Multi-temporal analysis of land use land cover interference in environmental fragility in a Mesozoic basin, southeastern Brazil

Changes in land use land cover without proper planning cause several adverse environmental impacts on hydrographic basins. Mapping these dynamics is a key tool to understand the rapid changes in landscapes that directly affect environmental fragility and ecosystem services. This paper aims to present a multi-temporal analysis of the land use land cover of Ribeirao do Meio watershed, in Brazil, and their relationship with environmental fragility in this 246.81 km(2) hydrographic basin. The methodology adopted combined the assessment of environmental fragility and a multi-criteria analysis of the attributes considered. The environmental fragility classes, mapped at a scale of 1: 50,000, were grouped into five categories - from very low to very high -, resulting in the environmental fragility maps for 1999 and 2014. A direct relationship between changes in land use land cover and the environmental fragility classification was verified. In the specific case of the watershed under study, due to intense sugarcane cultivation, preservation measures could favor a positive change in the basin's environmental fragility scenario. Additionally, enforcement of environmental law could also have a positive effect on this scenario.