FORMS OF LAND USE AND OCCUPATION IN THE JACU RIVER/PB-RN WATER BASIN, BRAZIL:
A GEOECOLOGICAL APPROACH
Natural resources; Use and Occupation; Watersheds; Geoecology of Landscapes; Environmental planning.
Located in the Hydrographic Region of the Eastern Northeast Atlantic (RHANO), the Jacu River Basin (BHRJ) occupies a total area of 2,842.5 km2, belonging to the State of Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte. Its insertion in the Northeast Region of Brazil, which occupies a large part of the (RHANO), entails a geo-environmental situation with loss of biodiversity, soil and vegetation, in addition to being characterized by low rainfall, which makes it, in this way, a prominent field in terms of environmental planning, in which the survey of its spatial units, as well as human action in the use and occupation of natural resources, constitutes the bases for the establishment of strategies aimed at territorial planning. Therefore, this dissertation has the general objective of mapping the main forms of land use and occupation in the Jacu River Basin/PB-RN, Brazil. The research is being developed based on the theoretical-methodological conception of Geoecology of Landscapes, which was systematized in the organization and inventory, analysis and diagnosis phases, which made it possible to carry out a discussion on Geosystem, Landscape and Hydrographic Basins, which supported the analysis of the physical environment of the basin, as well as its socioeconomic characterization, which will be used to map the forms of use and occupation, as well as its Geoecological compartmentalization of the study area. According to the preliminary results obtained, the BHRJ was compartmentalized into five Geoecological Units, namely: Planalto Cuités (UPCs); Bica Residual Massifs (UMRB); Piemonte Sertanejo (UPSj); Sugarcane Table (UTCn) and Aquaculture Plain (UPAc). For the next steps of the research, together with the compartmentalization, mapping and classification of the forms of use and occupation of BHRJ, based on the Land Use Classification System (SCUT), it will provide us with the necessary bases for a planning proposal environment with the necessary notes for its sustainable management, which will include the propositional phase of the research.