Permanent Preservation Areas and water resources: diagnosis and analysis of land cover and use in the Ribeirão Caiuá watershed, western São Paulo – Brazil

Abstract

In Brazil, a growing number of watersheds are identified that are degraded with notable losses of surface water resources, due to the absence of Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) in all their extension, causing erosion processes, silting and pollution, triggering various environmental imbalances. It is from this context that this research is inserted, whose main objective was to analyze the conflicts between land cover and use and the APP in the Caiuá river basin and the possible impacts related to the management of water resources. To carry out this research, a bibliographical review was carried out on the subject, maps were prepared using geoprocessing techniques, in addition to obtaining social and environmental data and fieldwork. The results pointed to some land use conflicts in areas of the basin destined for the APP, which present inadequate use, aggravated by the insufficient presence of vegetation cover, especially in the springs. As intervention proposals, a joint action between the municipalities belonging to the basin and the hydrographic basin committee was recommended, in order to implement possible and viable strategies, with recomposition and expansion of spaces of natural vegetation, recovery of possibly degraded areas, associated with raising the awareness of the population in general and rural landowners, under the risk of scarcity of surface and subsurface water, which could compromise the quality of life of society as a whole. Thus, more specific studies in the area are indicated, in order to support specific actions.