been implemented aiming to conserve private green areas. The city has about 20% of its area covered by forests, equivalent to more than 78 million m2 and about 75% of this area, still covered by forest, located in private properties and 25% in public areas. In this context, in 2006 the Law No. 12080 was approved, which encourages the creation and maintenance of the Municipal Private Natural Heritage Reserves (RPPNM) in Curitiba. Given the potential of the public policy, the RPPNM institutionalized in the municipality makes it possible to broaden spaces of natural protection with low public investment and even combine employment and income generation with conservation. Thus, in this chapter, the objective is to analyze the entrepreneurial capacity of a successful reserve, the Airumã RPPNM. To achieve this purpose, bibliographical and documentary researches have been conducted, as well as an interview with the owner of the unit.