"Oil spills in coastal areas: a study about risk perception in Caraguatatuba e São Sebastião, north coast of São Paulo"

Abstract

Given the current development model, where the energy is considered critical to the economy and directly related to improving the quality of life of communities, there is increasingly directed the establishment of enterprises for the exploitation of energy resources in locations previously occupied by communities, entering thus the technological risks in the daily life of residents. The risks addressed by this proposal are the physical (explosions, leaks) of enterprises in the oil and natural gas, represented by TEBAR in São Sebastião and Caraguatatuba with the Projeto Mexilhão, both located on the northern coast of São Paulo and the responsibility of Petrobras .It is intended to investigate the factors and criteria involved in the construction of risks in communities that live daily with risks inherent to the activities of the industry through the analysis of individual and collective perception of the residents of the study area, from a qualitative methodology, with application of semi-structured interviews in the area of direct and indirect influence of the enterprises. It also aims to contribute to work already underway in the region and based at the Núcleo de Pesquisas Ambientais (NEPAM) as "Urban Growth, Adaptation and Vulnerability: social and ecological dimensions of climate change on the Coast of São Paulo"(FAPESP -PFPMCG, process n. 2008/58159-7) and "Global environmental changes, vulnerability, risk and subjectivity: a study on the North Coast Paulo" (FAPESP, process n. 2010 / 20811-5).