Canela and San Francisco de Paula National Forests
CANELA E SÃO FRANCISCO DE PAULA – RIO GRANDE DO SUL
Know, conserve and preserve
A National Forest (FLONA) is a Conservation Unit for Sustainable Use, created to focus on sustainable multiple use of forest resources and scientific research aimed at discovering methods of sustainable exploitation of these native forests. Public visits are allowed, conditioned to the rules established for the unit management.
The National Forests of Canela and São Francisco de Paula, despite their enormous potential, they have few activities for public, endowed with spaces of great natural beauty and attractions not yet structured for visitors.
The study is part of the Project “Development of Public-Private Environmental Partnerships for UC management” (PAPP), which aims to establish management models based on the establishment of institutional arrangements and public-private partnership models aimed at the sustainable use of economic potential of the National Forests. Thus, it aimed to improve the management and conservation of biodiversity, as well as the generation of social and economic benefits for the local and surrounding populations.
The Conservation Units (UC) are located in the Region of Hydrangeas where tourism is already quite consolidated. Analyzing the tourist relevance of the surroundings was the first step in the development of the study, which allowed the identification of the various activities, attractions, uses and services that can influence the demand in the National Forests, resulting in a socioeconomic panorama of the territory.
From the analysis of 18 attractions in the region we could observe the recurrence of activities in the places, verifying that the National Forests are inserted in an area of extreme environmental relevance, where the activities related to ecotourism and recreation are already well consolidated.
Besides the tourist offer in the region, the study allowed us to extract the most important elements for conceptualizing the project: developing the public use of the National Forests and structuring partnerships. Location, access, socioeconomic aspects of the population, profile of tourists, environmental characteristics, identification of current structures and activities for public use were some of the points studied.
A diverse range of activities and services has been proposed to attract new visitors to the UCs. Not only structuring services such as box office, food and transportation were planned, but also the implementation of recreational and ecotourism activities, water activities such as bathing and water sports, accommodation including diversified types in the region, such as glamping, trade for the exhibition and sale of local handicrafts, holding events, activities and elements of education and environmental interpretation.
The National Forest have different characteristics and profiles: The Canela National Forest has potential for cultural and charming tourist activities, while the São Francisco de Paula National Forest has a larger potential for natural activities, attracting more integrated uses with nature and rustic infrastructure. Thus, the construction of Matrix Activities considered unique activities and services that depend on the natural conditions and specificities of each territory.
Developed by a multidisciplinary team, the study also included the elaboration of legal instruments of partnerships applied to UC, preliminary economic and financial modeling, analysis of the cost benefit of the management model and protocols of legal instruments.
