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Berg är särskilt känsliga för mänskliga influenser och eftersom turism kan förstärka effekterna av klimatförändringar på dessa områden är det därför viktigt med god förvaltning och anpassning för att minska risker och påverkan (Knight, 2022; Flousek m.fl., 2015). För att nå en hållbar utveckling och undvika missförstånd eller konflikter är det vidare viktigt att föra in lokala invånare bland andra aktörer i beslutsfattande (Wall-Reinius & Prince, 2019; Demirović m.fl., 2018). Syftet med denna studie är att förse Arjeplogs kommun med bakgrundsinformation om vilka förväntningar som kan finnas angående en potentiellt ökad besöksnäring som kan ligga till grund för utformningen av en handlingsplan för hållbar turism. Detta genom att lyfta lokala invånares och relevanta aktörers perspektiv på vad som kan behöva göras i framtiden för att fortsätta utvecklingen mot en hållbar turism. Resultaten baseras på svar från öppna frågor genom kvalitativa intervjuer med aktörer som verkar eller lever i Arjeplog. Bakgrundsinformation om tidigare och nuvarande insatser inom hållbar turism från svenska fjällkommuner tillsammans med begreppet hållbar turism används för att formulera frågorna. Studien visar att lokala invånare ser framtida möjligheter till utveckling i hållbar turism inom områden som avfallshantering, utvecklad kollektivtrafik, informations- och kunskapsspridning och året-runt-turism. Framförallt visar resultaten på utvecklingspotential inom governance där invånarna känner sig hörda och förstådda utan att det ensamma ansvaret för handling läggs på dem. Diskussionen leder fram till en slutsats att adaptive governance och community-based tourism är bäst lämpade att applicera på kontexten. / Mountains are particularly sensitive to human impact and because tourism can amplify the effects of climate change on these areas, it is therefore important to have good management and adaptation to reduce risks and impacts (Knight, 2022; Flousek m.fl., 2015). To reach sustainable development and avoid misunderstandings or conflicts it is important to bring in local residents among other actors in decision making (Wall-Reinius & Prince, 2019; Demirović m.fl., 2018). The purpose of this study is to provide Arjeplog municipality with background information about what expectations there may be regarding a potentially increased tourism industry that can form the basis for the design of an action plan for sustainable tourism. This is achieved by analyzing the perspective of the local population and relevant actors on what may need to be done in the future to continue the development towards sustainable tourism. The results are based on answers from open-ended questions through qualitative interviews with actors operating or living in Arjeplog. Background information about previous and current efforts in sustainable tourism from Swedish mountain municipalities together with the term sustainable tourism is used for formulating the questions. The study shows that local inhabitants see future possibilities for development within sustainable tourism in areas such as waste management, developed public transport, dissemination of information and knowledge and year-round tourism. Above all, the results show development potential in governance where local residents feel heard and understood without the sole responsibility for action being placed on them. The discussion leads to a conclusion that adaptive governance and community-based tourism are best suited to apply to the context.

Benefiting from the process of globalisation and becoming an information and knowledge society, has become the vision for many governments throughout the world. However, as it has been demonstrated in this thesis, becoming an information and knowledge society is much easier for developed countries that already possess some of the prerequisite criteria, such as an efficient and effective ICT infrastructure. By investing in such an infrastructure, the interaction and exchange of data, information, and knowledge from a local knowledge system with the global knowledge system is enabled. Through this two-way flow of information, the other criteria these countries have to comply with are stimulated, making it much easier and faster for these countries to achieve their goal. However, for the developing countries that are still in the grip of the digital divide, the goal of becoming information and knowledge societies seem nearly unattainable. Owing to this digital divide that is experienced by developing countries, combined with other barriers such as the social barriers that include the overall health and education level of citizens, the citizens of these countries cannot take part in the interaction and exchange process. Thus, this interaction and exchange process cannot aid these countries in complying with the other criteria needed to become information and knowledge societies, and in this way, the progress of developing countries towards becoming information and knowledge societies are seriously hampered. How does the interaction and exchange of data, information, and knowledge between developing countries’ local knowledge systems and the global knowledge system contribute to their development and positive participation in the global information and knowledge society? This is the research question that has guided this thesis. To get an answer to this question the author addressed the following issues:<ul> <li>The author sketched the theoretical foundation of this thesis by providing a brief historical perspective of the Information Science domain. This provided a better understanding of concepts such as data, information, knowledge, global-, western-, and scientific knowledge as well as indigenous-, traditional-, and local knowledge as applied in this thesis. The underlying relationship between these concepts were also explored. Furthermore, the phenomenon of the global information and knowledge society was discussed as one of the opportunities presented by globalisation.</li> <li>The author then analysed the criteria of the information and knowledge society as discussed in Chapter 3, and identified indicators that the stated criteria are constructed from. To investigate whether developed countries are information and knowledge societies, these indicators were applied to Norway and the USA. It was concluded that both countries comply with the stated criteria and are thus information and knowledge societies. </li> <li>The author followed the same method of investigation and applied the indicators identified in Chapter 4 to two developing countries, namely Niger and South Africa. It was concluded that both these countries do not comply with the stated criteria and, thus, are not information and knowledge societies. Furthermore, barriers were identified by the author that inhibit these countries from becoming information and knowledge societies.</li> <li>Lastly, the author discussed proposed solutions and recommendations that can be used to overcome the various barriers that inhibit the progress of developing countries becoming information and knowledge societies. </li></ul> / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Information Science / DPhil / unrestricted

Student Number : 9904953T - PhD thesis - School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Science - Faculty of Science / This study seeks to combine the knowledge of science and society to elicit the relationship between the harvesting of woody plant species and the local availability of woody species in South African savannas. Ten villages located in the former communal areas and homelands within three broad vegetation types (i.e., Mixed lowveld bushveld, Eastern thorn bushveld, and Natal lowveld bushveld) were studied. The study, conducted in the framework of the coupled human-environment system poses challenges to both scientists and managers (e.g., setting common goals). Data were collected using modified Whittaker plots (MWP) and focus group discussions (FGD), denoting ecology and society, respectively. There were nine 1000m² MWP plots sampled per village, each having nested 1m², 10m² and 100m² subplots. The FGD involved six groups of local people based on gender and age. The study revealed that the harvesting of woody plant species is a source of local disturbance to woody vegetation. Generally, there were more woody species in locations farther from settlements, having a mean of 41.97 ± 3.9, than for the intermediate (38.27 ± 5.6) and near locations (19.9 ± 4.2) within the 1000m² plots, the result of the reduction in species closer to settlements from higher harvesting levels. The larger sampling plot size of 1000m² of the MWP had the highest diversity, decreasing sequentially to the smallest scale (1m²). The density of the woody species was highest in the intermediate locations (517 ± 80 plants/ha), followed by the far and near, relative to the settlements. The Natal lowveld bushveld broad vegetation type had the highest mean density of trees (573 ± 71 trees/ha) compared to the Mixed lowveld bushveld (366 ± 64 trees/ha) and the Eastern thorn bushveld (312 ± 40 trees/ha). The stem diameters of trees were generally higher in the villages of the Mixed lowveld bushveld than the other two vegetation types. The study reaffirmed that anthropogenic disturbances within savannas impact vegetation and need to be studied concurrently with other disturbance factors (e.g., biotic and abiotic or environmental). The mean total coppice shoots of stumps within the 1000m² plots was relatively higher in the near locations (38.4%), than the far (33.0%) and intermediate (28.7%). This difference in coppicing shows that although near locations were less species rich, which is a result of disturbance, the growth of shoots may nevertheless be greater. Harvesting disturbance will possibly favour the regeneration of some species, as well as the maintenance of biodiversity. Whilst 135 woody species (from a total 191 from 42 plant families) sampled in the field were used by the local people, the community knowledge yielded almost twice as many (267 species, from 69 plant families). The ratio of mean useful woody species to total woody species remained relatively constant at about 1.0:1.1 from the near to far locations around the villages and accompanied by increased woody species diversity with distance from village. The MWP sampling yielded eight broad use categories (i.e., medicinal, wild edible fruits, fuelwood, housing and fencing poles, craft (e.g., carving), cultural, local beverages (e.g., alcohol)), and nine for the FGD (the eight for the MWP plus indigenous furniture). According to the local people, the highest number of species was used for medicine (27.8% of species), followed by fuelwood (19.2%) and wild edible fruits/seeds (19.1%). Over half of the species had multiple uses (i.e., three to eight uses), raising questions of possible threats to their persistence. Useful woody species were not restricted to any particular location or vegetation type. Large sized trees were subjected to even more uses than smaller trees, another source of conservation concern. Fifteen of the woody plant species are presently protected by law in South Africa (e.g., Adansonia digitata, Podocarpus latifolius, Mimusops caffra, Philenoptera violacea), while others are facing various forms of regional threats (e.g., Alberta magna, Catha edulis, Ocotea bullata). There is the need to popularise and make people (both local and outsiders) aware of the state of NTFP species, using local and village level information as an additional criterion for describing conservation threat (e.g., proposed “Locally Brown List” – Chapter 4). The older generation of local people were highly knowledgeable in terms of the woody species used for medicine, craft, fencing and housing poles, the middle aged in beverage making species, and the younger generation in fuelwood species. Overall, older males were highly knowledgeable of the useful species. The generally strong correlation (r = 0.99, p <0.0001) between the cumulative woody species diversity from field and community knowledge suggests the need to integrate data using multi-disciplinary approach and also to manage NTFP species. Although threat reduction assessments (TRA) and monitoring have previously been suggested, the participation of local people, harvesters and users will be crucial in making TRAs effective. In conclusion, the harvesting of NTFPs, and the impacts of the changes in the NTFP species on total diversity in savannas need to be understood in order to move towards a more holistic approach to conserving the woody species that may be at risk of extinction through harvesting. Disturbance criteria that describe harvesting levels should be set to guide research and management protocols. Finally, when discussing NTFPs and the species from which they are harvested, management should aim at incorporating all the factors that affect sustainability, such as land and resource tenure and local participation, the political economy, appropriate production and development cycles.

A homogeneização técnica pretendida pela modernização da agricultura, bem representada pelas diretrizes da ‘Revolução Verde’, tem sido associada a consequências negativas do ponto de vista socioambiental nos espaços rurais. No entanto, propostas recentes, que objetivam imprimir novas dinâmicas a processos de desenvolvimento rural, vêm sendo construídas em oposição às ideias difusionistas convencionais. Com isto, têm ganhado espaço propostas e projetos que enfatizam a necessidade de valorização dos conhecimentos locais, como parte das estratégias para o desenvolvimento rural. Pesquisas e ações de diversas organizações vêm enfatizando, gradativamente, os resultados da interação do conhecimento local com os conhecimentos advindos da tecnociência, fato este que possibilita um novo olhar sobre a atuação dos agricultores familiares no espaço rural. Este olhar abrange o surgimento de adaptações e rearranjos em relações sociais e de trabalho, de novas formações de sentido e de reinvenções de práticas e técnicas, especialmente agrícolas. Neste âmbito, considera-se que mudanças e inovações estão ocorrendo constantemente e são potencialmente motivadoras para um ativo processo de emergência de ‘novidades’, no qual são fundamentais a localidade e a ação de múltiplos atores. Esse ponto de vista torna-se importante na abertura de um abrangente campo de pesquisa, que busca evidenciar e compreender avanços e obstáculos na implementação de projetos que objetivam a promoção do desenvolvimento rural. Alicerçada nestas ideias e à luz da Perspectiva Orientada ao Ator, esta pesquisa de caráter qualitativo, propôs analisar novidades emergentes com enfoque nas práticas agrícolas, nos sistemas de produção e na organização social, decorrentes das situações de interface que colocam frente a frente conhecimentos e práticas de mediadores sociais e de agricultores familiares, na implantação de projetos para o desenvolvimento rural em São Lourenço do Sul e Pelotas – Rio Grande do Sul. A análise aponta que esses agricultores familiares, direcionados pelos ideais da agricultura de base ecológica, e apoiados por projetos de assistência técnica e políticas públicas, executam ‘práticas desviantes’, que representam formas inovadoras nos processos agrícolas, na articulação entre atores, em sua relação com os mercados e mesmo na criação de novas organizações. Dessa forma, foi identificada a emergência de ‘novidades’, que pode ser evidenciada pela constituição da Cooperativa Sul Ecológica; pela construção de novos mercados, o institucional (merenda escolar) e o local (feiras livres); e o estabelecimento da Agroindústria Figueira do Prado. A trajetória de emergência dessas ‘novidades’ está relacionada ao descobrimento de novos e relevantes recursos para a transformação de sistemas de produção convencionais em outros, cuja base é ecológica. Também, é perceptível o desenvolvimento de uma ‘sintonia fina’ no uso de tais recursos, bem como o reordenamento de muitos deles pelo estabelecimento de conexões entre elementos antes ignorados ou afastados entre si. Essas ‘novidades’ que estão amplamente relacionadas com o compartilhamento de conhecimentos, especificidades locais, heterogeneidade e dinamismo da ação social, parecem indicar uma alteração nas trajetórias de desenvolvimento no espaço rural na região sul do Rio Grande do Sul. / The technical homogenization intended by the modernization of agriculture, well represented by the Green Revolution guidelines, has been associated with negative socio-environmental consequences at rural areas. However, recent proposals which aim to set new dynamics to rural development processes, have been constructed in opposition to conventional diffusionists ideas. With this, proposals and projects that emphasize the local knowledge relevance as part of strategies for rural development have advanced. Researches and actions from several organizations connected to the rural development have gradually emphasized the results from the interaction between local knowledge and knowledge derived from technoscience; this fact allows a new perspective to the role of family farmers in rural areas, a look that encompasses the rising of adaptations and re-arrangements in social and work relationships, new configurations of meanings and reinventions of practices and techniques, especially agricultural ones. In this context, it is considered that changes and innovations are constantly occurring and they are potentially motivating to an active process of emergence of 'novelties', in which local features and the action of multiple actors are essential. Focusing on these social processes and on the knowledge heterogeneity, it is possible to realize changes in farmers’ relationships to nature and, this way, rethinking the farmers’ role and local knowledge as key elements to achieve sustainable productive alternatives. Based on these ideas and under Actor Oriented Approach framework, the researchaimed to analyze emerging novelties, focusing on farming practices, production systems and social organization, specially considering them as results from interface situations, which put together knowledge and practices from social mediators and family farmers, during the implementation of projects for rural development at São Lourenço do Sul and Pelotas - Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The analysis indicates that these family farmers, oriented by ecological agriculture ideals, supported by technical assistance projects and by public policies, are performing ‘deviant practices’, which represent innovative ways to agricultural processes, to interaction between actors, to relationship with the markets and even to creating new organizations. This way, it was possible to identify the novelty emergence, which can be evidenced through the Cooperativa Sul Ecológica foundation; the construction of new markets, the institutional (school meals) and local(farmers fairs); and the establishment of the Agroindústria Figueira do Prado. The trajectory of emergence of these novelties is related to the discovery of new and relevant resources to overcome conventional production systems, proposing others, based on ecological principles. The development of a 'fine tuning' process is also relevant in using such resources as well as a re-patterning of them by establishing connections between elements before ignored or spaced. These 'novelties' that are broadly related to knowledge sharing, local characteristics, heterogeneity and social action dynamism seem to be indicating changes to development paths at rural areas of southern Rio Grande do Sul.

<p>The objectives of this thesis are to assess: to what degree have natural resources deteriorated in a grazing area in northern Namibia, how do perceptions of environmental change held by local stakeholders there, correspond to scientific assessments, and how do these relate to national estimates? Analysis of the process of developing national indicators for monitoring of land degradation concluded that specific indicators should be developed on national level, and in some instances even on local level as there are no universal causes of land degradation. According to farmers overgrazing and low rainfall since the early 1990s cause negative environmental changes in the study area, partly confirming findings from national monitoring. Results also suggest that: less grazing outside the study area, improved access, permanent water supply, and fencing of large areas, also contributed. Results show that improved water supply was the most important factor. Investigation of the influence of permanent water points on grazing resources showed that perennial grasses are replaced by less palatable annual grasses as far as 6 km from water points along a water pipeline. No significant grazing induced changes in grass composition were observed around privately owned wells. Private ownership seems to be a key factor preventing over-utilization of grazing resources around the latter. A remote sensing study using Landsat TM imagery identified bare ground, saltpans and grassland with a fair accuracy. Separation of woodland from shrubland and shrubland from grassland was less accurate using supervised classification. The results show that the soil adjusted vegetation index provides valuable information about variations of green biomass over time in semi-arid environments. However, it is suggested that satellite based investigations should be supported by thorough ground based assessment due to the influence of underlying soil in this environment.</p>

The objectives of this thesis are to assess: to what degree have natural resources deteriorated in a grazing area in northern Namibia, how do perceptions of environmental change held by local stakeholders there, correspond to scientific assessments, and how do these relate to national estimates? Analysis of the process of developing national indicators for monitoring of land degradation concluded that specific indicators should be developed on national level, and in some instances even on local level as there are no universal causes of land degradation. According to farmers overgrazing and low rainfall since the early 1990s cause negative environmental changes in the study area, partly confirming findings from national monitoring. Results also suggest that: less grazing outside the study area, improved access, permanent water supply, and fencing of large areas, also contributed. Results show that improved water supply was the most important factor. Investigation of the influence of permanent water points on grazing resources showed that perennial grasses are replaced by less palatable annual grasses as far as 6 km from water points along a water pipeline. No significant grazing induced changes in grass composition were observed around privately owned wells. Private ownership seems to be a key factor preventing over-utilization of grazing resources around the latter. A remote sensing study using Landsat TM imagery identified bare ground, saltpans and grassland with a fair accuracy. Separation of woodland from shrubland and shrubland from grassland was less accurate using supervised classification. The results show that the soil adjusted vegetation index provides valuable information about variations of green biomass over time in semi-arid environments. However, it is suggested that satellite based investigations should be supported by thorough ground based assessment due to the influence of underlying soil in this environment.

A homogeneização técnica pretendida pela modernização da agricultura, bem representada pelas diretrizes da ‘Revolução Verde’, tem sido associada a consequências negativas do ponto de vista socioambiental nos espaços rurais. No entanto, propostas recentes, que objetivam imprimir novas dinâmicas a processos de desenvolvimento rural, vêm sendo construídas em oposição às ideias difusionistas convencionais. Com isto, têm ganhado espaço propostas e projetos que enfatizam a necessidade de valorização dos conhecimentos locais, como parte das estratégias para o desenvolvimento rural. Pesquisas e ações de diversas organizações vêm enfatizando, gradativamente, os resultados da interação do conhecimento local com os conhecimentos advindos da tecnociência, fato este que possibilita um novo olhar sobre a atuação dos agricultores familiares no espaço rural. Este olhar abrange o surgimento de adaptações e rearranjos em relações sociais e de trabalho, de novas formações de sentido e de reinvenções de práticas e técnicas, especialmente agrícolas. Neste âmbito, considera-se que mudanças e inovações estão ocorrendo constantemente e são potencialmente motivadoras para um ativo processo de emergência de ‘novidades’, no qual são fundamentais a localidade e a ação de múltiplos atores. Esse ponto de vista torna-se importante na abertura de um abrangente campo de pesquisa, que busca evidenciar e compreender avanços e obstáculos na implementação de projetos que objetivam a promoção do desenvolvimento rural. Alicerçada nestas ideias e à luz da Perspectiva Orientada ao Ator, esta pesquisa de caráter qualitativo, propôs analisar novidades emergentes com enfoque nas práticas agrícolas, nos sistemas de produção e na organização social, decorrentes das situações de interface que colocam frente a frente conhecimentos e práticas de mediadores sociais e de agricultores familiares, na implantação de projetos para o desenvolvimento rural em São Lourenço do Sul e Pelotas – Rio Grande do Sul. A análise aponta que esses agricultores familiares, direcionados pelos ideais da agricultura de base ecológica, e apoiados por projetos de assistência técnica e políticas públicas, executam ‘práticas desviantes’, que representam formas inovadoras nos processos agrícolas, na articulação entre atores, em sua relação com os mercados e mesmo na criação de novas organizações. Dessa forma, foi identificada a emergência de ‘novidades’, que pode ser evidenciada pela constituição da Cooperativa Sul Ecológica; pela construção de novos mercados, o institucional (merenda escolar) e o local (feiras livres); e o estabelecimento da Agroindústria Figueira do Prado. A trajetória de emergência dessas ‘novidades’ está relacionada ao descobrimento de novos e relevantes recursos para a transformação de sistemas de produção convencionais em outros, cuja base é ecológica. Também, é perceptível o desenvolvimento de uma ‘sintonia fina’ no uso de tais recursos, bem como o reordenamento de muitos deles pelo estabelecimento de conexões entre elementos antes ignorados ou afastados entre si. Essas ‘novidades’ que estão amplamente relacionadas com o compartilhamento de conhecimentos, especificidades locais, heterogeneidade e dinamismo da ação social, parecem indicar uma alteração nas trajetórias de desenvolvimento no espaço rural na região sul do Rio Grande do Sul. / The technical homogenization intended by the modernization of agriculture, well represented by the Green Revolution guidelines, has been associated with negative socio-environmental consequences at rural areas. However, recent proposals which aim to set new dynamics to rural development processes, have been constructed in opposition to conventional diffusionists ideas. With this, proposals and projects that emphasize the local knowledge relevance as part of strategies for rural development have advanced. Researches and actions from several organizations connected to the rural development have gradually emphasized the results from the interaction between local knowledge and knowledge derived from technoscience; this fact allows a new perspective to the role of family farmers in rural areas, a look that encompasses the rising of adaptations and re-arrangements in social and work relationships, new configurations of meanings and reinventions of practices and techniques, especially agricultural ones. In this context, it is considered that changes and innovations are constantly occurring and they are potentially motivating to an active process of emergence of 'novelties', in which local features and the action of multiple actors are essential. Focusing on these social processes and on the knowledge heterogeneity, it is possible to realize changes in farmers’ relationships to nature and, this way, rethinking the farmers’ role and local knowledge as key elements to achieve sustainable productive alternatives. Based on these ideas and under Actor Oriented Approach framework, the researchaimed to analyze emerging novelties, focusing on farming practices, production systems and social organization, specially considering them as results from interface situations, which put together knowledge and practices from social mediators and family farmers, during the implementation of projects for rural development at São Lourenço do Sul and Pelotas - Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The analysis indicates that these family farmers, oriented by ecological agriculture ideals, supported by technical assistance projects and by public policies, are performing ‘deviant practices’, which represent innovative ways to agricultural processes, to interaction between actors, to relationship with the markets and even to creating new organizations. This way, it was possible to identify the novelty emergence, which can be evidenced through the Cooperativa Sul Ecológica foundation; the construction of new markets, the institutional (school meals) and local(farmers fairs); and the establishment of the Agroindústria Figueira do Prado. The trajectory of emergence of these novelties is related to the discovery of new and relevant resources to overcome conventional production systems, proposing others, based on ecological principles. The development of a 'fine tuning' process is also relevant in using such resources as well as a re-patterning of them by establishing connections between elements before ignored or spaced. These 'novelties' that are broadly related to knowledge sharing, local characteristics, heterogeneity and social action dynamism seem to be indicating changes to development paths at rural areas of southern Rio Grande do Sul.

Submitted by Clebson Anjos (clebson.leandro54@gmail.com) on 2016-10-04T18:01:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 6172886 bytes, checksum: 1230f0a019aec90a0d4cd80280b76134 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-04T18:01:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 6172886 bytes, checksum: 1230f0a019aec90a0d4cd80280b76134 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-02-22 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The Cardisoma guanhumi, is a natural resource within many others in the mangrove ecosystem that has been suffering with the habitat degradation, mainly by pollution and habitats retraction, and its commercial exploitation. For many years this resources has been a way of subsistence and income, therefore men of this communities have been accumulating knowledge on the biology, ecology and methods of capturing this animal. This study aimed to describe the local knowledge, some aspects of such techniques and its commercialization in restaurants in the littoral of the State of Paraíba, Brazil. Semistructured questionnaires, open dialogues and interviews were conducted with 10 gatherers and 8 intermediaries pointed out by community members (snow ball technique) in the municipalities of João Pessoa, Bayeux, Santa Rita and Rio Tinto. Among those 4 gatherers were observed separately in a routine day of work where photographic records were made and audios-visual where possible as allowed by them. The identification of the productive chain was made in two different ways, first from gatherers information, whom pointed the destination of their products, and second by owners of bars indicating the origin of their products. We interviewed 5 owners of bars, with semi-structured questionnaires, in order to obtain information about the trade of the blue landcrab or goiamum (as known in Brazil), and their market values. The biometrics values of the carapace width were obtained with a 1mm precision packmeter for specimens already caught and on commercialization process. The data from the questionnaires and biometrics values of the carapace width were confronted with the current legislation. The local gatherers knowledge’s about the biology, ecology and capture the goiamum was rich in information and innovations. They showed whether holders knowledge accurate when compared to the scientific literature. The results show that in the productive chain the low demand of this resource when compared with the others crustaceans like crabs (Ucides cordatus), shrimps, lobsters, and others genders of “fishes”, is a positive mark to the sustainability of its activity, however the unselective demand for sex is a negative mark. Although the recent law protection during reproductive period, this resource has been affected by the over fishing and habitats retraction, caused mainly by sugar cane cultures, cot and urbanization, seriously compromising the survey of this species, and consequently affecting the life of those who depend of its commercialization. The low market value has been dragging this resource to over fishing, and consequently the gatherers have been breaking the law for essential family income. Therefore are urgently needed educational projects and alternatives income activity projects to changes the social patterns of the gatherers. At the same time the stipulation of regard periods on the activity during the reproductive period of the species, likely happens to lobster among other fishing resources, is needed to protect the perpetuation of this species. / O goiamum (Cardisoma guanhumi) está entre os recursos naturais dos manguezais que vem sofrendo com a degradação ambiental e com a exploração comercial. Durante muitos anos este recurso tem sido para as comunidades tradicionais uma fonte de renda e alimento, e estas por sua vez vêm acumulando conhecimentos sobre sua biologia, ecologia e métodos de captura. Este trabalho teve como objetivo estudar os conhecimentos sobre a captura do goiamum e a sua comercialização nos bares em algumas localidades do litoral paraíbano. Os questionários semi-estruturados, entrevistas e diálogos abertos foram realizados com 10 catadores e 8 intermediários indicados pelos próprios moradores das comunidades nas comunidades dos municípios de João Pessoa, Bayeux, Santa Rita e Rio Tinto. Foram acompanhados 4 catadores separadamente em um dia rotineiro de suas jornadas de trabalho, afim de registrar a atividade. Foram realizados registros fotográficos e áudiosvisuais sempre que possível e permitido pelos catadores. A identificação da cadeia produtiva foi realizada partindo de informações dos catadores, os quais indicavam o destino de seus produtos, e do contrário onde os donos dos bares indicavam a origem de seus produtos. Foram entrevistados 5 donos de bares, com questionários semi-estruturados, afim de obter informações sobre o comercio do goiamum e seus valores de mercado. A biometria da largura da carapaça foi realizada para espécimes já capturados e em fase de comercialização. Os dados dos questionários e da biometria da largura da carapaça foram confrontados com a legislação vigente. Os conhecimentos dos catadores locais na captura do goiamum se mostraram ricos em informações e inovações. Eles se mostram detentores de conhecimentos acurados quando comparados com a literatura cientifica. Os resultados da cadeia produtiva mostram que a baixa demanda deste recurso quando comparado aos da pesca e mesmo de outros crustáceos como siris, camarões e do caranguejo-uçá é um fator positivo para a sustentabilidade desta atividade, porém a não seletividade quanto ao sexo pelo consumidor se mostra um fator negativo. Apesar da recente legislação protegendo o goiamum nos períodos de reprodução, este recurso vem sofrendo com a sobre-pesca e a retração de habitat, devido principalmente às culturas de cana-de-açúcar, outras culturas, ás pastagens e à exploração imobiliária comprometendo gravemente a sobrevivência deste recurso, conseqüentemente todos que dependem deste recurso para sobreviver. O baixo preço de mercado tem levado à sobre exploração do goiamum, mesmo que isso signifique infringir as leis para obter uma renda mínima para a sobrevivência das famílias que dependem da comercialização do goiamum. É evidente a necessidade de projetos de educação e de alternativas de renda para a mudança no quadro social desta classe de pescadores. Ao mesmo tempo se faz de extrema importância a determinação de um período de defeso durante todo o período reprodutivo com o direito ao salário defeso, como ocorre para a lagosta entre outros recursos pesqueiros, a fim de proteger a perpetuação desta espécie.