Urbanização e biodiversidade: Caracterizando a paisagem da Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Jaguaribe

Abstract

The growing urbanization and climate change experienced across the globe have highlighted the urgent need to act in order to reduce socio-environmental vulnerability in urban areas, particularly concerning biodiversity conservation. Biodiversity and human well-being are intrinsically linked, making it neither possible—nor logical—to separate the evaluation of social and demographic factors from environmental and preservation issues in the planning of our cities. João Pessoa is one of the Brazilian capitals that has undergone intense modifications in its landscape due to urbanization, leading to the loss of significant green areas, which have either been reduced, fragmented, or subordinated to private interests. Aware of these issues, this work aimed to foster the investigation of urban occupation alongside biodiversity and the organization of green areas, raising the following question: How does the configuration of a landscape affect its biodiversity? To answer this question, the territorial scope of the Jaguaribe River Basin was chosen, an area of the city subject to intense impacts from land use and occupation, which also preserves important forest remnants. In light of this choice, the main objective of the work was to characterize the structure of its landscape, identifying the consequences of its pattern on the existing biodiversity and promoting a dialogue between the environment and urbanization. To achieve this, the study was based on the premises and concepts introduced by the discipline of Landscape Ecology, and its general methodology was structured into three main development stages: literature review, characterization of the study area, and landscape diagnosis.