Suscetibilidade ao processo de desertificação no Núcleo dos Sertões dos Inhamuns: o caso da sub-bacia do riacho do Urubu – Mucuim – Arneiroz – CE

Abstract

Watersheds are areas of significant relevance to geographical studies by witnessing the dynamic, current and previous, landscape, for harboring vast biodiversity and areas are preferably development of societies, contributing to socioeconomic and cultural activities. Because of this potential, the uses made, in some cases, not consistent with the ability to support, resulting in environmental problems. Desertification is the degradation of the quality of natural resources and socioeconomic conditions in dry lands. This degradation process has performance levels. The areas of Brazil that have higher levels of degradation are called Nuclei of Desertification. This research was developed in the sub-basin of the Urubu-Mucuim stream which has an area of 310, 771km² in the municipality of Arneiroz, located in the southwestern portion of the state of Ceará, in Nuclei of Desertification Sertões dos Inhamuns, with the aim of analyzing the performance of desertification on this sub-basin. The methodology used was the Environmental Systems with the application of Geobiofisicos indicators that helped to understand the level of existing desertification. To support this analysis, it was also used as technical field work, the application of interviews and Cartography, which contributed to the production of maps that have scales of 1: 100,000 and 1: 150,000, the satellite images used for mapping were Landsat 8 and RapidEye. The study area is likely the work of desertification; one can see that the geo-environmental characteristics and heavy duty applications made by communities contribute to the framework of degradation. However in some areas the welfare programs mitigate the environmental degradation processes, and there is thus a need for rational use of natural resources policies to mitigate and live with the problem of desertification.