Revista TOMO, São Cristóvão, v. 44, e22911, 2025

DOI:10.21669/tomo.v44.22911

Special Issue - Coastal Squeeze: Beaches under Socio-Economic

and Ecological Pressure

E-ISSN:2318-9010 / ISSN:1517-4549

Special Issue

Linha Verde-Estrada Cicatriz: Socio-environmental Conflicts

and Impacts on the Northern Coast of Bahia

Ubiraneila Capinan*1

Lidia Cardel**2

Abstract

This article analyzes the socio-environmental conflicts and impacts that have emerged and intensified alon-

gside the most recent wave of capital expansion on the Northern coast of the state of Bahia (northeastern

Brazil), driven by the implementation of mass tourism. This process began with the construction of Brazil’s

first all-inclusive resort, Costa do Sauípe Resort, supported by public policies, notably through the construc-

tion and expansion of the BA-099 highway, known as Linha Verde. This qualitative investigation takes as

its object of analysis the documentary Linha Verde: Estrada Cicatriz (Green Line: Scar Highway, in English),

produced in 2008 by a team of researchers from the School of Communication at the Federal University of

Bahia (UFBA), through the public call Ponto de Cultura. The documentary presents a diverse set of social

actors who, through their testimonies, recount events and contradictions surrounding key transformations

that reshaped the social and environmental fabric of Bahia’s Northern Coast during the transition from the

20^thto the 21^stcentury. As a methodological strategy, this article presents seven units of analysis: two related

to environmental impacts and five to socio-environmental conflicts, most of which occurred along the coast

of the municipality of Mata de São João, where the resort is located. The article concludes that the objects of

dispute are land and water territories (sea, mangroves, lagoons, and rivers) belonging to local communities,

as well as their historically constructed ways of life, closely linked to natural assets and communal spaces,

such as beaches.

Keywords: Ecosystem Peoples; Northern Coast Environmental Protection Area (APA); State; Capital; Tou-

rism

*

Instituto Federal Baiano (IFBaiano); Catu, Bahia. Brasil E-mail: ubiraneila.capinan@gmail.com Orcid: https://orcid.

org/0000-0002-1089-8120 CrediT: Thesis research, Conceptualization, Methodology, and Writing – Original Draft

Universidade Federal da Bahia; Salvador, Bahia, Brasil. E-mail: lidiacardel@gmail.com Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-

**

0001-5019-9116 CRediT: Thesis supervision, Conceptualization, Methodology, and Writing – Original Draft

1

Ubiraneila Capinan; Lidia Cardel

Introduction

During the colonial period, the Northern Coast of Bahia was home to the Garcia D’Ávila latifúndio

(large rural estate), which was characterized by the occupation of land through agricultural, lives-

tock, and extractive production systems. These were maintained under a rigid structure of labor

control over indigenous and/or enslaved populations. Around this economic and political center,

groups of leaseholders emerged, paying taxes for the use of land plots and remaining subordinate

to the Garcia D’Ávila family until the mid-20^thcentury (Bandeira, 2000). The communities that

developed along the Northern Coast of Bahia structured their socio-economic systems around the

use of land and water (sea, rivers, mangroves, and lagoons)

This paper addresses the transformations that have taken place on Bahia’s Northern Coast from

the second half of the 19^thcentury until 2008. At the end of the 19^thcentury, Sigisfred Sigismundo

Schindler, a Prussian, naturalized as an American citizen, acquired vast areas of land and started

coconut plantations and the extraction of natural resources such as piaçava (Attalea funifera Mar-

tius), which was exported in raw form to British industries for the production of ship ropes and

clothing buttons. Despite holding effective ownership and control over the land, Schindler main-

tained tenancy arrangements with traditional peasant communities already established in the re-

gion, relying on a common leasing practice that persisted in the Bahia and Pernambuco sugarcane

plantation zones until the mid-20^thcentury: labor in exchange for housing.

Map 01 – Municipality of Mata de São João, highlighting the coastal communities.

Source: Geographic guide to the beaches of Bahia.¹

In the second decade of the 20^thcentury, S. S. Schindler sold these lands to a British rubber com-

pany — the British and Brazilian Rubber Planters and Manufacturers — which continued the lease-

-based land use system. After the company’s bankruptcy between 1940 and 1950, part of the land

1

Available on: http://www.praias-bahia.com/mata-sao-joao/mapa.htm. Accessed on: June 6th, 2017.

2

Linha Verde-Estrada Cicatriz

was sold to the Bank of London and the Brazilian construction company Norberto Odebrecht, whi-

ch came to hold 1,700 hectares destined for real estate speculation (Stifelmann, 1997), ultimately

resulting in the development of Costa do Sauípe Resort. At the time of the purchase, approximately

3,000 land occupants were already living on those lands (Mattedi, 2002).

Six key socioeconomic movements are crucial to understanding the dynamics of capital expansion

and its structural impacts on the Northern Coast of Bahia from the 1970s until the early 2000s.

The first was the creation²of the Northern Coast Forest District in the second half of the 1970s,

which imposed changes in land tenure structures and in the way of life populations living inland

but near the coast, leading to land expulsions and the dismantling of local livelihoods. The second

and third transformations unfolded in tandem: as the state-sponsored construction of the BA-099

highway — the Estrada do Coco — connecting Salvador to Praia do Forte was taking place starting

in 1975, Klaus Peter, a German-born landowner, was turning the fishing village of Praia do Forte

into an ecotourism destination with the first large-scale hotel, currently known as Tivoli Ecoresort

Praia do Forte, being inaugurated in 1981.

The fourth and fifth movements replicate this pairing of tourism development and state support:

as a result of the state-sponsored extension of the BA-099 highway, the Green Line Road, nor-

thwards from Praia do Forte to the state of Sergipe in 1993, Brazil’s first all-inclusive resort com-

plex, Costa do Sauípe, was inaugurated in 2000. The sixth was the creation of the Northern Coast

Environmental Protection Area (APA-LN) in 1992, which was implemented as compensation for

the construction of the Green Line Road and as a tool for controlling the region’s landscape, ef-

fectively turning it into a reserve of value for tourism capital. The dynamics of capital expansion

and state intervention have generated significant consequences for the historically established

peasant communities of the Northern Coast of Bahia (Cardel, 2016).

Table 1 - Socioeconomic movements related to the dynamics of capital expansion on the North Coast of Bahia, 1970 – 2000.

N°. Period

Socioeconomic change

1

In the second half of Creation of the Northern Coast Forest District

the 1970s

2

From 1975

Construction of the Estrada do Coco (BA-099), which connected Salvador to Praia do Forte

3

The transformation of the fishing village of Praia do Forte into an area of administrative activity

for Klaus Peter as the owner

4

5

6

In 1992

In 1993

In 2000

Creation of the North Coast Environmental Protection Area (EPA), Bahia

Expansion of this same highway, now connecting Praia do Forte to the state of Sergipe

Inauguration of the Costa do Sauípe Resort

Source: Capinan (2024).

Considering this brief historical overview of land grabbing on the Northern Coast of Bahia, the

objective of this article is to contribute to this Special Issue by addressing the socio-environmental

conflicts that occurred in the Northern Coast Environmental Protection Area (APA-LN) between

the last decades of the 20^thcentury and the first decades of the 21^stcentury, using documentary

analysis as a method. This method allows us to reconstruct an earlier historical period through

images of the region and the vivid testimonies of social actors from different groups who expe-

rienced these processes.

2

The North Coast Forestry District of Bahia was established by State Law Nº. 6,569, of January 17th, 1994, which provides

for the Forestry Policy of the State of Bahia.

3

Ubiraneila Capinan; Lidia Cardel

After this introduction, the article is structured in sections covering the following topics: metho-

dological considerations, analysis of the conflicts recorded in the mini-documentary Linha Verde:

Estrada Cicatriz, examination of the socio-environmental impacts reported in other sources used

in this research, and final considerations.

1. Methodological considerations: documentary film analysis of “Linha Verde: Estrada

Cicatriz”

The documentary Linha Verde: Estrada Cicatriz is 52 minutes and 32 seconds long. It was pro-

duced in 2008 by a multidisciplinary group of researchers from the Federal University of Bahia,

with support from the Ponto de Cultura program, funded by the Bahian government. When we

watch the documentary, it becomes clear that the team’s shooting script was structured around

exploring the socio-environmental impacts and conflicts associated with tourism implemented in

the Northern Coast Environmental Protection Area (APA-LN), through incentives and subsidies

granted by all three levels of government (municipal, state, and federal). The very title reveals the

filmmakers’ intention to portray the unfolding consequences of a highway whose construction cut

across a region inhabited by ecosystem-based communities, fragmenting territories, cosmologies,

lives, and everyday routines and, ultimately, producing socio-cultural fissures and scars under the

pretext of the region’s “development.”

Starting from Salvador, the capital of Bahia, and heading toward the state of Sergipe, the film crew

worked in three locations on the landward side of the coast (Barro Branco, Areal, and Vila Sauípe)

and nine along the shoreline (Praia do Forte, Imbassaí, Diogo, Santo Antônio, Costa do Sauípe, Por-

to do Sauípe, Massarandupió, Subaúma, and Baixio), covering the Bahian municipalities of Mata de

São João, Entre Rios, and Esplanada.

The way conversations are conducted in the documentary resembles what, in the social sciences,

is defined as a “semi-structured interview,” in this case organized around tourism and its socio-

-environmental conflicts and impacts in the region. We identified 41 interviewees, who can be

grouped into seven categories of social actors, listed alphabetically as follows: (I) four business

owners, identified as guesthouse owners and, in some cases, without specification of their acti-

vity; (II) one researcher; (III) one property owner; (IV) four representatives of the public sector;

(V) five representatives of civil society; (VI) four tourists; and (VII) 18 village residents. If we add

the four people linked to civil society—because they are organizations formed by residents of the

villages—to the other 18 residents, we find that 53.6% of the voices are those of people from the

local communities in the region. There is also a predominance of male interviewees, 29 in total,

compared with only 12 women.

It is also worth highlighting that the documentary is an important audiovisual document for re-

search because it was produced during a period marked by intense transformations in the region,

only eight years after the inauguration of Costa do Sauípe Resort and 15 years after the opening

of the Green Line Highway. There had therefore already been sufficient time to observe and assess

the consequences of these events, which were still vivid in the social memory of the actors living

in the APA-LN. This article stems from Capinan’s (2024) doctoral dissertation, which drew on a

variety of sources. Within the scope of this text, however, the documentary is treated as the central

source of investigation, complemented secondarily by documents and bibliographic references.

Regarding the analysis of the documentary, it is important to note that it was necessary to wa-

4

Linha Verde-Estrada Cicatriz

tch the film several times, as well as to revisit specific segments at different moments to verify

information and interpretations. In the first methodological stage, we watched it from a broader

perspective, to apprehend the general aspects of the audiovisual documentation project, while

capturing images that would assist in understanding the region, the conflicts, and the socio-envi-

ronmental impacts examined in this study. In the second stage, we rewatched the documentary to

identify the units of analysis (Gaskell and Bauer, 2017). The criterion for selecting these units was

the narration of a set of natural resources being disputed by actors affiliated with different social

groups, based on socioeconomic and cultural distinctions.

The methodological stages mentioned above thus corresponded to the process of gaining an ove-

rall understanding of the documentary’s characteristics, selecting and capturing images, and co-

ding the interviews according to the aforementioned code. The third stage consisted of transcri-

bing the segments of the documentary’s interviews that had already been coded, in light of the

object of analysis of this article. These transcriptions were completed during a third viewing of

the film. The objective was to reproduce, as faithfully as possible, the interviewees’ actual words,

including pauses and interruptions, given that they are treated as interlocutors in the debate on

socio-environmental conflicts and impacts in the region.

In the fourth stage, the analysis of the material focused on three primary units—socio-environ-

mental conflicts, socio-environmental impacts, and the actors involved—and, secondarily, we sou-

ght to understand the narrative about tourism put forward by the representatives of the state

featured in the film. Regarding the social actors, we noted that everyone who appears in the docu-

mentary was considered and grouped into the seven categories described above.

Table 2 – Conflicts and socio-environmental impacts reported by the “Green Line: scar road” project.

Part of the

Minidoc

Place

of Conflict

Impact Site

Subject

Of Dispute

Actors Social

Whistleblowers

Social Actor Held

Accountable

1

2

Praia do Forte

Massarandupió

Santo Antônio

The territories -Edite Diniz (geographer, Praia do Forte) Eco Resort Praia

of the Pau Gran- -Lourival Evangelista (businessperson, do Forte

de and Barreto Praia do Forte)

communities

Massarandupió -Amaíse Tavares (merchant, Massarandupió) PACAB

-

Entre

Beach - Unidentified man (resident in Massaran- Rios Village and

dupió)

Resort (Portu-

-Ivone Soares (artisan, Massarandupió)

guese group)

The village of -Maria Mendes (merchant and artisan, Paulo

Roberto

Santo Antônio

Sto. Antônio)

Souza

-Miúdo (Sto. Antônio)

-Paulo Roberto Álvares Souza (“owner” of

Santo Antônio)

5

Vila Sauípe

Imbassaí

Swampy area of -Pombinho (Vila Sauípe)

the part called

Batinema

“They”

Occupation of - Paulo Novaes (Manager of APA-LN)

Reserva Imbas-

wetlands

dune systems

Vila Sauípe Pinicão in Vila - Pombinho (Vila Sauípe)

and -Gui Marcovaldi (Coordinator and founder say (hotel)

of the TAMAR project)

1

Costa do Sauípe

Resort

“Complexes”

“Complex”

Sauípe

Porto Sauí- Mangue

pe and Vila

-João Paiva (Vila Sauípe)

-Paulo Novaes (Manager of APA-LN)

3

Sauípe

Source: Linha Verde (2008).

5

Ubiraneila Capinan; Lidia Cardel

As can be seen in the table above, seven units of analysis involving conflict or environmental im-

pact were identified in the documentary. The latter is understood as a consequence of human

action on the environment, which may vary according to interests (use value and exchange value)

and the stage of the dispute. As mentioned earlier, impact is commonly the outcome of a conflict,

but reaching this stage of unfolding in relation to nature does not mean that the conflict has been

resolved. It may, in fact, develop precisely through an impact that was not preceded by conflict.

There is no doubt that the two situations identified as impacts in the documentary are indeed

impacts, but it is worth questioning whether their conflicts have reached a final outcome. We are

led to conclude that they have not and that, in these two cases, as will be analyzed below, socio-en-

vironmental conflicts continue to coexist with the impact.

2. Estrada cicatriz: conflicts and socio-environmental impacts on the Linha Verde, Bahia

In this section, we move on to a descriptive analysis of the documentary. Given the breadth of

information provided and in light of the objective of this article, we have chosen to focus on the

statements of those involved in socio-environmental conflicts and impacts (those denouncing and

those being held responsible), as well as of those who represented the state at some level. This is

because, in recent history, starting in the 1970s, the state has been an important social actor in

driving the changes that have been occurring in the environment and in the lives of communities

on the Northern Coast of Bahia. Yet, under the mantle of developmentalist policy, the various bran-

ches of the state continue to neglect the consequences of tourism, as Luchiari (2000) states:

At the local level, it can be said that while tourism stimulates job creation (both direct and

indirect), the expansion of road networks, improvements in urban infrastructure, and the

growth of the construction and service sectors, it also exacerbates the problems caused by

accelerated urbanization. In this context, there is an observable increase in the consump-

tion of natural resources, a rise in the cost of living, real estate speculation, an expansion in

waste production, and an intensification of socio-spatial segregation — even to the point of

the formation of informal settlements — as well as the generation of migratory flows that

introduce exogenous cultural models. Moreover, this process often results in the economic

exclusion of the local population, which in most cases remains marginalized from this hi-

ghly specialized sector. (Luchiari, 2000, p. 158)

This analysis synthesizes the typical trajectory of tourism along the Brazilian coast. The state, throu-

gh its various levels of government, plays a contradictory role in this dynamic, often occupying posi-

tions difficult to reconcile—acting simultaneously as a promoter of tourism development and as an

environmental governance body responsible for oversight and regulation. In theory, the state should

act as an impartial defender of the rights and duties of all those involved in situations of environmen-

tal conflict and/or impact. This ambiguity is reflected in the statements of public officials featured in

the documentary, as can be seen in the analytical description that follows.

At two different points, the documentary presents statements by Domingos Leonelli, who critici-

zes the model of tourism historically adopted in Bahia, which he considers to be centered on large

hotels disconnected from the local economy and surrounding communities. According to this po-

litician, this business model evokes what he calls “the great battle of humanity, perhaps the most

powerful dimension of the class struggle in the world—if that dimension is, perhaps, life (and then

6

Linha Verde-Estrada Cicatriz

people think: between life and death), life and profit.” (Linha, 2008, Part 1, 5min. 11 s)³.

At the municipal level, the only public official interviewed in the documentary is the then-mayor

of Mata de São João, João Gualberto, who argues that tourism has not brought concrete benefits to

the municipality. According to him, tourism on the Northern Coast unfolded in three phases. The

first was led by guesthouse owners in Imbassaí and Praia do Forte, including Eco Praia do Forte,

pioneers who did not carry out feasibility studies. The second phase took place with the Sauípe

Project, which he considers important for Brazil and Bahia, but not for Mata de São João—mainly

due to a ten-year exemption from the Municipal Service Tax (ISS) and the lack of employment

opportunities for local workers. The third phase, in his view, corresponds to large-scale hotel

developments with a more sustainable outlook. When comparing the second and third phases

described by him, it is reasonable to infer that the mayor implicitly criticizes the environmental

aspects of Costa do Sauípe Resort. He also states that the resort failed to pay approximately BRL 7

million per year to the municipality.

Paulo Novaes, then manager of the Northern Coast Environmental Protection Area (APA-LN) and

a representative of the public sector, not only reported conflicts and impacts but also criticized

the lack of planning in the tourism initiatives implemented in the region. He pointed to what he

regarded as “ideal” pathways for prior planning and socio-environmental monitoring—such as

the need to prepare local populations to meet the demand for services and products, as well as the

importance of guiding the creation of cooperatives.

Another state representative featured in the documentary is Érico Mendonça, who held the position of

Secretary of Tourism when part of the Northern Coast was designated as an Environmental Protection

Area (APA). He stated: “[...] the vast majority of areas of tourism interest are located within Environ-

mental Protection Areas, which define a model of land use. They regulate territorial occupation, and

this has given investors security [...]” (Linha, 2008, Part 5, 2 min 7 s). In other words, as can be inferred

from his statement, this type of Conservation Unit (UC) was planned by the state as a strategy to pre-

serve landscape value for the benefit of capital, oriented toward different tourism ventures.

Except for this last public official, who explicitly defended APA environmental policy as a legal

instrument for establishing areas that preserve value for capital, the other politicians and the APA-

-LN manager lamented the characteristics and direction of tourism policies in Bahia. However, as

mentioned earlier, we did not identify any changes—at least not significant ones—during their

terms in office or in the administrations of the political parties with which they were associated,

regarding the public management of tourism in the state. Their reflections and questions thus

remained confined to the realm of discourse.

In line with the central objective of this study, as mentioned in the methodology, seven units of

analysis involving conflict or environmental impact were identified in the film. Of these, three dis-

putes involve Vila Sauípe and Porto de Sauípe, areas closer to Costa do Sauípe Resort and therefore

more susceptible to socio-environmental conflicts and impacts. Among the cases identified, five

were narrated by more than one person—for example, the situation in Santo Antônio, mentioned

both by local residents and by the landowner Paulo Roberto de Souza. In total, six of the events

3

He was Secretary of Tourism for the State of Bahia during almost the entire first term of the Workers’ Party (PT in Portuguese)

in the Bahia government (Jaques Wagner, between 2007-2014). This party is in its fifth term in the Bahia governor’s office,

with the current governor’s first term expected to end in 2026. During these almost 20 years of PT administration in Bahia,

we have not seen any change in the tourism development model criticized by Domingos Leonelli between 2007 and 2008.

7

Ubiraneila Capinan; Lidia Cardel

took place along the coast of Mata de São João and one in Massarandupió, a village located on the

coastal strip of the municipality of Entre Rios.

Figure 1 – Sapiranga Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN), located in Praia do Forte, Mata de São João, Bahia (BA)

Source: Linha Verde (2008, Part 5, 3min58s).

The illustration above refers to Conflict 1 and was captured from Part 5 of Linha Verde (2008). It

visually synthesizes the historical process of socio-environmental conflicts involving the commu-

nities of Pau Grande and Barreto, as well as the administrations of Eco Resort Praia do Forte and

the Garcia D’Ávila Foundation—two legally distinct entities that, in principle, are part of an eco-

tourism project in Praia do Forte initiated by Klaus Peter. Several socio-environmental conflicts

have involved Peter, his companies, and the local population. The conflict documented in the film

centers on territorial disputes with these communities and is narrated by Lourival Evangelista

and Elias Ferreira, representatives of their respective residents’ associations, as well as by Edite

Diniz, a researcher at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA).

According to Edite Diniz (Linha, 2008), the conflicts experienced by the communities of Pau Gran-

de and Barreto stem from a conception of ecological reserve imported from the United States,

which she summarizes as: “animals yes, people no!” It is also important to note that these commu-

nities are recognized as descendants of quilombolas, although the Technical Identification and De-

marcation Report (RTID) related to their territorial claim has never been completed. This occur-

red due to an escalation of conflicts after their self-declaration as quilombola communities and

their formal request to the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) for

the demarcation of their lands as ethnic territories.

Researchers Francisco Brito (2018) and Edite Diniz (2007) are key references for understan-

ding socio-environmental conflicts in Praia do Forte. According to Brito, this process began in

the 1980s, when the German businessman Klaus Peters acquired the shares of two partners and

became the sole owner of the lands in Praia do Forte. This triggered the first conflict related to the

emergence of environmental tourism, legitimized by the National Environmental Policy Law N°.

8

Linha Verde-Estrada Cicatriz

6.938/1981 (Brasil, 1981), which establishes Brazil’s environmental policy, its objectives, and its

regulatory instruments. Under the mantle of legality, Peters implemented extensive ecotourism

infrastructure in the region, creating the Garcia D’Ávila Foundation and instituting a series of con-

trol and expulsion measures directed against traditional residents.

In the wake of disputes over land for representatives of capital and over territories for the commu-

nities, there is also Conflict 2, which took place in the village of Massarandupió, where the object

of dispute was the beach and its access routes. In this segment of the documentary, the filmmakers

resort to the narrative device of displaying photographs taken during a key moment in the conflict,

when residents gathered to remove fences. This act of resistance and the broader conflict it sym-

bolizes is narrated in detail by Amaíse Tavares⁴. The critical moment in the struggle over access to

common-use goods is also recounted by Ivone Soares and by an unidentified man. The social actor

identified as responsible for triggering the conflict was the company PACAB Brasil Ltda., of Portu-

guese origin, which registered in Brazil the legal entity “Entre Rios Vila e Resort.” According to the

accounts, the company intended to develop tourism activities in the area. On the signs placed in

the usurped territory, there were notices declaring it to be private property and prohibiting entry.

Other signs adopted a more environmentalist tone, calling for the preservation of the area and

citing the number of the decree that created the APA-LN—thus using environmental legislation as

a strategy to legitimize the appropriation of customary rights, which in this case combine family

landholding and a territory of communal use.

Maria de Lourdes Costa Souza (2015) investigated the production of space in Massarandupió and

its surroundings. According to her, these processes involve internal dynamics (“horizontalities”)

and external forces (“verticalities”), both situated within the broader historical horizon of society.

She argues that “market and state interests constitute verticalities and are historically hegemonic

in the production of space” (Souza, 2015, p. 34). When this analytical framework is applied to the

villages of the Northern Coast of Bahia, it becomes evident that the interaction between these

dimensions (internal and external to the communities) generates events with a high potential for

socio-environmental conflict, especially in light of the distinct conceptions and symbolic meanings

upheld by ecosystem peoples and by broader biosphere societies.

This is precisely what Souza finds when reconstructing the recent history of the village, where

three socio-environmental conflicts emerged. Before 1993, there were plans to install a pulp mill

in Entre Rios by the company Copener/Norcel, which even considered Massarandupió as a pos-

sible site. However, the project failed at the environmental licensing stage for several reasons —

4

Amaíse Tavares’s testimony is rich in details about the contrast between the customary landholding rights of local families

and the codified system of property based on formal land titles. She reports that, in the 1970s, the company Barreto de

Araújo appropriated land in the region with the help of hired gunmen. In 2001, to settle labor debts, the company put the-

se lands up for auction, and they were later acquired by the Portuguese group mentioned above. Maria de Lourdes Costa

Souza (2009) conducted a detailed investigation of the chain of land ownership in Massarandupió, not only confirming

Amaíse Tavares’s account but also deepening the description of land disputes in this community. Part of this conflict closely

resembles the research conducted by James Holston (1993) on landholding and property disputes in the formation of São

Paulo’s urban periphery—especially the well-known chapter entitled “Legalizing the Illegal: Property and Usurpation in Bra-

zil,” which remains fundamental for understanding the complexities of Brazil’s agrarian question. In this regard, it is worth

highlighting one particular legal dispute: it involved the heir of Rosendo Serapião—who had requested a long-term land lease

(aforamento) from the federal government in 1932—and an English company that held formal title to the land. As Souza re-

ports: “Despite the legal victory granted to the English and also to the squatters, the lands were once again claimed in 1962 by

Serapião’s heir, and the court case in which the English had obtained recognition of their property rights over the land ‘simply

disappeared from the archives of the Entre Rios courthouse’ (A Tarde, 2002). [...]” (Souza, 2009, p. 104).

9

Ubiraneila Capinan; Lidia Cardel

among them, difficulties in securing financing, given the fall in international pulp prices, and the

growing interest in turning the region into a hub for tourism expansion.

As mentioned in the introduction, between the 1970s and 1980s the village was already under-

going spatial transformations resulting from policies that had designated the region as a forest

district, as previously noted. Another shift occurred due to land disputes, extensively described in

footnote 4, in which Manoel Serapião “managed to register himself as the occupant of the disputed

lands and, in January 1977, formed a consortium with Barreto Araújo Empreendimentos Imobili-

ários S/A [...]” (Souza, 2015, p. 104), which later sold the land to PACAB, giving rise to the conflict

portrayed in the film.

The third conflict identified by Souza (2015) in Massarandupió arose between the municipal go-

vernment and the village’s residents when, in 1998, the municipality designated part of the beach

as a nudist zone through. Once again, the beach became an object of dispute—not only as a natu-

ral asset, but as a symbolic territory where the way of life of local inhabitants came into conflict

with the municipal government’s economic ambitions to establish the first official nudist beach

in Bahia.⁵Rules were created to regulate access to the naturist area, but these also generated con-

flict—including one that prohibited unaccompanied men from entering or remaining there unless

accompanied by someone of the opposite sex.

Returning to the conflict portrayed in the documentary, Souza (2015)⁶it shows that the residents

of Massarandupió mobilized to remove fences that had been installed in environmentally protec-

ted areas—such as dunes, mangroves, and lagoons—and that restricted access to the beach and

to other natural resources used in artisanal production. The fences also blocked a stretch of the

servitude road opened by the municipality in 2005. This broader context of conflict culminated in

the creation of the SOS Massarandupió movement.

Amaíse Tavares, a resident of Massarandupió, stated: “We are not against development. We want

development to come. I think everyone needs it and has the right to it. But it has to be sustainable

development.” (Linha, 2008, Part 7, 4 min 9 s). This statement reflects the incorporation—into

popular imaginaries—of a discourse that aspires to academic legitimacy but has, in turn, also been

appropriated as a rhetorical strategy by both the business sector and the state. In this context,

sustainability becomes a supposed point of balance between treating natural goods as such and

appropriating them as exploitable resources for profit and capital accumulation, to the detriment

of the environment and— in the case of the APA-LN—also of the local population.

This opens space for critical reflection, including the articulation of a broader counter-discourse

on the real effectiveness of what this word — “sustainability” — promises and on its political use as

part of the ideological apparatus of developmentalist doxa, in both the public and private spheres.

Conflict 3 is connected to the previous ones through the pair of opposing conceptions (land/re-

source/commodity–capital vs. territory/good/heritage of the extended family–community) and,

5

Massarandupió was not only the first official naturist beach in Bahia; it also remains the only one and has become a natio-

nally and internationally recognized destination for this practice.

Souza (2009) reports that, in this context of legal dispute, the Association of Residents and Friends of Massarandupió

6

(AMAM), founded in 1997, submitted a request to the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources

(IBAMA) for the creation of a restricted-use Conservation Unit (UC) that would encompass the region’s dunes and restinga

ecosystems. However, the request was never officially approved. In addition, according to the author, local craftswomen

created and registered the Massarandupió Craftswomen’s Association (ADAM) in 2003.

10

Linha Verde-Estrada Cicatriz

in particular, to the second conflict, since it also took place in a coastal area. In this case, however,

the entire village, and not only the beach, became the object of dispute. This is the village of Santo

Antônio. The conflict is portrayed in a distinctive way in the documentary, as it is narrated both

by the social actors who denounce it—Maria Mendes, briefly, and Miúdo, in greater detail—and

by the actor held responsible, Paulo Roberto de Souza, who states: “[...] I have problems with the

community inside the farm [...]” (Linha, 2008, Part 2, 3 min 22 s). After this initial statement, he

adds that it is evident that the occupation goes back five or six generations, but insists that he

was taken by surprise by events. He recounts that he had envisioned a different use for the area,

although he claims to be concerned with preserving the land “for the natives.” According to Miúdo,

a resident of Santo Antônio, the relationship between Paulo Roberto and the village developed as

follows:

Miúdo: “He arrived here about 30 years ago. But he has always acted as if he were smarter

than us, because we are from the countryside — we don’t have much… how do you say? We

hardly know about these things. He would buy one plot of land, then another. The only one

he didn’t buy — he simply took — was mine, because I never sold him anything. He would

build a new house. He would build a house and take half of the plot. He gave the house to

the person, and the person gave the land to him.” Interviewer [unidentified]: “So he traded

the house for the land?” Miúdo: “Yes, he traded the house for the land. I told my people:

‘Look, open your eyes, this is not going to end well.’ He said it would, and now look. Now

only the natives are left here, each with a small house and a tiny yard. The others have al-

ready — [he makes a gesture with his right hand opening and closing, indicating that they

have gone]. They have all left.” (Miúdo, Linha, 2008, Part 2, 3 min 42 s).

A place without access to means of subsistence for an ecosystem people—where all that remains is a

roof and a small yard, with no land to work or to leave as an inheritance to future generations—can

hardly be considered a “preserved” place for its inhabitants. At the very least, this notion needs to be

questioned, especially when Paulo Roberto de Souza invokes environmental legislation as a strategy

to demarcate his property, converting it into a Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN).⁷By doing

so, he effectively transforms it into a space of reserved value for potential tourism uses, in accordan-

ce with the legal permissions of an Environmental Protection Area (APA).

Thus, part of the community of Diogo and the entire community of Santo Antônio came to be

located within a zone under the dual control of a single landowner—both through the property

rights he claims and through the regulatory restrictions associated with the RPPN designation.

This legal instrument is a recent strategy used by landowners, combining with historically rooted

methods of expropriation—such as land grabbing, forced evictions, and other practices—to con-

trol and displace traditional communities from their territories. These processes are often carried

out through a combination of legal mechanisms and physical and symbolic violence.

7

According to records from the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), the Dunas de Santo An-

tônio Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN) was officially created on May 21^st, 2001 by Ordinance No. 65, published

in the Federal Official Gazette on June 4^th, 2001. The document classifies the RPPN as an area “of public interest and

permanent in character,” covering 370.721 hectares, corresponding to the Riacho das Flores Farm and the Araken/Roza-

rinho Woods, owned by Paulo Roberto Álvares de Souza and Lindaura Soares de Carvalho. Satellite images available from

ICMBio show that the reserve encompasses practically the entire dune system connecting the traditional communities

of Diogo and Santo Antônio—a route frequently traveled on foot by local residents and others. The reserve extends to

the vicinity of the Costa do Sauípe Resort’s boundaries and reaches the right shoulder of the BA-099 highway in the

Salvador–Sergipe direction.

11

Ubiraneila Capinan; Lidia Cardel

Miúdo also reports that many residents of Santo Antônio sold their land, but he resisted—althou-

gh he did not know how much longer he would be able to remain, given the departure of longtime

residents, pressure from the landowner, and the lack of basic public services. According to him,

this depopulation process only began to slow with the arrival of electricity and running water.

In line with Miúdo’s account, Edite Diniz states that the lack of access to essential public goods—

such as electricity, sanitation, health, and education—also forces residents to leave, since these

rights have historically been denied to rural populations. In another part of the documentary, the

landowner Paulo Roberto de Souza mentions the absence of the state in regulating the disorderly

occupation of land that accompanied the real estate boom triggered by mass tourism in the re-

gion—as if his own strategy of land appropriation were not itself a form of disorderly land use.

When we consider territorial expulsions in a country with a colonial history like Brazil—where

structures remain deeply patrimonial, patriarchal, racist, and, to some extent, oligarchic—it be-

comes natural to think of land in the most radical sense of the term, whether improved or not.

This simplification imposed by capital strategically reduces territories and biomes to simplified,

monetized commodities. In this regard, Sassen (2016) argues that this process—in which foreign

investors and governments acquire land in other nation-states—now occurs on a global scale,

generating expulsions and socio-environmental impacts of great magnitude. She invites us to

consider the multiple “channels of expulsion” beyond the commodification of land, such as those

highlighted and critically examined by Miúdo and Edite Diniz in relation to the state’s failure to

guarantee basic services like sanitation, electricity, education, and public health.

Such channels of expulsion were identified in five socio-environmental conflicts and can also be ob-

served in the two situations of environmental impact portrayed in the documentary. In other words,

Linha Verde (2008) records multiple channels through which human and non-human forms of life

have been expelled from the APA-LN as part of the broader expansion of capital accumulation.

The last two environmental conflicts in the Northern Coast Environmental Protection Area (APA-

-LN) are documented in Part 5 of the film and portray different perceptions involving, in each case,

other social actors in addition to the communities and representatives of capital. The Conflict 4

took place in Imbassaí and lies on the threshold between socio-environmental conflict and impact.

It emerged with the construction of the Reserva Imbassaí hotel, which was partially embargoed

by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA). According

to Paulo Novaes, the conflict resulted from attempts by the developer at “occupation in wetland

areas, due to a very large bridge that was built in Imbassaí and the attempt to occupy the dune belt

with a hotel of 250 apartments [...]” Paulo Novaes (Linha, 2008, Part 5, 5 min 53 s).

The project is held responsible for the local dispute, and the individuals who denounced it were

the then-manager of the APA-LN and Gui Marcovaldi, national coordinator and founder of the Ta-

mar Project. The latter stated that the hotel had initially been planned for a site in front of one

of the turtle nesting areas, which motivated his opposition and that of the entire environmental

group to the project. The administrative director of the company Reta Atlântico BR, Paulo Seixas,

appears in the film but does not address the conflict directly. He merely states that investors need

clearer guidance from the state to invest with security. He is among those who point to the ineffec-

tive presence of the state in the region.

Cláudia Novaes Machado (2008) studied the relationship between environmental legislation and

tourism in the production of space in Imbassaí and also analyzes this socio-environmental conflict

12

Linha Verde-Estrada Cicatriz

generated by the company Reta Atlântico BR during the construction of the Reserva Imbassaí de-

velopment, offering new elements beyond those presented in the documentary. Her research con-

firms that the company intended to occupy areas prohibited by the APA-LN management plan. Af-

ter a jurisdictional dispute between environmental agencies—IBAMA at the federal level and the

Environmental Institute (IMA) at the state level—the company managed to exploit bureaucratic

loopholes that ultimately allowed the occupation to proceed. In addition, the then-mayor of Mata

de São João, Márcia Cavalcanti Carneiro Dias, of the Brazilian Labor Party (PTB), granted Reta

Atlântico a ten-year exemption from the property tax through Law 193/2003 (Machado, 2008).

The Conflict 5, the last identified in the documentary, is closely related to one of the environmen-

tal impacts analyzed later on, as it also took place in the communities of Vila Sauípe and Porto de

Sauípe, areas in the immediate surroundings of Costa do Sauípe Resort. This episode is narrated

by Pombinho, a resident of Vila Sauípe, who reports the clearing of a freshwater spring microbio-

me carried out by chegantes⁸.

This conflict mirrors the dynamic described by Elias and Scotson (2000) between “established”

groups and “outsiders,” in which the natives represent the established group—holders of a

communal territory governed by their own sociocultural and economic norms. This setting was

transformed both by tourism developments and by the arrival of outsiders, who interacted with

land and natural goods according to logics different from those of the established group. Shortly

before the conflict is made explicit, Pombinho tells us that he was pressured with conversations

and promises of gifts so that he would “stop putting pressure” (Linha, 2008, Part 5, 3 min 24 s). He

does not identify who these people were, nor does he specify a particular conflict; he simply refers

to the harassers as “they.”

He then narrates: “[...] they still had a plot here, called Batinema, which is over on that side. They

stayed there and… started clearing the marsh. Then I came over. I told them / I said they had to

stop, because if they didn’t stop, I was going to IBAMA. They stopped” (Linha, 2008, Part 5, 3 min

59 s). If, in the first instance—the attempt to silence him—“they” tends to be interpreted as refer-

ring to some representative of mass-tourism enterprises, this second “they,” mentioned immedia-

tely afterward, points to the possibility of a different kind of interlocutor. Someone who is marked

by alterity, but who is not necessarily endowed with differentiated economic power—quite the

opposite, given that this second “they” are not described as the ones trying to “buy” Pombinho.

He recounts issuing an order, “I told them” (in the sense of “I ordered them to”), then softens it (“I

said they had to”), which still constitutes an exercise of power on his part. Whether it was an order

or a request, the key point is that “they” left Batinema, and Pombinho’s presumption of authority

over the place was accepted by the other party—by “them.” It would thus fall to the established

group to indicate and “tell/ask” what should be done, and to the outsiders to respect the orders

laid down by the people of the place.

The implementation of these complexes created pockets of poverty on the Northern Coast.

The main example is Porto de Sauípe. Right. With the arrival of many people who thou-

ght [inaudible] there would be jobs in the Complex [here it appears in the singular], Porto

de Sauípe and also Vila de Sauípe ended up being turned into precarious areas in terms

of urbanization. Today, we have many informal occupations in the Sauípe River mangrove

8

According to Santos (2016), chegante is a term used to refer to people who came to work on tourism-related construction projects

and decided to remain in the region.

13

Ubiraneila Capinan; Lidia Cardel

because of this, since neither the government nor the enterprise knew how to include the

community in this model of development. Paulo Novaes, manager of the APA-LN (Linha,

2008, Part 3, 5 min 54 s).

In line with this interpretation, the first socio-environmental impact is identified as the one resulting

from what Paulo Novaes, manager of the APA-LN, defined as the legacy of tourism: “pockets of pover-

ty.” He points out that this type of impact occurred most directly in Vila Sauípe and Porto de Sauípe,

for the reasons already mentioned. Local residents expelled from their lands, along with workers

left over from the civil construction phase of tourism developments, began to occupy areas further

inland, including mangrove forests. The economic and social inequalities brought about by mass

tourism are mentioned in various excerpts by business owners, guesthouse operators, and others,

as can be seen in the quotation above from Paulo Roberto Souza, the landowner in Santo Antônio.

The second impact, and the last unit of analysis addressed here, is also the first situation presen-

ted in the documentary, involving both environmental impacts and conflict. These events took

place in the community of Vila Sauípe, and the people who denounced them were Pombinho and

João Paiva, both local residents, who held Costa do Sauípe Resort responsible for the environmen-

tal impact on the river resulting from the creation of a lagoon used to discharge effluents from the

resort’s wastewater treatment plant—nicknamed Pinicão by the local population.

This sewage treatment plant has been identified by local residents as a symbol of resistance against

the pollution of freshwater springs and watercourses. The waste management and storage model

adopted by the resort discharges effluents directly into the ecosystem, including lagoons formed by

the Sauípe River and mangrove forests at its mouth—destroying spaces traditionally used for recre-

ational activities and work. As a result, the impact led to restrictions on territorial practices and daily

routines following the construction of the Costa do Sauípe Complex. The Pinicão is an environmental

impact widely known among residents and has been reported to the state through community mo-

bilizations. This impact was the object of study by Liana Nascimento (2010, p. 57), who documented

the following situation in the Sauípe River after the construction of the tourism complex:

The sanitary engineer Quize Maia, a specialist in the Environmental Impact Assessment

Unit of the Environmental Institute, states that the Sauípe Effluent Treatment Plant is nei-

ther meeting local demands nor fulfilling the objectives of its original treatment plan. Ac-

cording to her, the plant was built by the government to support the implementation of

the Costa do Sauípe Complex, even though the complex already had its own project for

managing liquid effluents through a submarine outfall. The neighboring localities—such

as Sauípe, Porto de Sauípe, and Curralinho—have only been partially served by the plant,

with no prospect of full coverage. She emphasizes that the financial cost of this facility was

significant, covering a large area with preliminary treatment infrastructure and maturation

ponds. At the same time, the results of the treatment process have proven to be environ-

mentally and socially costly. The construction errors, she explains, stem in part from the

lack of public consultation with local residents regarding the discharge point, the charac-

teristics of the treated effluent, and the risks associated with the river, fauna, and public

health. The plant uses an algae-generation process as its final treatment stage; however,

this technique alters the color, turbidity, and biochemical oxygen demand of the water due

to the high concentrations of organic matter—ultimately resulting in negative impacts on

water quality.”

Nascimento (2010) also reports that, since its implementation, sewage from the Costa do Sauípe

Complex has been discharged at the bridge—a practice depicted in the documentary Linha Verde.

14

Linha Verde-Estrada Cicatriz

In response, the local population organized and turned to the competent institutions to resolve

the dispute, which had been generating socio-environmental impacts since the resort began ope-

rating. The “[…] residents’ association denounced the situation in public meetings, newspapers,

security and environmental agencies, and to the Public Prosecutor’s Office” (ibid., p. 60). Although

the State Public Security Secretariat concluded that urgent mitigation measures were needed to

address the impact caused by the effluents from the treatment plant operated by the Bahia Water

and Sanitation Company (EMBASA), Nascimento notes that, up to the completion of her research

in 2010, no effective measures had been adopted.

Returning to the quotation above, it becomes clear that EMBASA—the state sanitation company—

must also be considered technically and politically responsible for the impact. The state govern-

ment at the time took on the task of managing the resort’s liquid waste and altered the original

plan, which had foreseen a submarine outfall under the responsibility of the developers: the cons-

truction company Odebrecht and its financial partner, the Pension Fund for Employees of Banco

do Brasil (PREVI).

Socio-environmental impacts and conflicts have in common the movement of capital to transform

everything—absolutely everything—into a commodity, which, as such, is to be sold, consumed,

and used to generate profit, pushing to expand the legal limits of environmental exploitation on

the Northern Coast of Bahia. The people of the villages are also folded into this relentless pursuit

of profit, whether through the purchase of their labor power for various tasks—almost always ma-

nual—or when they are allowed to occupy specific, controlled spaces with their artisanal produc-

tion, hovering on the boundary between being human subjects and serving as living ornaments of

a supposedly “authentic local culture.”

The environment as a whole is disputed by capital, but land is undoubtedly the central element—

especially land located in the coastal zone. The commercial tentacles of capital have also been

extended over an entire village, such as Santo Antônio, as well as over the mangrove forests and

wetlands.

These latter places have been occupied by construction workers who were laid off after the cons-

truction of mega hotel developments such as Costa do Sauípe Resort, as well as by local residents

displaced from the coastal area by these same tourism projects. In addition, they have been affec-

ted by the creation of lagoons, such as Pinicão, and by the pollution of freshwater sources through

the discharge of the resort’s sewage. If there are disputes over these areas located further inland,

what happens along the coast is even more blatant, as in the appropriation of the beaches of Mas-

sarandupió and Santo Antônio. In the latter, the village and the beach form a continuum, to the

point that the ground of the entire territory is covered with beach sand.

The state appears institutionally as the arbiter of the interests of all groups and should enforce en-

vironmental legislation that ultimately aims to safeguard the environment for future generations.

However, what this research—and many others referenced in this section—has found regarding

the implementation of tourism in the Northern Coast Environmental Protection Area (APA) is a

flexibilization of the law, through a game of interpretations designed to guarantee broad and un-

restricted financial returns for capital, to the detriment of the communities—some of them centu-

ries old—and of the environment.

15

Ubiraneila Capinan; Lidia Cardel

Final considerations

We have presented the perspectives and voices of traditional communities affected by various

actions driven by the voracious expansion of capital through the massification of environmen-

tal tourism, as portrayed in the documentary Linha Verde: Estrada Cicatriz. The film, in turn,

introduces a range of social actors who, among other aspects, reflect on the capacity of local

residents to adapt to the arrival of mass tourism in their villages. Some express a sense of ine-

vitability regarding the transformations under way and the loss of their traditional ways of life.

Others, although equally apprehensive, adopt a more proactive discursive stance, seeking to

engage with the development process without allowing their communities and territories to be

consumed by tourism.

In this sense, responding to the invitation made by the research team in the final section of

the documentary—concerning the long-term viability of native populations on the Northern

Coast of Bahia—it becomes evident that, in order to persist as ecosystem peoples, the different

social groups that have inhabited this region for centuries must resist and stand up, refusing to

be defined solely by the logic that capital seeks to impose everywhere, on all forms of human

and non-human life. Or, to paraphrase Souza (2015), it is legitimate to question the narrative

of passivity often attributed to social actors who must deal with the verticalities imposed by

biosphere societies—especially considering that environmental tourism itself is now caught up

in a dialectical struggle to prevent its own decline, given that its practices are inherently and

multiply predatory.

Thus, in light of what was discussed in the previous section, it becomes clear that, on one side, the-

re are ecosystem peoples who have historically maintained relationships of physical and symbolic

survival with the environment of the Northern Coast Environmental Protection Area (APA-LN),

and, on the other, there is capital, which treats this protected area as a resource to be exploited

in the pursuit of ever-greater profits, with the support of the state. The latter occupies a contra-

dictory position, not out of impartiality, but because of its ambiguities. It is important to highlight

the state’s failure to ensure effective governance in terms of planning, monitoring, and overseeing

the socio-environmental consequences of mass tourism in this APA, in keeping with its role as

steward of natural assets.

Consequently, on the Northern Coast the process of territorial appropriation tends to favor exter-

nal investors to the detriment of local residents. This dynamic is made possible by ambiguities and

ever-shifting interpretations of the notion of sustainability, which serve to relax environmental

legislation in the face of capital’s interests. The affected communities, for their part—even when

organized in associations—have shown limited organizational capacity to resist these processes,

as illustrated by the conflicts and impacts presented in the testimonies featured in the film.

Public authorities have oriented their actions in the region mainly toward favoring large-scale

enterprises, particularly through their management of technical reports (EIAs and RIMAs) for

environmental licensing and by providing road infrastructure, basic sanitation, and other urban

amenities that serve to create urbanized bubbles for tourism. They have also taken part in deve-

lopment plans that include recurrent tax incentives and, in less profitable phases, have even acted

as direct financiers of tourism projects.

Based on what has been discussed, two inferences can be drawn. The first, of a conceptual nature,

is that a socio-environmental impact does not necessarily bring an end to a related conflict. In

16

Linha Verde-Estrada Cicatriz

other words, the conflict may persist even after the impact has occurred, passing through phases

of confrontation and moments of tacit or ritual suspension, until new dynamics rekindle the dis-

pute. This continuity may stem either from the possibility of reversing the impact—restoring the

object of contention as a common natural good and rehabilitating it environmentally, where appli-

cable—or from the impossibility of such recovery. In the latter scenario, the conflict may continue

to reverberate both in lived experience and in the collective memory of the affected group.

The second inference concerns Brazil’s current environmental challenges in light of its colonial past,

specifically the historically unresolved and deliberately neglected issue of the country’s agrarian

question. Brazil has never carried out a comprehensive legal distinction between public and private

lands; it has failed to regularize land tenure for peasant communities, has not fully demarcated In-

digenous territories, has not titled even half of the remaining quilombola territories, and to this day

does not effectively enforce the basic constitutional principle of the social function of land. In short,

in the words of one of the foremost specialists on Brazil’s agrarian question, José de Souza Martins

(2010), land remains a captive good since the enactment of the Land Law of 1850 and is treated as a

volatile commodity within the various frameworks imposed by the expansion of capital.

Finally, we may conclude that in the documentary, issues such as ethnic rights, restricted access to

coastal areas, basic sanitation challenges, constraints on subsistence and work practices, and the

arrival of outsiders intersect with broader disputes over land ownership and land use on Bahia’s

Northern Coast, as can be traced in the conflicts and socio-environmental impacts identified in the

film. The Green Line, as a trauma inscribed in the territories, cosmologies, and social memories of

local populations, remains an open scar, vulnerable to new socio-environmental lacerations.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the discussion and exchange space provided by the Center for Rural, Environ-

mental, and Urban Studies (NUCLEAR) at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA).

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18

Linha Verde-Estrada Cicatriz

Linha Verde-Estrada Cicatriz: Conflitos

Socioambientais e Impactos na Costa

Norte da Bahia

Linha Verde-Estrada Cicatriz: Conflictos

Socioambientales e Impactos en la Costa

Norte de Bahía

Resumo

Resumen

Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar os confli-

tos e impactos socioambientais que surgiram e se

intensificaram paralelamente à mais recente onda

de expansão do capital na costa norte do estado

da Bahia, impulsionada pela implantação do tu-

rismo de massa. Esse processo teve início com a

construção do primeiro resort all-inclusive do Bra-

sil, o Costa do Sauípe Resort, apoiado por políticas

públicas, notadamente por meio da construção e

ampliação da rodovia BA-099, conhecida como

Linha Verde. Esta investigação qualitativa toma

como objeto de análise o documentário “Linha

Verde: Estrada Cicatriz”, produzido em 2008 por

uma equipe de pesquisadores da Faculdade de

Comunicação da Universidade Federal da Bahia

(UFBA), por meio da chamada pública “Ponto de

Cultura”. O documentário apresenta um conjunto

diversificado de atores sociais que, por meio de

seus depoimentos, relatam eventos e contradições

em torno de transformações fundamentais que re-

modelaram o tecido social e ambiental do Litoral

Norte da Bahia durante a transição do século XX

para o século XXI. Como estratégia metodológi-

ca, este artigo apresenta sete unidades de análi-

se: duas relacionadas aos impactos ambientais e

cinco relacionadas aos conflitos socioambientais,

a maioria dos quais ocorreu ao longo da costa do

município de Mata de São João, onde o resort está

localizado. O artigo conclui que os objetos de dis-

puta são os territórios terrestres e aquáticos (mar,

manguezais, lagoas e rios) pertencentes às co-

munidades locais, bem como seus modos de vida

historicamente construídos, intimamente ligados

aos bens naturais e aos espaços comuns, como as

praias.

El presente artículo tiene como objetivo analizar

los conflictos e impactos socioambientales que

han surgido y se han intensificado junto con la más

reciente ola de expansión del capital en la costa

norte del estado de Bahía (noreste de Brasil), im-

pulsada por la implementación del turismo masi-

vo. Este proceso comenzó con la construcción del

primer resort todo incluido de Brasil, el Costa do

Sauípe Resort, respaldado por políticas públicas,

en particular mediante la construcción y amplia-

ción de la carretera BA-099, conocida como Linha

Verde. Esta investigación cualitativa toma como

objeto de análisis el documental Linha Verde: Es-

trada Cicatriz (Línea Verde: Autopista Cicatriz, en

español), producido en 2008 por un equipo de in-

vestigadores de la Facultad de Comunicación de la

Universidad Federal de Bahía (UFBA), a través de

la convocatoria pública Ponto de Cultura. El docu-

mental presenta un conjunto diverso de actores

sociales que, a través de sus testimonios, relatan

los acontecimientos y contradicciones que rodea-

ron las transformaciones clave que remodelaron

el tejido social y medioambiental de la costa norte

de Bahía durante la transición del siglo XX al XXI.

Como estrategia metodológica, este artículo pre-

senta siete unidades de análisis: dos relacionadas

con los impactos ambientales y cinco relacionadas

con los conflictos socioambientales, la mayoría de

los cuales se produjeron a lo largo de la costa del

municipio de Mata de São João, donde se encuen-

tra el complejo turístico. El artículo concluye que

los objetos de disputa son los territorios terrestres

y acuáticos (mar, manglares, lagunas y ríos) que

pertenecen a las comunidades locales, así como

sus formas de vida construidas históricamente,

estrechamente vinculadas a los activos naturales y

los espacios comunitarios, como las playas.

Palavras-chave: Povos Ecossistêmicos; Área de

Proteção Ambiental (APA) do Litoral Norte; Esta-

do; Capital; Turismo.

Palabras clave: Pueblos del Ecosistema; Área de

Protección Ambiental (APA) de la Costa Norte; Es-

tado; Capital; Turismo.

Timeline of the Manuscript



Received: May 2025

First Review: June2025

Second Review: October 2025

Accepted for Publication: October 2025

Author revision: November 2025

Grammar, Spelling and ABNT review: December 2025

Author revision: December 2025

Published on December 2025

19