Ecosystem services and the perception of beach visitors in Pernambuco

Abstract

Ecosystem services are tangible and intangible benefits provided by ecosystems that benefit human well-being. The aim of the present research is to address these services’ distribution throughout the Recife and Jaboatão dos Guararapes’ beaches, Northeastern Brazil. The importance of acknowledging how ecosystem services affect beach environments, which were modified by uncontrolled urbanization in the Brazilian coast, and the consequent erasure of this region’s ecosystems are quite clear. Rates recorded for pre-selected parameters resulting from data collection evidenced significant ecosystem services’ loss in places presenting higher urbanization rates, such as Candeias and Boa Viagem counties, which present short extension beach line due to coastal erosion. Results from 120 semi-structured questionnaires have shown that beach visitors see these environments as important element for human well-being maintenance, as well as encourage environmental education practices and conservation-related public policies. Highlighting how ecosystem services are organized and affect urban beaches is essential for decisions made about projects aimed at wakening visitors and residents’ awareness about them, but to make this population think of mitigation actions to reduce the impacts of the herein shown loss on them, in the long run.