Mapping Priority Areas for Forest Recovery Using Multicriteria Analysis in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Abstract

The collapse of a mining dam with 62 million cubic meters of mud in the Rio Doce basin resulted in the destruction of whole communities and large areas of Atlantic Forest. As forest restoration activities are among the most costly conservation strategies, prioritization of restoration efforts is crucial. In the present article, we mapped priority areas for forest recovery in a portion of the Rio Doce Basin (DO1) using a GIS-based (geographic information system) multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) employing the weighted linear combination (WLC) method. Five factors with different weights were taken into consideration according to their level of importance: distance from the drainage network, distance from the native vegetation patches, slope, soil class and precipitation. A map of priority areas was produced where 1.73% of the area was classified as very high priority for forest recovery, while 5.18% of the area was classified as high priority, 57.88% as medium priority, 1.34% as low priority and 0.00% as very low priority. The highest weights were both for the distance from the drainage network and the distance from native vegetation, revealing that areas of permanent preservation and those closer to forest fragments are priority areas for forest recovery. MCDA is a flexible and easy-to-implement method generating maps with suitable solutions for forest recovery. The approach taken can be replicated in regions that require support for decision making in environmental planning, such as the Pantanal biome, which is under considerable pressure from deforestation for the expansion of pastures.

Protecting the patches from the footprints: examining the land use factors associated with forest patches in Atewa range forest reserve

“…This finding implies that forest patches would likely be larger when they are far away from the mine sites as compared to patches that are close to the mine sites. Whereas not directly related to the findings of this study, previous studies in forested landscapes in East Jaintia Hills-India, Brazilian Atlantic Forest and ridgetop biota of Appalachian forests have shown that reduced forest cover is mostly associated with mine sites [54][55][56] and thus, it is likely that forest patches are reduced or lost as a result of mining activities in such landscapes. Also, clearing of forest for mining activities would likely create room for other activities (e.g., road construction and human settlement development) and access to other parts of the forest cover.…”

Multi-criteria analysis for selection of priority management programs for the Japaratuba River Basin, SE, Brazil

“…However, there is only one program in the Plan, out of a total of 24, focused on this criterion: "Plan for the assessment, recovery, and monitoring of strategic areas for environmental conservation and preservation" (Sergipe, 2015). Valente et al (2017) and Almeida et al (2019) obtained the highest weight (0.87 and 0.51) for forest proximity to the drainage network. According to the authors, forested riparian areas are very important for forest restoration due to the connected fragments and improve water quality.…”

“…The weight assignment (comparison) process for each selected criterion was established considering the document analysis of the Basin diagnosis (Sergipe, 2015), the database available in Sergipe (2020), and the literature review on the importance of each criterion for sustainable development related to UN-based water resource management (2015). The authors of this study attributed the important values in the comparison matrix, drawing inspiration from Valente et al (2017) and Almeida et al (2019).…”

“…Once the parameters are generated, decision-makers can systematically evaluate the elements, promote comparisons and analyze the established hierarchy, therefore, defining priorities according to the objective of the study (Flenger et al, 2015;Valente et al, 2017;Galetti et al, 2018;Gomes & Bias, 2018;Almeida et al, 2019).…”

Critérios para a seleção de áreas prioritárias para a conservação em bacias hidrográficas

“…A literatura apresenta inúmeros trabalhos conduzidos no âmbito da agricultura agroflorestal, manejo florestal e reflorestamento, visando beneficiar os recursos hídricos como, Randhir et al (2001), Bocher (2010, Ruiz (2015), Silva et al (2017), Almeida et al (2019), Mafra et al (2020). No Brasil e na América Latina, alguns projetos de Pagamento por Serviço Ambiental hídrico (PSA) ganharam destaque, tendo em vista a P a g e | 338 Revista Ibero-Americana de Ciências Ambientais v.12 -n.3  Mar 2021 conservação e restauração da cobertura vegetal como um critério para melhoria da qualidade e disponibilidade hídrica.…”