ANALYSIS OF THE LAND OCCUPATION PROCESS IN THE RIBEIRÃO DO PÂNTANO BASIN (SP, BRAZIL)

Abstract

Understanding land use and occupation processes is essential for the preservation of the biological diversity of natural communities, since the pattern of land occupation and use generated by economic cycles and public policies is responsible for the spatial and temporal distribution of the elements of the landscape. Therefore, this study presents a brief analysis of the process of land occupation in the drainage basin of the Ribeirão do Pântano (SP) during two distinct periods: 1972 and 2006. The findings of this study reveal that, in a period of thirty-four years, there was a 50% reduction in the areas of native arboreal vegetation and an expansion of 300% in the areas of sugarcane, contributing to the degradation of the basin’s natural resources, fragmentation of the vegetation and the extinction of species.