Atalaia community, Canavieiras municipality, state of Bahia, Brazil: an analysis from the perspective of environmental sustainability

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the environmental sustainability of the traditional Atalaia community, in the municipality of Canavieiras, Bahia, Brazil. The research undertaken uses a qualitative and quantitative approach. For this purpose, sustainability indicators were used, covering the social, economic, and natural resources dimensions. The scale adopted was the ordinal from 0 to 4, with the following intervals: from 0 to < 0.8 (critical sustainability); from 0.8 to < 1.6 (low sustainability); from 1.6 to < 2.4 (average sustainability); from 2.4 to < 3.2 (medium-high sustainability); and from 3.2 to 4 (high sustainability). The results of the study show that, in general, the community of Atalaia has average environmental sustainability, general index of 2.100. In all three dimensions considered, an average environmental sustainability was also achieved, in the social dimension it obtained 2.238, in the economic dimension it obtained 1.686 and in the dimension of natural resources it obtained 2,377. The aspects of health and transportation infrastructure were those identified by the community as the ones most in need of attention and improvement actions. This indicates the need to implement effective actions aimed at these issues.

Keywords
local development; traditional populations; extractive reserve