The study of the ecosystems, is the result of natural and social sciences studies that have revealed human activities have had a significant bearing on the deterioration quality of the environmental services. The social sciences apply the scientific method for understanding the social behavior, for example, how the stakeholders do interpretations about the environment, its degradation and management. One of the ecosystems with the most risk of disappear, is the rain forest in the Biosphere Reserve of “Los Tuxtlas” (BRLT), in Veracruz, Mexico, where the National Autonomous University of Mexico stablished the Tropical Biology Station “Los Tuxtlas” (TBSLT). This is one of the places of its kind better known in the planet, but also the most degraded. Here, the social researchers have done studies to understand the causes and the impacts of degradation. Currently, a mining company want to operate the basaltic rock in Balzapote, a community near to the TBSLT. The objective was to know the perception of the residents about the mine and the possible effects, positive and negative in a community through semi-structured interviews in the BRLT, municipality and authorities.
Results/Conclusions
60 semi-structured interviews (community: 54, municipality: 2, BTSLT: 3, Reserve authorities: 1) were made, the perception vary according the interests for each social stratum. In Balzapote, the only people that take decisions are the owners of the common land (47 residents) and the other people get out of the popular opinion (around 450 residents). 77% of the interviewed are agree of the arrival of the mining company, because of economic resources offer and jobs. In addition, 42% don’t know the mine’s importance or its location -. It is important to know the environmental perspectives, because the community is very rich in natural resources and can obtain job, money or resources for living. In addition, it is necessary to create a link between the community and the authorities, because most of the environmental programs remain unknown to the community. The University and authorities need to keep working and implement projects for environmental education, because residents need to know the importance of being a community inside the Reserve and that we can create environmental education programs.