Paisagens, vozes e saberes socioambientais: uma análise dos impactos ambientais na Caatinga em Paripiranga-BA

Abstract

The Caatinga is a biome characterized by its resilience, adapting to climatic and environmental adversities over time. However, the socio-spatial transformations resulting from agricultural expansion have compromised its existence, especially in areas where corn cultivation has grown intensely. The replacement of native vegetation with monocultures significantly modifies the landscape, altering ecological dynamics and directly impacting the social, environmental, and economic relations of the region. Given this scenario, the present research aimed to analyze the intense degradation of the Caatinga in the village of Pau de Colher, in the municipality of Paripiranga, Bahia, in areas where vegetation has been replaced by corn production, through the students' perspective on how they see themselves within the socio-spatial transformation process. Secondary objectives included: (i) identifying the damage caused by the devastation of the Caatinga through corn planting from the students' point of view; (ii) analyzing Environmental Education based on the relationships between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the appreciation of the Caatinga. (iii) to construct a pedagogical catalog composed of images of the different landscapes present in the research area, promoting critical reflections on the environment as a space for living, learning, and producing criticalemancipatory knowledge, focusing on corn monoculture and its socio-environmental impacts on the Caatinga biome. The research was conducted using a qualitative approach, exploring the interactions between nature and society and the socio-environmental impacts observed in the region. Due to its applied nature, the study involved the participation of 5th-grade students from a local public school. Data collection was carried out through a Focus Group, where students could discuss and express their opinions about the landscape they see in the region and express their perceptions of environmental changes through drawings. In addition to the Focus Group, other methodological instruments were used, such as field notebooks and photographic records. The study highlighted the importance of having students as protagonists of change and aware of the entire process of spatial transformation and how this reflects in everyday consequences. The students, in their statements, offered critical perspectives on the changes they perceived, but did not actively participate in the process, remaining on the sidelines of everything that happens. Therefore, the didactic product is the result of the research, materialized as a pedagogical catalog. This catalog includes photographs that serve as a pedagogical tool for classroom use, as well as pedagogical strategies that increase students' commitment to caring for their own territory.