What factors can influence children's perception of forests today and in the future?

Abstract

Ethnobiological studies regarding the environmental perception of children are still infrequent, creating a gap in the understanding of factors that influence the process of developing perception in this phase of life. Therefore, this study sought to verify the influence of some factors, such as contact with natural environments, gender, and age in elementary school students, between 11 and 15 years of age, about remnants of the Atlantic Forest, present and future. We observed that the elements represented by children did not differ in terms of contact with natural environments, but those who live in rural areas, represented more elements related to usefulness. Additionally, the children in this study did not show significant differences in environmental representations between genders, and an increase in age indicated the loss of ecological knowledge about the natural components of a forest environment, giving way to a more utilitarian and degraded view of the environment. In general, we can state that children have precise perceptions about forest environments, and a negative perspective regarding the future of forests. Furthermore, certain factors may come to have a strong influence on their perception, especially with increasing age and strengthening of culturally established social roles for different genders, which will strongly influence decision-making in favor of forests in the future.