Analysis of conflicts and land use dynamics in the municipality Salto do Céu - Mato Grosso state

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to evaluate, using geo-technologies, the conflicts and dynamics of land use in the municipality Salto do Céu – Mato Grosso State (Brazil). LANDSAT 5 and 8 images, from 1984, 1993, 2003 and 2013 were used for clipping, segmentation, supervised classification and post-classification. The methodology consisted of the following steps: definition maps; analysis of land use capacity and evaluation of existing conflicts regarding the current land use related to its capacity of use. Finally, quantifications were made concluding with the elaboration of maps. Forested Savanna was suppressed by 12.47% in the period of 20 years. Most phyto-physiognomies were replaced by Livestock, which increased by 16.90% during the period studied. The urban area grew 159.81% in this timeframe, due to the increase of agriculture and livestock. This municipality adapted 58.10% of its land for pasture and reforestation, with simple problems regarding conservation. Those areas identified as of low land use conflicts accounted for 72.28% of the municipal area. The analysis performed, indicates that the municipality has lands with high potential for livestock use, because these areas are adequate for the development of this activity. This suggests that these areas are in a relative balance between the ecological support (regarding mainly its susceptibility to linear erosion) and the socio-economic exploitation. It was concluded that the natural vegetation was suppressed for the expansion of Livestock and the urban area, showing that the landscape alteration was conditioned by the regional economy. There is a need for the readjustment of land use in those areas with strong conflicts, as well as inspection and control of land use changes, in order to avoid future soil erosion problems.