Permanent Preservation Areas Research Articles

Analysis of the Conservation Status of Urbanized Tropical Springs in Southeastern Brazil

Springs are extremely important for the maintenance of the hydrological cycle, contributing to the improvement of the population's quality of life. In this sense, this research aimed to analyse the conservation status of three springs in the watersheds of Mineirinho and Paraíso streams located in the city of São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil, in order to understand the possible causes of its conditions. The Integrated Assessment and Monitoring Protocol for Springs of Water Streams (PANÁgua) was applied, whose structure is summarized in three stages: field assessment, bibliographic research and analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). As a result, it was identified that the three springs assessed in both watersheds are in a conservation status classified as “bad”. The main cause of this condition can be attributed to their locations, which are identified as urbanized areas, which results in a lack of natural vegetation, the presence of strong erosion processes and irregular dumping of sewage and rainwater. Furthermore, the disposal of various solid residues in the Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) of the studied springs was also observed. The results show the need to prioritize environmental management actions in urbanized watersheds, as well as expand research on the status of tropical watersheds in Brazil.

Identification of land use conflicts in Permanent Preservation Area in a Brazilian Amazon sub-basin

The southern region of the Amazon stands out for the growing agricultural development and installation of large hydroelectric projects. Given this scenario, the objective of this study was to quantify the Áreas de Preservação Permanente (APPs), Permanent Preservation Areas, of the water bodies of the Teles Pires river basin according to the current legislation, checking whether there is conflict regarding the use and occupation of these areas, and then check for the occurrence of degradation and identify the environmental fragility of the area. Using the Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI), the water bodies located in the study area were delineated and the APPs were delimited according to Law 12,651/2012. To identify the existence of conflicts within these areas, a map of land use and occupation was generated through Maximum Likelihood supervised classification, which was compared with the limits of the APPs, considering conflict areas whose land use is related to anthropic activities. Lastly, the potential and emerging fragility of the area were calculated, considering data of the slope, soil type and land cover/land use. The delimited APP comprised 3.96% of the total area of the basin and it showed a state of low degradation, with 83.83% of the area conserved under native vegetation cover and 15.93% showing conflicting type of use, with the occupation by pastures standing out, and among the APP categories mapped the headwaters were the most impacted. The spatialization of conflicts within the basin indicated that it has a very different conservation pattern, with the most critical areas concentrated in the center-east, where municipalities that have more than 40% of the APP occupied by anthropic activities are located. The north of the basin has areas with higher potential fragility, which is attenuated by the great soil protection.

Cities back to the river: the neglect of urban PPAs in the Cuiabá River Valley Metropolitan Region - RMVRC/MT

This research studied the process of irregular urban occupations that occurred along the Cuiabá River Permanent Preservation Areas (PPAs), as a key to understand its importance for urban sustainability. Its objective was to study the dynamics and socio-environmental impacts resulting from irregular occupations along the banks of the river that cuts through the two largest cities in the Metropolitan Region of the Cuiabá River Valley - RMVRC/MT, the state capital Cuiabá, and Várzea Grande. Considering that this river is responsible for the water supply of both cities, and a Pantanal Mato-Grossense affluent, which have a fundamental relevance for the local and regional ecosystem, it became important to identify the contradictory relationships between socio-environmental issues and the application and surveillance of urban legislation, by mapping the APPs, in order to verify the degradation of the Cuiabá River. The methodology was based on bibliographic, documental and empirical research. The results showed the importance of its continuity in new research, and may also subsidize decision-making processes, formulation of urban and environmental legislation, public policies aimed at socio-environmental protection of vulnerable areas, relevant to improving the quality of life and the environment.

Impacts of urban sprawl in the Administrative Region of Ribeirão Preto (Brazil) and measures to restore improved landscapes

The present study addressed the problem of urban expansion in a large metropolis of Brazil (ARRP – Administrative Region of Ribeirão Preto), relating the evolution of urbanization in the past 35 years with losses of agricultural area and respective equivalent production and economic effects. Besides these food security and agribusiness issues, the study tracked important environmental consequences of the observed growing urbanization. This included water insecurity related with the occupation of watercourse networks, destruction of riparian vegetation that is legally protected as Permanent Preservation Areas (PPAs), and the occupation of Guarani Aquifer recharge areas with impermeable surfaces. The database consisted of Landsat images interpreted and processed in a Geographic Information System (GIS). The results indicate losses of rural area exceeding 350 km2 in the studied timeframe, with equivalent production and economic losses around 1.1 Mton/year and 230 MR$/year, on average. It is worth to mention the 40–75% overlap between the impermeable surfaces of some ARRP municipalities (e.g., Cajuru, Altinópolis) and recharge areas of Guarani Aquifer. The impermeable surfaces within the ARRP also affected approximately 7000 headwaters that were potential hotspots of shallow aquifer recharge. The urban sprawl destroyed more than 9100 km of natural watercourses and nearly 630 km2 of PPAs. The pathways recognized to improve the ARRP landscape included implementation of urban agriculture and landscape planning measures capable to protect the recharge to and the quality of Guarani Aquifer water, mostly anchored in the Municipal Director Plans, the prominent land use policy tools in the ARRP. This integrated, long-term, spatially explicit and quantitative assessment of urban sprawl impacts assembled with indications of landscape restoration policies and measures is novel in Brazil. On the other hand, studying the ARRP is worthwhile because of its historical relationship with the Brazilian ethanol program that brought an accelerated development to the region following the World oil crisis of 1970 s until now.

Geoenvironmental Mapping for the Delimitation of Regulated Areas for Use and Occupation

The pressure constantly increases for the use and occupation of unexplored areas, concomitantly degrading natural resources. On the other hand, national, state, and municipal laws have arisen to regulate and preserve sites for environmental sustainability, such as Areas of Permanent Preservation (APP) and Legal Reserves. Nevertheless, the significant territorial extension and the multiple legislation make it difficult to define these areas. A relevant instrument to solve this issue is the geoenvironmental mapping of the territory. This work sought to delimit effectively regulated areas for use and occupation based on the geoenvironmental mapping of a section of the municipality of Ubajara, Ceará. Therefore, it was necessary to analyze the hypsometry, slope, water resource, and soil and delimit the APP and Conservation Units. The mapping revealed 15.67% of APP and 37.44% of use and occupation areas, being 46.88% effectively regulated for the use and occupation of the soil with diverse economic activities – such as agricultural, forestry, and pastoral-contemplated in the Ubajara master plan.

Sensors networkfor the evaluations of the meteorological variables in urban green areas: developmentand applications.

The urban environment is often responsible for negative impacts on the climate and environmental comfort, due to the common climatic interference in highly built and waterproofed environments. One of the ways of mitigating negative environmental and microclimate impacts is the use of green areas in the urban environment. Thus, aiming at the analysis of environmental quality parameters of urban regions, it is essential to monitor the influence of green areas on different meteorological variables. In this sense, the use of information acquisition instruments and methodologies can positively contribute to this analysis, which can support decision-making related to urban planning. Thus, this work aims to develop a sensor network with sensor nodes to assess meteorological variables in urban green areas, aiming to analyze and discuss the influence of green areas on the behavior of CO¬2 concentration, temperature and air relative humidity parameters in an urban environment. The proposed and developed sensor nodes enabled the adequate collection of these variables and, based on the results obtained, it was possible to observe that the green area (permanent preservation area -PPA) contributed positively to these variables in the portion of the study area located in Campinas (SP), presenting lower temperature and CO2 concentration and increased air humidity. However, for the portion of Paulínia (SP), it was possible to observe little influence from the PPA. Influences on these variables, exerted by rural areas and parks, were also identified, contributing to the reduction of meteorological parameters, but different interactions were identified with the CO2 concentration, which may present a possible increase or assist in the reduction of CO2 in the air.

Investigation of pre and post environmental impact of the lockdown (COVID-19) on the water quality of the Capibaribe and Tejipió rivers, Recife metropolitan region, Brazil

The coronavirus pandemic has seriously affected human health, although some improvements on environmental indexes have temporarily occurred, due to changes on socio-cultural and economic standards. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impacts of the coronavirus and the influence of the lockdown associated with rainfall on the water quality of the Capibaribe and Tejipió rivers, Recife, Northeast Brazil, using cloud remote sensing on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. The study was carried out based on eight representative images from Sentinel-2. Among the selected images, two refer to the year 2019 (before the pandemic), three refer to 2020 (during a pandemic), two from the lockdown period (2020), and one for the year 2021. The land use and land cover (LULC) and slope of the study region were determined and classified. Water turbidity data were subjected to descriptive and multivariate statistics. When analyzing the data on LULC for the riparian margin of the Capibaribe and Tejipió rivers, a low permanent preservation area was found, with a predominance of almost 100% of the urban area to which the deposition of soil particles in rivers are minimal. The results indicated that turbidity values in the water bodies varied from 6 mg. L−1 up to 40 mg. L−1. Overall, the reduction in human-based activities generated by the lockdown enabled improvements in water quality of these urban rivers.

Spatial-temporal Assessment of Environmental Law violation patterns in permanent preservation Areas from Southern of Minas Gerais State, Brazil

Spatial-temporal Assessment of Environmental Law violation patterns in permanent preservation Areas from Southern of Minas Gerais State, Brazil

Effects of environmental protection policies on fragile areas of a watershed occupied by agriculture in the Brazilian Cerrado

Brazil has become an antagonist in natural resource conservation policies in recent years. The Brazilian Cerrado is one of the biomes most affected by this setback due to the occupation of areas of economic interest in agriculture. Interestingly, there are projects throughout the biome that aim to encourage the preservation of natural resources, but there is uncertainty about whether these incentives have provided conservation. That is the case of the Feio River hydrographic basin, located in the Cerrado, near the city of Patrocínio, state of Minas Gerais. Indeed, the Feio River watershed has projects incentivizing the Cerrado's conservation. Thus, in this article, we aimed to explain how the advance of agriculture in fragile areas of the Feio river watershed occurs, their causes and whether protection strategies have produced satisfactory results. We used an old Environmental Fragility proposal methodwith our contributions to estimate the variations regarding nature conservation in the basin. Our findings show considerable heterogeneity in the potential fragility of the Feio's river basin. We observe that less fragile sites are used for coffee cultivation (74 and 72% of the two places), while more fragile sites are occupied by reserves (around 50% of the area) and high-impact activities such as traditional monoculture and cattle ranching (25 and 44% for the two sites). Temporally, we observed little change in use and occupation, with a slight increase in no-till farming to replace coffee and conventional cultivation. The permanent preservation areas in the basin have improved vegetation quality, while the reserve areas composed of fields show a degradation process. Considering the importance of the Feio's river basin, different incentives and inspection strategies are needed to guarantee the site's preservation and environmental restoration.

PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF FERMENTED BOKASHI COMPOST PRODUCED ON FARM IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL

Bokashi is fermented organic compost capable of improving the physical, chemical, and biological conditions of the soils. The compost action in the agricultural production system is influenced by its preparation, resulting in products with different physicochemical characteristics. The study aimed to characterize bokashi produced on-farm and compare it with commercial products. The produced composts in southern Brazil were obtained through efficient microorganisms (EM), collected in an area of permanent preservation, and kefir. Two commercial composts were used for comparison (Plantae FertTM and Bokashi Sementes BrasilTM). Physical characteristics related to apparent specific gravity, water content, and water retention capacity and chemical characteristics related to nutrient contents, pH, and electrical conductivity were analyzed. For the physical characteristics, the mean and standard deviation were determined. The data from chemical parameters were submitted to the analysis of variance, and the means were compared by the Tukey test with 5% significance. Bokashi produced on-farm and commercial Bokashi showed similar physical characteristics. Commercial bokashi composts showed higher contents of nutrients than the composts produced on-farm. The analyzed composts showed adequate physicochemical parameters, with no factors limiting their use in agriculture.

ANALYSIS OF THE PERMANENT PRESERVATION AREA ON THE BANKS OF THE SALGADO RIVER IN THE URBAN AREA OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF AURORA-CE

Abstract: Regardless of their topology, areas located at springs are considered permanent preservation areas in Brazil. Such areas may or may not be covered by native vegetation and contribute to the conservation of local natural resources through the determination of areas that are improper for land use in order to maintain the original plant coverage. Urban environments suffer degradation due to the lack of planning and basic sanitation. The aim of the present study was to analyze the permanent preservation area on the banks of the Salgado River in the urban zone of the municipality of Aurora, state of Ceará, Brazil. A case study was conducted involving the following steps: bibliographic review, determination of the study area, selection of indicators, on-site visits, identification of problems and the presentation of a proposed solution. The results indicated that the banks of the river were highly degraded due to urbanization and the removal of vegetation. The water resource was contaminated due to the construction of houses, enterprises and a public square in the protected area and was contaminated by residential sewage and the sewage system itself as well as solid and liquid waste from means of transportation, noise pollution and light pollution, which hinder the habitation and movements of endemic animals. In conclusion, the area limits and treatments necessary for the permanent protection area stipulated by law have not been successful due to the continued process of appropriation for urbanization. Thus, human activities cause harm to the natural environment and the population itself, exposing these elements to diseases and floods.

Investigating Relationships between Runoff–Erosion Processes and Land Use and Land Cover Using Remote Sensing Multiple Gridded Datasets

Climate variability, land use and land cover changes (LULCC) have a considerable impact on runoff–erosion processes. This study analyzed the relationships between climate variability and spatiotemporal LULCC on runoff–erosion processes in different scenarios of land use and land cover (LULC) for the Almas River basin, located in the Cerrado biome in Brazil. Landsat images from 1991, 2006, and 2017 were used to analyze changes and the LULC scenarios. Two simulations based on the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) were compared: (1) default application using the standard model database (SWATd), and (2) application using remote sensing multiple gridded datasets (albedo and leaf area index) downloaded using the Google Earth Engine (SWATrs). In addition, the SWAT model was applied to analyze the impacts of streamflow and erosion in two hypothetical scenarios of LULC. The first scenario was the optimistic scenario (OS), which represents the sustainable use and preservation of natural vegetation, emphasizing the recovery of permanent preservation areas close to watercourses, hilltops, and mountains, based on the Brazilian forest code. The second scenario was the pessimistic scenario (PS), which presents increased deforestation and expansion of farming activities. The results of the LULC changes show that between 1991 and 2017, the area occupied by agriculture and livestock increased by 75.38%. These results confirmed an increase in the sugarcane plantation and the number of cattle in the basin. The SWAT results showed that the difference between the simulated streamflow for the PS was 26.42%, compared with the OS. The sediment yield average estimation in the PS was 0.035 ton/ha/year, whereas in the OS, it was 0.025 ton/ha/year (i.e., a decrease of 21.88%). The results demonstrated that the basin has a greater predisposition for increased streamflow and sediment yield due to the LULC changes. In addition, measures to contain the increase in agriculture should be analyzed by regional managers to reduce soil erosion in this biome.

The role of environmental legislation and land use patterns on riparian deforestation dynamics in an Amazonian agricultural frontier (MT, Brazil)

Agribusiness expansion and intensification in Brazil have prompted an abrupt change in land use and occupation in the Amazonian agricultural frontier since the 1980s. Considering the increasing suppression of native vegetation, riparian areas represent an important tool for protecting ecosystem services and biodiversity. Although the effects of land tenure and land use on large-scale deforestation in the Amazon have been widely assessed, their roles on riparian deforestation remains poorly explored. Here we assessed two municipalities – Querência (QRC) and São José do Xingu (SJX) – located in an agricultural frontier of the Brazilian Amazon to explore the relationship of illegal deforestation in riparian areas and different types of land use and property-sizes, as well as the impact of the Native Vegetation Protection Law (NVPL, Federal Law 12,651/2012) on environmental compliance. Therefore, we developed a robust geodatabase using hydrographic, land use and land tenure data. Riparian areas protected as Permanent Preservation Areas (PPAs) were delimited and their land cover mapped for 2012 and 2018 using high spatial resolution satellite images and unsupervised K-means classification method. We also applied landscape metrics to analyze riparian PPA structure and dynamics. Our results indicated that NVPL was followed by a downward trend in the riparian vegetation deficits in all land use types and property-sizes, but it did not stop new clearings. Although riparian PPAs in minifundios (≤ 80 ha) and agrarian reform settlements tended to concentrate higher relative deforestation amounts, large-sized farms were responsible for most of the absolute extent of riparian deforestation in both years, accounting for 76–78% in QRC and 93% in SJX. They were also the main drivers of new clearings, for which account for 71% in QRC and 86% in SJX. The impact of land use on riparian deforestation was not homogeneous among properties, possibly reflecting different levels of technological investment and management techniques. In the so-called consolidated areas, in which the riparian PPA minimum width was reduced by NVPL, decreases in deforestation between 2012 and 2018 were lower. In these areas, vegetation coverage did not exceed 23% in any of the study areas. In the riparian PPAs that was not under consolidated areas, the vegetation coverage was of at least 85% of the area. Local environmental governance may also have affected the riparian deforestation dynamics, in which stricter monitoring and law enforcement lead to lower deforestation extents. Finally, landscape metrics revealed the importance of managing riparian areas at the landscape level, as local improvements did not necessarily result in connectivity gains.

Morphological and phenological strategies for flooding tolerance in Cerrado and Pantanal trees: implications for restoration under new legislation

In 2012, the Native Vegetation Protection Law 12,651 decreased the extent of Areas of Permanent Preservation in Brazil. While previously the distance from water was measured during the rainy season, the new version only considered the extent of the regular watercourse. This change affects conservation and restoration sites, and restoration programs need to be modified based on the new legislation. For instance, more flood‐tolerant species need to be planted, given the higher probability that restoration efforts will be lost during flooding. To identify species suitable for the restoration of such areas, we tested if plants that develop morphological structures to tolerate waterlogging stress are more resistant to hypoxia caused by flooding and can recover better afterwards. We experimentally evaluated survival and morphological or phenological strategies (root dry mass, height, basal diameter, adventitious roots, lenticels, and leaf renewal) of 13 tree species from the Cerrado and Pantanal biomes of Brazil. After 56 days of simulated inundation and 56 days of post‐inundation recovery, we found that all study species were able to survive on waterlogged soil and to recover after the flood, and they can be used to restore periodically flooded riparian forests within the new legal zone. Our study is particularly relevant, as climate change is expected to increase flooding. As environmental laws change and new areas get restored including those in artificially flooded areas, such as on banks of hydroelectric dams, the experimental approach introduced in this study should be replicated with other species from various phytogeographic domains worldwide.

Runoff, Identification of Sensitive Zones in the Capivari Watershed – BA

The watershed is an active environment, defined as an area of land surface drained by a primary river and its tributaries, which are bounded by water dividers. Among the processes that affect water movement in a watershed, the surface runoff stands out, responsible for the transport of soil particles (nutrients and pollutants) to the lower parts of the landscape. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the influence of land use and cover on surface runoff dynamics in the Capivari Basin in Bahia, Brazil. To reach that objective, the Curve Number method (SCS-CN) was employed, with the ALOS/PALSAR RTC Digital Elevation Model; IBGE soil data; data from government weather stations and local agribusiness; land use and land cover from the LC08_L1TP_216069_20170619 landsat8 OLI sensor, through the classifier Bhattacharya. The processing was carried out on a GIS platform, using SPRING and QGIS software. Highest levels of precipitation, the soil features and the higher slope affected the greatest vulnerability to runoff at the mouth, based on the proposed model, however, the most conserved Permanent Preservation Area (PPA) have been effective in maintaining the Capivari River in these areas. The areas considered most critical in terms of the risk of water erosion for the year 2017 were those in the middle of Capivari, because they presented high precipitation in some months, but do not present PPA in riparian forest areas or in hill tops, this increases the vulnerability of these regions to erosion. The proposed model was successful in identifying areas most vulnerable to runoff in the Capivari Basin.

Arthropods associated to tree canopies in the edges of a forest fragment in the Cerrado of Minas Gerais, Brazil

The Cerrado biome occupies 22% of Brazil's land area and has one of the highest levels of endemism of flora and fauna species of any biome. As components of the fauna, the arthropods stand out as they perform several functions within ecosystems and serve as bioindicators of environmental quality. This work aimed to evaluate the association of the arthropod fauna with tree canopies in an area surrounding a fragment of a legal reserve adjacent to a coffee plantation. The study was conducted at the Juliana farm (18°43'29"S; 47°29'55"W), located in the municipality of Monte Carmelo, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The canopy net methodology was used, in which a net bag was wrapped around the branches and shaken five times, covering the four cardinal directions in the crowns of 20 trees. The contents of the net were placed in plastic bags, sealed, identified, and taken to the laboratory. Twelve monthly collections were performed between August 2018 and July 2019, for a total of 240 samples. The collected specimens were identified in taxonomic groups using a taxonomic key. During the sampling period, 804 individuals were collected, belonging to 56 taxa of the classes Arachnida and Insecta. Xylopia aromatica (Annonaceae) was the most representative tree species, with 50% of the sampled taxa found in its branches. The order Araneae and the families Asilidae and Tephritidae (Diptera) and Formicidae (Hymenoptera) were the predominant taxa in the faunistic analysis. As potential predators, Araneae and Formicidae were the most important groups and were found in all tree species sampled. The families Braconidae and Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) were the most common among the parasitoids. We conclude that the legal reserve and permanent preservation areas maintain populations of tree species that can generate a survival site for natural enemies and other canopy arthropods.

Priority areas for restoration in permanent preservation areas of rural properties in the Brazilian Amazon

Environmental degradation, over the years, has drastically changed landscapes in the Amazon. At the same time, discussion, knowledge, and actions on the conservation of forest remnants and restoration of degraded environments have increased worldwide. The present study, carried out in Paragominas (Brazilian Amazon), aimed: (1) to evaluate the process of landscape change over the last 36 years (1984–2020); (2) to identify degraded environments within legally established permanent preservation areas (PPAs); and (3) to map environmental liabilities in degraded rural properties which, according to environmental regulations, must be recovered. The priority areas for restoration were defined considering (a) the environmental liabilities of each rural property; (b) the remnant forest in each rural property; (c) the rural properties’ boundaries; and (d) the degraded PPAs in each rural property. Deforestation followed by land use change in Paragominas’ territory increased from 12% (2336 km2) in 1984–45% (8783 km2) in 2020. The municipality presented 4416 km of rivers and c.a 6157 springs under pressure (i.e. agriculture, pasture, urban areas and deforested areas). The environmental liabilities identified summed 638.85 km2, which, according to environmental regulations, must be recovered. It is important to consider that when producers protect PPAs in their properties, they also conserve soil and water resources as well as contribute to biodiversity maintenance.

Environmental Fragility in a Permanent Preservation Area

Permanent preservation areas reduce the exposure of sediments and nutrients in aquatic medium and improve the quality of water. The analysis of natural features and anthropic use in rivers’ surroundings makes it possible detecting potential ecological unbalance. This study analyzed the potential and emerging environmental fragility in Permanent Preservation Areas (PPA). Environmental fragilities around drainage areas composing the sub-basin were assessed based on soil, relief, rainfall, land use/land cover (LULC) features. The degrees of emerging environmental fragility observed in the second-order stream were lower than those in first-order ones: 3.07 and 2.68, on average, respectively; and standard deviation of approximately 0.7 was recorded in each group. First-order streams are more closely associated with high slopes, and it increases their fragility. Then reduction of fragility levels around water springs due to conservationist practices will decrease material and energy transfer throughout network connections and rebalance the assessed aquatic ecosystem.

Mapeamento dos serviços ecossistêmicos de Áreas de Preservação Permanente de cursos d’água: estudo de caso da bacia do rio Doce

The Permanent Preservation Area (PPA) is an area protected by law with the function of preserving environmental resources, especially water resources, in addition to ensuring human well-being. They promote the provision of fundamental ecosystem services for the conservation of life through the maintenance of ecological cycles based on the ecosystem functions of support, regulation, provision, and culture. Justified by the importance and the particular characteristics of the PPAs, a classification of ecosystem services was carried out specifically for these environments, attributing a weight scale with values from “1” to “5” to the capacity to offer ecosystem services. From the mapping of land use and occupation, the weights of APP services were associated with land cover, resulting in the mapping of ecosystem services in APPs in the Doce river basin. The mapping of areas with higher density of high offer of ecosystem services allowed the spatial identification of the offer of ecosystem services for the maintenance, conservation and regeneration of ecosystems. In this way, the inadequate land-use of APPs in the Rio Doce basin was related to the loss of ecosystem services together with ecological, economic and social impacts, highlighting the relevance of maintaining watercourses and aiming at the preservation and application of resources of these areas to the recovery of degraded regions such as those impacted by the rupture of the Barragem do Fundão, in the municipality of Mariana

Association between forest resources and water availability: temporal analysis of the Serra Azul stream sub-basin.

Vegetation is expected to influence processes in the water cycle through its structural effects on key ecosystem functions in watersheds. However tropical forests are being submitted to anthropogenic pressures that result in great disturbances in the functioning of ecosystem services. Thus, the present study uses a landscape scale analysis for exploring the associations between land use changes and water availability in the Serra Azul stream watershed. The land use transitions from years 2013 to 2018 were investigated and a set of robust landscape metrics were analyzed across the study region, including water bodies Permanent Preservation Areas. A correlation analysis between the water volume of the Serra Azul reservoir and the landscape metrics was also performed to verify the association between forest resources and water availability. The results show that the region has been submitted to several impacts associated with the loss of forest areas resulting from landscape transformations throughout the region. Forest fragmentation associated to loss of connectivity severely limit water resources availability besides reducing the basin environmental resilience. The role of different management instruments for water resources protection was also discussed, emphasizing the need for participation of stakeholder in the creation process of these environmental protection instruments.