THE PROCESS OF LAND USE AND OCCUPATION IN THE LOW TOCANTINS BASIN

Abstract

The Baixo Tocantins watershed is located in the northeast of the state of Pará and has its coverage area passing through 15 municipalities in Pará. Among the various challenges, containing the environmental impacts that are caused by the use and occupation of land is among the main ones faced by urban society. That is, the use and occupation of inappropriate areas that accelerate natural phenomena. Thus, this article aims to analyze the changes and effects caused by the use and occupation of the soil in the Baixo Tocantins watershed, through bibliographical research, as well as data collection using Geoprocessing and Remote Sensing tools, through the Geographic Information Systems (GIS's). Therefore, for the monitoring of areas at different scales of mapping and comparison of land use and land cover, data from the years 2009 and 2019 were used. Therefore, it can be inferred that the transition of land use and occupation belonging to Baixo Tocantins watershed was significant, in comparison between the years mentioned, with a considerable increase in areas destined for pasture, causing a decrease in vegetation cover.