Sustentabilidade e meio ambiente: a percepção dos moradores da região metropolitana de Belém, Pará, Amazônia, Brasil.

Abstract

Wirth the disorderly advance of urban centers, there is a growing concern about the unrestrained use of natural resources, as well as the damages caused to the environment from anthropic activities. In the capital of Pará, the lack of public policies aimed at conservation and non-investment in environmental education for the population are causing Belém to reign among the most polluted Brazilian capital cities and with serious problems of basic sanitation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the environmental perception of the inhabitants of the metropolitan area of Belém, Pará, Amazônia, Brazil. The research was developed in the Metropolitan Region of Belém, covering the municipalities of Belém, Ananindeua and Marituba, in the first half of 2018, through the application of a questionnaire with closed questions. We collected perceptions about the environment, garbage in the city, collective transportation, sanitary issues and environmental education. It was observed in the data on environmental issues that the interviewees have notions about the environment, the damages, causes and consequences of environmental aggressions, but few are willing to act to reverse the situation. As for the perception of garbage in the city, the interviewees reported that it is a problem of all and that causes damage to health and the environment, however, the irregular deposit of garbage in prohibited places like streets, canals and vacant lots is constant. Collective transportation is of poor quality, uncomfortable and challenging combined with a chaotic road system. In the perception about basic sanitation more than 70% reported not knowing if there is sewage treatment and if their street has adequate sewage collection. Regarding the perception of environmental education, approximately 60% of the interviewees reported that environmental education contributes to the preservation of the environment, which should be present in all forms of social organization and that the population is also responsible for the environment. In this way, it is possible to observe a strong relation between the inhabitants of the metropolitan region and the environment, where preservation is an objective to be achieved, requiring greater joint effort of those involved. The disregard for the discarding of garbage irregularly on public roads is part of the local society, which culturally partly presents in its perception little concern about the negative and disastrous effects that result from disregard for the environment. The collective transport still needs improvements and more investments, in more modern vehicles, comfortable and of quality. The lack of sanitation is a worsening of the population's quality of life and environmental damage. Environmental education is imperative to motivate the actors of their responsibilities as citizens for personal, local and regional transformation.