Análise Espaço-Temporal do Uso e Cobertura do Solo em Área Semiárida da Paraíba

Space-Time Analysis of Land Use and Cover in a Semi-arid Area of Paraíba

Abstract

The present work aimed to validate the MapBiomas tool for spatiotemporal analysis of land use and land cover in the Western Cariri microregion of Paraíba, seeking to analyze the changes that occurred in this area, from 1989 to 2019. In this study, we used Land Use and Cover data for the period from 1989 to 2019. Data from 1989, 2005, 2013 and 2019 were chosen, taking into account the rainfall closest to the historical average for the region. In these 30 years, Western Cariri of Paraíba increased the area of Pasture by 42.87%, accumulating an increase of 351.7 km2. There was a reduction of more than half (51.33%) of the surface area covered by water bodies caused by the prolonged droughts of recent years. A worrying fact is the finding that 90.0 km2 is made up of non-vegetated areas, corroborating studies that point to an increase in desertification in Western Cariri. It is possible to observe the increase in population in this region, which brings even greater pressure to an already fragile ecosystem. With this, we can conclude that MapBiomas is an important tool that can be used in studies and monitoring of priority areas, such as APP's.