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Monday, September 12, 2016

Understanding the community affected by a reserve: volunteer work project

The Itaunas State Park is an amazing natural reserve. Housing five different ecosystems and a turtle
nesting beach, the creation of this preserved area had its consequences on the local community.

The sand dunes that made the region famous were the first to give the population headaches, by moving more than usual, probably due to deforestation, thus, making them move away from the coast line. The park was created to preserve what was left and avoid more destruction. The locals were moved and all sorts of restrictions put in place, so the complaints were plenty.


One of the organisations affiliated with the Itaunas Park is the Tamar project, which protects those nesting places so the marine turtles can be born and go back to the ocean before greedy hands gets to them. They offer volunteer opportunities for biology students, where they gain knowledge and work experience, and help the project achieve its goals.

I was not a biology student, so I offered a research project to the park management, with the objective of giving them a better view of the community complaints and necessities, allowing all of them to improve their relationship.

They accepted their first non-biology volunteer and I started developing my project even before I got there. During my stay, I worked with the other volunteers, teaching visitors how to enjoy the reserve without affecting its beauty and value, guided them through the museum with exhibitions about the local culture and natural history and participated in the tasks required to care about the eggs, the great sighting of giant turtles laying them and the touching moments of life hatching off the sand.

Alongside that inspiring work I recorded interviews with prominent locals, following a questionnaire developed to listen to their problems faced due to the creation of the park and its limitations. The answers were sorted and and a report with the results analysis and suggestions delivered to the reserve’s management.

The whole experience was very rich and I learned a lot in those two months there. If i could, I would love to have stayed more to try some of my ideas to improve that human ecosystem that needed so much help.



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