Abstract

PADILLA Y SOTELO, Lilia Susana  and  LUNA MOLINER, Ana María. Perception and environmental knowledge across Quintana Roo's coast: a poll-based characterization. Invest. Geog [online]. 2003, n.52, pp.99-116. ISSN 2448-7279.

The present paper aims to investigate the environmental perception and the extent of knowledge about environmental aspects in four representative towns located across the coast of Quintana Roo: Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Chetumal. To this respect, the existing relationship among the various micro social elements involved in tourism's economic space is studied, in relation to the state of the environment across the coast of Quintana Roo, as subjective factors influencing the geographic space's objective characteristics. This research was developed in two steps. The first involved the administration of questionnaires among local residents, which revealed a range of perceptions according to social interaction patterns determined by the nature of their socio-productive activities or educational level. This situation becomes reflected in the geographical organization of towns -a fact detected during the investigation's second phase-, determined by the specific dynamics of economic and social development in each of the towns of study. The present work represents an analysis to facilitate the identification of environmental-education needs as an education process, to guide public participation in the solution of the environmental problems derived from tourism development in the coast of Quintana Roo.

Keywords : Environmental perception; Quintana Roo's coast; micro social elements; geographic space; social interaction patterns; environmental education.