Perspectives for Ecotourism in the Conservation Units of the City of Porto Alegre

Abstract

 In an urban metropolis such as Porto Alegre, which integrates a Metropolitan Region made up of 34 municipalities, which point to an estimated population of 4 million inhabitants, actions that promote quality of life and well-being for the populations are demands of today. Porto Alegre has traditionally been recognized as a city with many natural spaces, in a municipal green public area that totals 21,537,572m² or 15.28 m²/inhabitant. Areas that, according to municipal legislation, have nature conservation as their main objective. Thus, Ecotourism and its ability to foster sustainable development and nature conservation, instigated this research, which aimed to highlight the existence of potential for ecotourism in public conservation units in Porto Alegre. As specific objectives, it aimed to characterize ecotourism in urban metropolises; identify the visiting practices offered and analyze the potential for the development of the segment in the studied UCs, being the Municipal Natural Park Saint´ Hilaire, the Natural Park Morro do Osso, the Refúgio de Vida Silvestre São Pedro and the State Park Delta do Jacuí. As a methodology, there was a qualitative research, which used a quantitative tool through a questionnaire in electronic format, developed in Google Forms and applied in October 2020. As results, all objectives were achieved, leading to the conclusion that the public UCs in the city of Porto Alegre have potential for the development of Ecotourism and direct the public use of these units, as a tool for nature conservation and quality of life.