THE PRINCIPLE OF SOCIAL PARTICIPATION AND THE SEARCH OF TERRITORIES DEFENSE

AN ANALYSIS UNDER THE PRISM OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND THE PROTECTION INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN THE PERIOD 2017-2022

Abstract

Considering the importance of implementing/observing the Principle of Social Participation in the environmental area, specifically in the defense and protection of land and territories, the aim is to understand how government public policies have met the demands presented by representatives of social movements for the defense of land and indigenous people. The research uses the deductive method to address, firstly, the existing interface between social participation and the protection of the environment, and then understand the perspective of social actors in government meetings that create public policies for the defense of land and traditional territories. For this, the content of the records of agro-environmental movements and traditional populations, made in open letters, repudiation notes, minutes of government meetings, etc., are analyzed, concerning the employed values by these movements for the protection of the environment. It is possible to show, then, that the Principle of Social Participation does not represent only the participation of various social and political actors in public hearings, but rather, it consists of an instrument of true social action through the search for the realization of rights, which allows us to conclude that this principle represents the dynamic cooperation of citizens, in the face of conflictual situations that have put at risk the integrity of fundamental human rights.