Occupation of water source areas in metropolitan region of São Paulo: rural land market in peri-urban areas

Abstract

Illegal occupation, linked to processes of land speculation, generates various social and environmental tensions. These conflicts are reinforced by the weakness of institutions and by the conflict of interests between economic agents. Most of the studies about the processes of occupation of the peri-urban areas in the region of São Paulo State, Brazil, assume that the Watershed Protection Act (WPA) causes fall in land prices. Therefore, this study brings a discussion about the urbanization of water sources areas in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, assessing the influence of the WPA in irregular occupations and the devaluation or valorization of lands located in these areas. The results show that the behavior of the agricultural land prices of municipalities nearby the watershed areas were not significantly affected by the WPA. In this case, the predominant influence was the macroeconomic policy of the Brazil’s Real Plan.