Cláudia Câmara do Vale

Vulnerabilidade ambiental da planície costeira de Caravelas (BA) como subsídio ao ordenamento ambiental

The use pressure on coastal zones and their effects on the equilibrium of ecosystems have been a subject often discussed in the scientific literature. This situation takes the planners to look for summarize the scientific information to develop models of integrated coastal studies. From these studies, this paper aims to analyze the environmental vulnerability of the Caravelas Coastal Plain in the state of Bahia (Brazil) by means of geoprocessing techniques in a Geographic Information System, with the purpose of subsidize the environmental planning. Lastly, this research has generated environmental vulnerability levels as from the integration of geological, soil conditions, slope and use and occupation of land characteristics. The classes that have high and very high vulnerability include mangroves, the floodplains and shoreline. In the class that has an average environmental vulnerability is included areas of the coastal plain and the slopes of the trays. The classes of low and very low vulnerability include the trays located at the northwest portion of the study area. The results obtained allowed understand the different degrees of vulnerability of each unit front of some human pressures, can be used as a tool for local and regional environmental planning.

Land Use and Occupation of Coastal Tropical Wetlands: Whale Coast, Bahia, Brazil

This chapter aims to discuss the process of land use and occupation in coastal tropical wetlands, particularly the ones that occur at the Whale Coast, in the extreme south of the state of Bahia – Brazil, between 1984 and 2014. For this purpose, orbital images of the Landsat-TM satellite were used, which were subsequently integrated and processed in the Geographic Information System using the Envi™ software, through object-targeted classification. Throughout the text, the current standard of occupation in the Brazilian territory is addressed, which is co-validated by the gradual expansion of population and economic cycles, such as the expansion of the eucalyptus forestry, the urban area and pasture in the Whale Coast. At the same time, there is a reduction of forest occupied areas. This study has the objective of contributing with landscape evolution studies and subsiding better planning proposals for land use and occupation in coastal tropical wetlands.