Legislação ambiental, turismo e sustentabilidade na Orla do Guaíba, em Porto Alegre (RS): interfaces entre proteção ambiental e uso turístico

Abstract

The relationship between tourism, environmental protection, and territorial planning constitutes a significant challenge for the management of environmentally sensitive urban destinations, particularly in areas simultaneously subject to environmental conservation and the intensification of tourism, recreational, and social uses. This dissertation aimed to analyze the articulation between environmental legislation and tourism legislation applicable to the Guaíba Waterfront in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, assessing their effectiveness in environmental protection, the regulation of tourism use, and the promotion of sustainable tourism. The research adopts a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive approach, developed through a case study, bibliographic and documentary research, and direct non-participant observation. The documentary analysis encompassed environmental, tourism, urban planning, and territorial regulatory instruments at the federal, state, and municipal levels, considering their articulation, implementation, enforcement, monitoring, and relationship with tourism use of the territory. To systematize this analysis, an effectiveness matrix was developed, which allowed for a comparative assessment of the normative instruments examined. As a complementary empirical procedure, direct observation was conducted at four sites along the Guaíba Waterfront: Usina do Gasômetro, Cais Mauá/Cais Embarcadero, Fundação Iberê Camargo, and Parque Marinha do Brasil. The results revealed the existence of a substantial set of regulatory instruments applicable to the territory, although with different levels of articulation and analyzed through the effectiveness matrix. The main challenges were found to arise not predominantly from the absence of regulations, but from difficulties in coordinating institutional responsibilities, implementation, enforcement, monitoring, and the systematic production of evidence regarding the results achieved. Territorial observation also demonstrated the heterogeneity of tourism, recreational, cultural, and sports uses across the sites analyzed, indicating the need for differentiated management strategies according to the characteristics and intensity of use of each area. It is concluded that environmental and tourism legislation establishes relevant legal and institutional conditions for environmental protection and tourism planning along the Guaíba Waterfront, although its effectiveness varies and is only partially verifiable. The research therefore reinforces that the promotion of sustainable tourism in environmentally sensitive urban territories depends not only on the existence of regulations, but also on the integration of legal instruments, institutions, governance mechanisms, monitoring, and territorial management. This study is linked to the Graduate Program in Tourism and Hospitality at the University of Caxias do Sul (UCS), falling within the research line Tourism, Hospitality, Organizations, and Sustainability. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]