MULTITEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF THREE RURAL SETTLEMENTS IN THE CITY OF NIOAQUE, MATO GROSSO DO SUL: THE USE OF GEOTECHNOLOGIES IN THE EVALUATION OF LANDSCAPES

Abstract

Brazilian Agrarian Reform is a broad public policy program for the redistribution and occupation of areas. This program aims to provide opportunities for small family farming (small scale production), providing them development opportunities and social inclusion. In this research, the aim was to evaluate, in a multitemporal way, from 1986 to 2019, soil uses and occupation and its consequences based on soil analysis from three analyzed settlements. These settlements were distributed by the agrarian reform program in Nioaque municipality (Andalucia, Boa Esperança, and Nioaque), Mato Grosso do Sul state. Geotechnologies and digital satellite images processing applied for this research indicated that these three settlements present a significant reduction in forest vegetation (26.5%, 36.6%, and 18.4%, respectively) and pasture areas predominance (68.3%, 57.7%, and 78.4%, respectively). They also showed seasonal forests disappearing in several places, beside wetlands that no longer exist. The region's new landscape indicates the predominant activity in beef cattle breeding and few agricultural areas. In conclusion, the settlements resemble the existing rural properties in their surroundings, based on extensive cattle raising. This land occupation dynamic shows that the environmental degradation processes are not restricted to only traditional rural properties.