Definição de áreas prioritárias para restauração e conservação em uma microbacia hidrográfica, no norte do Espírito Santo

Abstract

The North of Espírito Santo has important federal and state Conservation Units, in addition to having a large part of its territory included in Priority Areas for the Conservation of Brazilian Biodiversity, indicated by the Ministry of the Environment. The present work aimed to indicate priority areas for ecological restoration and biodiversity conservation in a hydrographic microbasin located in the municipalities Conceição da Barra and São Mateus. For that, multicriterial analysis was used, in a GIS environment, for the combination of factors (landscape characteristics) important to the objective of the work. The selected factors were: proximity between fragments with a minimal nuclear area; proximity to native forest fragments; proximity to the hydrographic network; proximity to urban centers; proximity to Conservation Units; and slope. The result obtained was a map of priority areas, classified into seven classes. From this work it was concluded that: the multicriterial evaluation, in a GIS environment, is suitable for mapping priority areas for restoration and conservation in hydrographic basins, aiming to favor the connection between forest fragments; however, to use this method, one must have knowledge of the landscape in question, so that the chosen factors and assigned weights are coherent with the reality of the landscape; the methodology used proved to be simple, operational and flexible, being able to be carried out with pre-existing data and replicated any areas, in addition to being subject to change if there is a need to include or remove variables.