Desertificação: uma análise socioeconômica do município de Jaguaruana

Abstract

The environment has suffered from the strong anthropogenic interference since the dawn of human existence. The different forms of exploitation of the nature intensify environmental degradation, impacting often irreversible, affecting the ecological balance of the planet. Actions such as fires, deforestation, pollution of rivers and air, livestock, soil erosion, among others, may culminate with a major problem, desertification. This phenomenon began to be discussed and gained international notoriety from the 30s, when the United States and later to Africa suffered the strong impact of this process, killing millions of people and animals, bringing with it huge economic losses. It is from this perspective that the present work presents, in order to identify and analyze the social and economic impacts of desertification in the municipality of Jaguaruana. The rationale for choosing such a location is to be inserted into the semi-arid northeast, with a dryness index of 0.40 therefore susceptible to desertification process. The methodological procedure used for the research was a semielaborado questionnaire randomly applied to 60 residents of rural communities most affected by drought and water shortage afflicting the region, seeking to assess the major environmental, social and economic problems existing in that locality. The survey results show that the desertification process is underway in the city of Jaguaruana and there is a gap in the field of public policies to ensure the reduction and advancing desertification in the city.