Environmental damage of urbanized stream corridors in a coastal plain in Southern Brazil

Abstract

The implementation of sustainable spaces and infrastructure can offset environmental damage caused by urban land parceling of coastal plains. However, there is no clear methodology for the analysis and quantification of damage on coastal water bodies. In this paper, we provide a procedure for the identification of degraded urban rivers and the quantification of corresponding environmental damage according to Brazilian law. In Brazil, environmental legislation requires public authorities to consider the recovery or compensation of environmental liabilities in protected areas in the regularization of urban occupations. We use the Jurerê Coastal Plain located in Southern Brazil as a case study to analyze damage to the river bed and the riparian permanent preservation area (PPA). The suppression of the Meio and Faustino rivers occurred in several stages starting in the 1970s. Our analysis is subdivided into: (i) review of the evolution of environmental legislation protecting streams corridors over time; (ii) spatio-temporal analysis of land use from historical cartographic documents, obtaining accurate topographic data to assist in the identification of the river beds; and (iii) quantification of the suppressed PPA according to the legislation in force at the time of the implementation of urban land parceling. The procedure developed here contributes to the quantification of the environmental liabilities of other urban occupations and may be used to determine the compensatory environmental measures which are effectively bound to the corresponding damaged area.