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The coastal regions of Brazil have lost most of their distinct characteristics due to an intense, diverse, and long history of land use. The current scenario is the result of successive changes which have taken place since the colonization of Brazil. These changes should be taken into account in environmental planning since the decisions about the future depend on the understanding of past changes. In this regard, the aim of this study was to identify and quantify the spatio-temporal changes in land use in a coastal region, using principles of landscape ecology and scenario construction. The case study was the São Sebastião Island, divided into 61 watersheds, off the northern coast of São Paulo State (Brazil). The study involved the development and application of a methodology to interpret the historical dynamics of the island. The driving forces were identified and indexes of change were calculated to define the phases of occupation of the island. Five phases of occupation of the coastal landscape were mapped: preservation, conservation, regeneration, exploitation and urbanization. These phases represent a pattern of internal heterogeneity, sometimes positive (environmental conservation), and sometimes negative (environmental degradation).
As regiões costeiras brasileiras encontram-se altamente descaracterizadas devido ao intenso, diversificado e prolongado uso da terra ao longo de sua história. O cenário hoje observado é produto do acúmulo de interferências que vem ocorrendo desde a colonização. Os planejamentos ambientais devem considerar essa questão, uma vez que as decisões sobre o futuro dependem da compreensão dessas mudanças do passado. Neste caminho, o objetivo deste trabalho foi identificar, quantificar e indicar as variações espaços-temporais de uso da terra numa paisagem costeira a partir dos princípios da ecologia de paisagem e da modelagem para construção de cenários. O estudo de caso foi a Ilha de São Sebastião, Litoral Norte do Estado de São Paulo. Para tanto, foi desenvolvida e aplicada uma metodologia para a construção da trajetória histórica por meio da identificação de forças indutoras e aplicação de índices de mudanças que permitiram a definição de fases de ocupação da Ilha. Foram mapeadas nesse território cinco fases de ocupação histórica da paisagem costeira: preservação, conservação, regeneração, exploração e urbanização. Essas fases representam um padrão de heterogeneidade interna, ora como saldo positivo (conservação ambiental), ora como saldo negativo (degradação ambiental) dentro de 61 unidades de análise, definida pelas bacias hidrográficas presentes na Ilha

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In many areas of the world, groups of people have attempted to create urban landscapes that follow the principles of environmental sustainability. To this end, groups have devised alternative models, such as ecovillages, where low-impact handling is used and a way of life different from that of large population centers is adopted. Although these villages exist, their efficiency in the conservation of natural resources has not been effectively evaluated. This study evaluated the practices used by two Brazilian ecovillages to conserve water resources to assess whether this new concept of living is indeed successful in meeting sustainability goals. We selected 25 indicators of water sustainability, and using the compromise programming method, we quantified the distance between those landscapes self-referenced as sustainable and an ideal hypothetical scenario. We also interpreted the communities perceptions using the distance between the current situations and the envisioned scenario. We concluded that both ecovillage are far from technically ideal scenario, but the communities have a strong sense of their limitations in implementing water resources conservation. The communities attributed this fact primarily to deficiencies in the shared management. Key Points:We evaluated the practices used by two Brazilian ecovillages to conserve water resources We selected 25 indicators of water sustainability We quantified the distance from an ideal sustainable hypothetical scenario Supporting Information:Supporting Information S1