Demographic pressure in Serra do Mar State Park and its buffer zone, southeastern Brazil

Abstract

The Serra do Mar State Park forms a green corridor that connects significant remnants of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, a region that presents great biodiversity. However, the mounting pressure exerted on it by disorderly urban expansion around conservation unit areas is a cause for concern. Thereby, this paper aims to analyze a geographical and demographic characterization of Serra do Mar State Park and its buffer zone in order to identify regions under the greatest pressure and provide subsidies for developing public policies. The study is based on a cartographic representation using a geographic information system associated with the 2010 Census demographic data, which has been conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE in Portuguese acronym). The study area covers the territory of 32 municipalities and it was found that almost 25,000 inhabitants live inside the park while approximately 712,000 residents live inside its buffer zone.

Insular streams integrity in Ilhabela, Brazil

“…This study demonstrates the prevalence of human pressure on the analyzed environments on the islands and the conflicts arising from conservation management and local public policies. 37 In the rivers to the north of the island, the water speed is faster due to the slopes and the presence of larger stones, with the mountainous topography with a very different slope between the places, imprinting characteristics of occupation and preservation that are also different. In these, we saw less vegetation in the riverbeds, but there were lots of roots and trunks in high, stable gorges with tall vegetation, and the riparian zone is denser, while to the south, there is lower slope vegetation as well as less shading and stones.…”