Mapping of ecosystem services in Permanent Preservation Areas of watercourses: a case study of the Doce river basin

Abstract

The Permanent Preservation Area (PPA) is an area protected by law with the function of preserving environmental resources, especially water resources, in addition to ensuring human well-being. They promote the provision of fundamental ecosystem services for the conservation of life through the maintenance of ecological cycles based on the ecosystem functions of support, regulation, provision, and culture. Justified by the importance and the particular characteristics of the PPAs, a classification of ecosystem services was carried out specifically for these environments, attributing a weight scale with values from “1” to “5” to the capacity to offer ecosystem services. From the mapping of land use and occupation, the weights of APP services were associated with land cover, resulting in the mapping of ecosystem services in APPs in the Doce river basin. The mapping of areas with higher density of high offer of ecosystem services allowed the spatial identification of the offer of ecosystem services for the maintenance, conservation and regeneration of ecosystems. In this way, the inadequate land-use of APPs in the Rio Doce basin was related to the loss of ecosystem services together with ecological, economic and social impacts, highlighting the relevance of maintaining watercourses and aiming at the preservation and application of resources of these areas to the recovery of degraded regions such as those impacted by the rupture of the Barragem do Fundão, in the municipality of Mariana