Geoprocessing Applied in the Analysis of Land Use and Occupancy in the Permanent Preservation Areas.

The increased ownership of fertile land for agricultural expansion caused the replacement of the original soil cover, for new uses related to economic activities, not respecting the limits of the areas classified as permanent preservation areas (PPAs). The Geographic Information System application in data integration is ideal for handling, environmental analysis and planning. The removal of natural vegetation of PPAs is primarily responsible for the silting of water bodies. The objective was to map land use and delimit the 255 ha of PPAs in the watershed of Gambá Stream, the municipality of Monte Alto, Săo Paulo State, with a total of 2911 ha, to ensure they are in accordance with the new Brazilian Forest Code (Law No. 12.651/12), which establishes a minimum width of 30 meters for watercourses of less than 10 meters wide and 50 meters to sources, in the case of the study area. In developing the use and land cover map, an image of Landsat 8, RGB composition 543, 2013 was used, and for defining the categories of PPA, we used the ArcGIS/ArcMap 10.2 software. Eight uses were ranked in APPs: Forest (25%), urban areas (2%), water (2%), pasture (29%), soil with straw (8%), exposed soil (0%), annual crops (24%) and country vegetation (10%). The results show that 63% of PPAs have a cover soil devoid of natural vegetation or arboreal and need a program of forest restoration. The diagnosis of PPAs of the study area inferred from the great devastation and degradation that is conditioned, due to inappropriate use by annual crops, soil with straw, associated with the cultivation of sugar cane and pasture. This information should subsidize public power in monitoring, through monitoring of the areas that need to be reforested and protected.