Valiação da expansão das culturas da cana-deaçúcar e do café e seus potenciais impactos ambientais na Região Extremo Sul da Bahia.

Abstract

Brazil has become the world's largest producer and exporter of various products, such as sugar, coffee and orange juice. The economic region of the extreme south of Bahia (RESB) presents favorable factors for the expansion of sugarcane and coffee, as it is limited to the main producers of sugarcane and coffee in Brazil and has edaphoclimatic conditions for its development. The main municipalities producing sugar cane are Caravelas, Mucuri, Medeiros Neto, Nova Viçosa, Lajedão, Ibirapuã and Santa Cruz Cabrália, and the main coffee producers are Prado, Itamaraju, Porto Seguro, Eunapolis, Teixeira de Freitas and Itabela. The expansion of these agricultural crops presents an economic advantage for the region, with repercussions on GDP. It was possible to observe the growth of the Municipal Human Development Index (MHDI) of the municipalities, but the criteria, such as education, are at low levels. In addition, the expansion of these cultures can contribute to the intensification of land-use conflicts with rural and indigenous populations. With regard to the remnants of the Atlantic Forest, it was possible to observe that the municipalities with the highest percentages of protected areas occur where indigenous lands predominate. This work discusses the importance of creating an integrated policy that involves the protection of the Atlantic Forest and indigenous lands. In addition, it stresses that it is necessary to carry out integrated planning that involves water resources, vegetation, and the soil to ensure better levels of environmental protection