O uso da terra e as implicações sócio-ambientais na zona úmida do Rio Araguaia, Estado de Goiás, Brasil

Abstract

The Araguaia River is one of the largest in Brazil and certainly the most significant for the state of Goiás. It played a central role in the discovery of, and settlement in, the hinterlands of central Brazil. The Aruaguia river basin, in between its source and its mouth, is usually divided into three segments – High, Middle and Lower Araguaia – to which correspond different types of landscape. The present study focuses on a segment of the Middle Araguaia that stretches from the Registro do Araguaia district (municipality of Montes Claros) to the southern tip of the Bananal island (municipality of São Miguel do Araguaia). The study area occupies an area of 4,430 km² and is characterized by its smooth relief and hydromorphic soils, which are associated with a discontinuous strip of flood plain. Occupation of the study area intensified from the 1960s onwards, and was driven mostly by pastoralists who were attracted to the area by the low price of the land, the public policy of colonization and the physical characteristics of the region. This article presents an environmental characterisation of these wetlands, based on the interpretation of data acquired through remote sensing and a field work. It then discusses the predominant types of land use and their socio-environmental implications. The analysis refers to the year 2007 and indicates the existence of a number of serious threats to the integrity of the wetlands of the Araguaia River, whose relevance in terms of natural heritage has been acknowledged at the national level. In particular, the results show that 61% of the study area is allocated to either cattle farming or agriculture, and that the predominant economic activity, cattle farming, takes up 42% of that area.