Ecosystem-based disaster management in the coastal zone: Governance and public engagement after fires in a state park in southern Brazil

Ecosystem-based disaster management focus on conservation or restoration of ecosystem services provided by healthy ecosystems. To be put into practice, this approach requires the engagement of different social actors in collaborative processes that reduce the risk of disasters. In this research, we analyzed the engagement of social actors in the restoration of coastal ecosystems after the successive arson fires that occurred in 2019 in the Serra do Tabuleiro State Park (STSP), Santa Catarina, Brazil. We collected data through documentary research, semi-structured interviews with participants in an event focused on recovering the burnt areas, and participant observation in the elaboration of two plans: 1) Forest Fire Fighting Contingency Plan in the Baixada do Massiambú, and 2) Action Plan for Ecological Restoration of the Baixada do Massiambú. Our results suggest that fires act as a trigger for a process of public engagement involving social actors with different backgrounds, motivations, and knowledge about the STSP. The analyzed plans promote inter-scale articulations between organizations aiming the conservation of ecosystems. Public engagement is the result of three factors: investment in training and development of projects for community mobilization, worsening of power disputes over projects for the territory, and media construction of an image of fires in the Amazon associated with the disruption of Brazilian environmental policy. •Brazilian organizations of civil society have been reacting to the environmental policies disruptions.•Fires can act as a trigger for public engagement in environmental governance actions.•Coordination and intersectoral collaboration are key to effective disaster management.•Public engagement in disasters is influenced by the shared image of the problem.•Ecological restoration is an important engagement factor in disaster management.