This article seeks an understanding of several aspects of the disputes and conflicts that emerge around the implementation of a Nature Reserve or Reserva Biológica (a conservation unit that is characterized by its particular restrictions on human presence) at Aventureiro Beach, on Ilha Grande, an island in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Our analytical perspective is based on the notion of the construction of a symbolic world focused on urban centers - the metropoles of nation-states - which runs through the "national" space at all levels, represented,in particular, by Law and legislation. The question of belief is seen as a basis for the legitimation of this new juridical order and of the actions of specific agents in the social world. Thus, emphasis is given to the influence of a specific life style shared by urban groups that tend to classify both "nature" and populations they consider "traditional" as "others", "exotic" vis-à-vis their urban environment. This brings us to the assumption that the Brazilian State, responsible for environmental tutelage, plays a similar role with regard to the populations that live within these conservation units, reserving for them a different type of citizenship, one in which a series of particular rights and restrictions create a particular social configuration. Through this case, it becomes possible to observe disputes regarding the legitimation of territories instituted by the State and those that have been shaped by local collective action.
Environmental Conflict; Tutelage; Environmental Law