REMOTE SENSING AND LANDSCAPE METRICS AS TOOLS FOR ANALYZING THE POTENTIAL OF ECOTOURISM IN CONSERVATION UNITS: CASE STUDY IN SERRA DO INTENDENTE STATE PARK – MG - BRAZIL

Abstract

Ecotourism is a segment that helps in conservation of natural spaces and their biodiversity. Understanding the complexity of natural landscapes, a cross-sectional analysis was sought to investigate responses through remote sensing methods and landscape metrics. The study area was the Serra do Intendente State Park (PESI), located in Serra do Espinhaço. Images from the Landsat 5 and 8 satellites, from the years 1990 and 2020, were used, which enabled elaboration of maps of land use and land cover, with thematic quality in global accuracy of 99.7% and 86.5% and Kappa index of 99.6% and 80.0%. Landscape metrics indicated an increase from 53.3% to 57.7% in the occurrence of rocky fields, a reduction in grassy fields (23.7% to 14.5%) and exposed soil (0.6% to 0 .1%) that are possibly associated with areas formerly occupied by cattle, and an increase in the seasonal semideciduous forest area (21.8% to 27.6%). By crossing the mappings and the quantitative results, subsidies were obtained for a better understanding of the spatial organization. In view of the analyses, it is concluded that there was an increase in natural formations, in line with the conservation functions of the PESI, resulting in an increase in the potential of ecotourism.