O conceito de capacidade de carga aplicado á Carta de Desporto Natureza do Parque Natural da Arrábida na vertente pedestrianismo

Mestrado em Arquitectura Paisagista - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaTourism is presently the main economical activity in terms of creation of employment and income. It is responsible for approximately 10.4% of the worldwide Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2007). The tourism activities of leisure, entertainment and adventure in nature have also been growing. One estimates that they have reached an annual growth of 10% to 30% since 1998, representing 20% of the whole worldwide travel market (The International Ecotourism Society, 2006). In fact, talking of tourism in Protected Areas (PA) seems to mean that something has been changing both in consciousnesses and in knowledge for the last years. The need to regulate the touristic activity, in order to make it more environmentally friendly, has been achieving popularity. Nowadays this theme is gaining its proper weight and value (Burnay, 2000). PA, covering an area of almost 7.4% of the national territory, are places of numerous attractions for the growing search of outdoor activities in natural environments (Correia, 2000). This is the reality of Arrábida Natural Park (ANP) which emerges as an area of high natural value and holds a privileged situation on the whole Metropolitan Area of Lisbon, stimulating great search and use, both seasonally and at weekends. It is fundamental and absolutely necessary that the management of this PA, due to its sensitiveness, anticipates the eventual negative effects of the touristic activity, establishing the ecosystems Carrying Capacity (CC) and understanding the kind of use and profile of those who experiment it. The vulnerability to which PA are exposed appeals to the need of creating touristic rules which fit their environmental characteristics. Therefore, the creation of the National Program of Nature Tourism (NPNT), in 1999, has partly given an answer to this demand. This program wishes to promote and to establish the values and potentialities of these spaces, highlighting the specialisation of a touristic activity called Nature Tourism (NT) and, consequently, the creation of suitable touristic products (Rodrigues, no date). NT is a touristic product which finds in the National Network of Protected Areas (NNPA) the privileged spaces for its fulfilment. It aims a greater contact with nature, historical monuments, populations and their traditions. Amongst all the offers which compose the NT are the so called Nature Sports (NS). Hiking emerges from a wide list of sportive practices as one of the most practiced by those who visit the PA. NNPA also foresee the elaboration of Nature Sport Map (NSM) in order to make the practice of NS compatible with the preservation of natural resources. They regulate these activities and minimize the negative impacts on patrimony. Since their implementation involves an addition of the number of visitants, it is essential to establish and respect the CC of the locals where all the NT modalities are practised in the respective PA (Parque Natural da Arrábida, no date). In this manner, the concept of CC emerged as a useful tool for the land-use planning, contributing to the elaboration of the NSM.Consequently, the main question of this work can be explained in the following way: How to conciliate the conservation of the natural resources and the quality of the landscape in PA with leisure and recreation in pedestrian trails. According to the mentioned above, the following goals were defined to build up this thesis: To characterize and frame the whole of nature tourism in all its different modality, focusing on hiking; To describe and frame the concept of Carrying Capacity and the most representative methodologies; To characterize the profile of the Formosinho trail visitors and the existent ecological conditions; To suggest management rules based on the path wished conditions. The elaboration of this work aims to contribute to hiking planning inside ANP, making use of Formosinho trail as study case. The choice of this trail, as study case, is based on the ANP concern in the determination of its CC, once it is one of the most searched as well as one of the most problematic, within its limits. It is important to develop a methodology which determines the CC of this trail and to suggest management rules which contribute to the creation of a method based on ecological and sociological criteria. These should seek the creation of natural values which are compatible with the human presence, especially by improving the recreation and visit conditions. The determination of the CC established model doesn’t wish to be a universal formula of application. It is necessary to evaluate the characteristics of each study case. Nevertheless, it introduces an important basis for rigorous and easily applicable results. The study of carrying capacity was actually based on the analyses of trail biophysics sensibility, and this one indicates to be high. According to the biophysics susceptibility and particularities, the trail shall be subject to certain standards of management proposals that strive for protection of resources and environmental restoration and landscape when the degradation has appeared. The objectives of the proposals are focused on compatibility of the natural values (topography, vegetation, geological-pedagogical substrate) with improvement of recreation and visiting possibilities, all based on the analysis. In this context, the main premise for both the reconciliation of nature conservation and enjoyment for hikers is to safeguard the parts that are from the ecological standpoint most sensitive, to regenerate the areas that are degraded or under the degradation process and set the Carrying Capacity to minimize the negative impacts associated with hiking. The gathered information was an important analysis instrument to elaborate controlling proposals of the existing impacts. These proposals should be included in an eventual management program of the Formosinho trail or of the ANP pedestrian trails, within the NSC. It is important that a study as this may be applied periodically so that the changes within an ecological and sociological context are kept up-to-date. These changes should also be considered in the refocusing of the management actions. They should be carried out by multidisciplinary teams, receiving the contribution and the enrichment of several subjects