Presentation

Ecotourism & Conservation Journal

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Discussions about the number of journals, the difficulty in classifying them, and predatory productivism, among others, will always take place at the time to analyze the viability of a new journal.

Thus, why should Ecotourism & Conservation be launched? First, because it is a technical-scientific journal with specific and delimited scope. The aim of Ecoturismo & Conservação is to help spreading data, information and analysis on ecotourism in protected areas in Brazil and to encourage the debate on this topic.

It is so, because the collection of official information and data (Ministries of the Environment and Tourism, State Departments, environmental agencies, among others) from research institutions and other organizations that play prominent role in this topic will contribute to the debate about, and to better understanding, ecotourism in its social, environmental and cultural dimensions. However, environmental conflicts and the exclusion of traditional communities from decision-making processes persist due to lack of resources to manage protected areas, which is one of the main obstacles to ecotourism in the country. Therefore, it is necessary making data, information and research results about the ecotourism-protected areas’ interface available in appropriate language for the overall population. Initiatives, such as creating spaces and developing actions to promote and debate the topic in order to include individuals - who have been historically made invisible by consolidated scientific communication means - are compatible to both nature and the proposal of the Professional Master’s Degree in Ecotourism & Conservation this journal is linked to. UNIRIO’s Master’s Degree in Ecotourism & Conservation is the first strict-sensu program with specific area of concentration focused on addressing the ecotourism-conservation interface. The Program is evaluated in CAPES’s Environmental Sciences field. Thus, a technical-scientific and interdisciplinary journal will provide a scientific dissemination vehicle compatible to the expansion of professional programs and of multi- and interdisciplinary research.

Theoretical contributions, traditional knowledge, the investigation and improvement of techniques, methods and processes involving ecotourism management and Brazilian sociobiodiversity conservation should be the focus of studies to be published in Ecoturismo & Conservação.

Therefore, Ecoturismo & Conservação is an innovative product that was created at PPGEC/UNIRIO scope to consolidate itself as technical-scientific vehicle to publish simplified reports on ecotourism in protected areas, with emphasis on obstacles, potentials, subjects and conflicts, articles, reports and technical-scientific essays. Ecoturismo & Conservação is an open access journal to be published on a yearly basis. In addition to researchers, its target audience comprises managers of both protected areas and the public sector in the tourism and environmental fields, national and international institutions focused on conducting research in associated fields, as well as representatives of groups who are affected by visitations in protected areas or who work in this segment.

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