MEIO AMBIENTE E ATIVIDADES ECONÔMICAS: O CASO DE DUAS MICROBACIAS NO MUNICÍPIO DE RIO VERDE – GO

Abstract

Historically, the concern with environmental protection has been utilitarian and political. Since then, native forests have been removed to make room for the agricultural production process, among others. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of land use and occupation, related to economic activities and its impact on the conservation of the Legal Reserve (RL). The methodology used involves the selection and study of two watersheds. Through SRTM topographic maps and the QGIS software, the automatic delimitation of the Rio Verdinho basins, where the practice of agricultural activities prevails, and the Rio Preto, where livestock predominates. We also used data from the National Rural Environmental Registry System (SICAR) and information from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The study revealed that in addition to land concentration by few landowners in the Rio Verdinho region, 44% of properties with more than 4 tax modules do not have the minimum RL (20%) required by law. This reality is different in the region where livestock activity prevails, as less than 28% of properties with more than 4 fiscal modules are in this condition of irregularity. An alternative to regularization is RL compensation, which can be done in another river basin. However, this practice can promote losses in the conservation of local biodiversity, biological pest control, affect the water supply in the region, among others. Therefore, it is essential to adopt governmental measures to oversee and manage these actions, seeking to reduce the misfortunes arising from this mechanism.