Proposta de recuperação e preservação ambiental para a região da microbacia do Riacho do Machado - Cruz das Almas, Bahia - estudo de caso

Abstract

Inappropriate soil use practices, especially in the last decades, had carried on an accelerated process of degradation. As well, growth of urban and agricultural frontiers had exhorted a considerable pressure for those important areas known as Permanent Preserved Areas (APP’s in Portuguese), such as: riparian forests, water pounds and water sources, among others. By contrast, geographical processing technique applications had been determinant to identify, in general, the level of land degradation, important tool to monitoring ecologically relevant areas, including those processes dealing with criminal environmental issues. The objective of this study case was to come out with a proposal for the environmental restoration and recuperation of a small watershed called Riacho do Machado, situated in the city of Cruz das Almas, State of Bahia-Brazil, beginning with a preliminary diagnosis of its stage of conservation, in which human impacts were identified for further action to rebuild natural conditions. Satellites images were analyzed and several field evaluations helped to study the stage of degradation of the study area; further more, structured survey were applied for environmental perception of local residents, some of them concluded in informal interviews, using the hermeneutic technique of interpretation. Results pointed out to design a highly impacted area in advance stage of degradation, with several environmental, social and economical conflicts. In general, the study, including the micro watershed closer resident’s participation, showed an intrinsic and complex distance between Society and its surroundings. Even though divided in two socioeconomical different groups, both groups agreed, unanimously, to perceive their environment and to be in favor of any restoration effort to benefit the area. Images analysis as well as subjective social diagnosis of local residents with large influence of Riacho do Machado allows to conclude that this micro watershed requires an aggressive, ambitious and plausible restoration programmed to accelerate the return to normal conditions of a body water with quality, to honor an important neighbor as the local University, UFRB, institution that may take advantage of that process and claim for itself the right to test some experiments for adequate soil uses, not only for the city of Cruz das Almas, but for the region, if possible.