Wildlife Refuge (RVS - Refúgio de Vida Silvestre) is a conservation unit geared to full protection, and it only allows the indirect use of natural resources. However, it does not incur in land expropriation as long as the activities conducted within the property are in compliance with the goals of the protected area. The current study consists of an exploratory research that sought to deepen the knowledge about the RVS by investigating the possible sources of the category within the context of the National Protected Areas System Law. It raises hypotheses about the concepts involved in the creation of federal RVS and about the possible meaning managers attribute to this category. It could be concluded that the difficulties generated by the category location in an intersection between full protection and sustainable use, combined with the lack of regulation, are expressed in many different levels of relationship with the RVS. However, these difficulties are not strong enough to consider it as an unviable category.
Wildlife Refuge; management of protected areas; rationality