Study of the environment for evaluation of the vulnerability to the occupation human being of the Parnamirim city (RN) using geoprocessing techniques.

Abstract

The area of the Parnamirim city, Rio Grande do Norte State, Northeast region of Brazil, is passing by a high population increase in this last years, and a serious consequence is the impact to the environment. This paper presents a Geographic Information System (GIS) to map the environment aspects of the area. Some thematic maps were generated (hydric resources, vegetation, geology, geomorphology and soils), which allow to generate the vulnerability map to the human occupation. This study verified that more than 10% of the area, mainly composed by native vegetation in mobile dunes and fluvial plains, have high or very high vulnerability. The objective of the vulnerability map is to contribute for the planning an orderly occupation of the areas to be populated. The occupation, without guidelines supported by the knowledge of the environment, can cause harmful consequences with serious impacts to the environment, and consequently in the life quality of the local population