Processos cognitivos relacionados à transformação da floresta Amazônica: um estudo com adolescentes e jovens de Manaus e da RDS Uatumã

Abstract

Despite their renowned value as repositories of biodiversity and in the regulation of the global climate, tropical forests are being destroyed at an alarming rate. To slow this devastation and preserve these ecosystems for future generations, it’s necessary that we understand the factors which bring persons to destroy them. In the present study, I investigated the cognitive aspects which subsidized the decisions of adolescents and youths of the city of Manaus (urban area) and the Uatumã Sustainable Develoment Reserve (rural area) as they transformed or conserved the tropical forest. To investigate these cognitive elements, a variation of the clinical interview method of Piaget was used, where the interviewer invited the subject to execute a task involved the symbolic transformation of the Forest. After concluding the task, the interviewer presented arguments and contra-arguments to the subject regarding the transformations which he performed. The results were then recorded and analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively in order to identify cognitive elements pertinent to the study. Two qualitative indexes, the level of understanding about the forest (NESF) and the index of green value (IVV), were evaluated through the analysis of the results of the interview and the transformation task. Two quantitative indexes, the index of conservation knowledge (ICC) and the index of technical knowledge (ICT) were also evaluated through the analysis of the results of the transformation task. NESF varied significantly among subjects as a function of age, schooling, and local. The understanding of adolescents and youths about the forest varied between diffused/ undifferentiated and systemic indicated a gradual increase in the complexity of concepts. The level of the knowledge the youths and adolescents about the forest was greater in the city of Manaus than in the RDS Uatumã and increased gradually with age and schooling. The ICC also varied significantly as a function of schooling and local, increasing gradually with educational level and showing higher average levels in Manaus than in the RDS Uatumã. The significance and value attributed to the forest by youths and adolescents varied with local, age and educational level. The decision to transform the forest depended on the balance between the values attributed to the natural and constructed environments, which depended on the level of knowledge about these environments and the social necessities of the subjects involved.