GLOBAL GEOPARQUES AND ITS SUSTAINABILITY: A STUDY ON GEOPARK ARARIPE
Territory, geoparks, conservation, education and sustainability.
Geoparks are territories with defined limits open to sustainable practices, which include conservation actions, preservation, education and the promotion of tourism in a given region, contributing to territorial development. In Brazil the GeoPark Araripe is in consolidation and the proposals of geoparks are in the process of maturing. Interaction through networks is one of the main mechanisms that geoparks have for strengthening and spreading their mission, which is based on a process that enables social, economic, cultural, environmental, and political wellbeing for the populations. This research presents the work dynamics of GeoPark Araripe - (GA), the first in the Americas and the only one in Brazil, a member of the global network of geoparks, for eleven years of existence in Cariri Ceará for sustainability. In this context, this work has as main objective, to verify the influence of a geopark in its territory, presenting the performance of the Araripe GeoPark in the stimulation and implementation of sustainability. In order to reach the objectives, a methodological outline characterized by a quantitative and qualitative approach was drawn. The subjects of the study include residents of 3 communities close to the geosites that represented the municipalities that make up the GA territory; representatives of the municipal administrations and others of the tourist follow-up as the ones of lodging, receptive tourist and of sales of local products. Data collection instruments consist of systematized observations, semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, fieldwork and consultation of documents and academic productions on geoparks and GeoPark Araripe, as well as photographic records. For data treatment, in relation to documents, a documentary analysis was performed, and the interviews and questionnaires were measured by content analysis, Iramutec software computational tool that works with text mining and lexical analysis and descriptive statistics. Thus, with these tools, it was possible to achieve the objectives outlined, and will present GA's performance in relation to sustainability, which contributes to the sustainable development of the territory in which it is inserted, enabling a better quality of life for people.