ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IN THE MINEIRO SEMIARID: A WAY FOR DESERTIFICATION?

Abstract

The State of Minas Gerais, given to its large territorial extension, presents a variety ofnatural and cultural landscapes. Its north portion is a region composed of eighty-ninemunicipal districts, comprising a territorial area of 127,532 km² (21.89% of the State of MinasGerais), where about 1,472,767 inhabitants live (2000). Characterized by the predominance ofsemi-humid tropical climate, with rains concentrated in the summer and original vegetativecovering of savanna and scrubland, that region is acknowledged by the low socioeconomicindicators it presents. Owing to its climatic characteristics, it has been included in theactuation area of the Agência Desenvolvimento do Nordeste (ADENE), agency that replacedthe Superintendência de Desenvolvimento do Nordeste (SUDENE).In Northern Minas there is strong evidence of environmental degradation associatedwith forms of disordered exploitation of natural resources, especially in the areas of greateraridity. The intensive anthropic activity whether in terms of deforestation aiming at charcoalbusiness or burnings and forestation with exotic species or the incorrect use of lands foragricultural practice have provoked different levels of accelerated erosion, silting up of riversand streams, drying up of soil, reduction in the flow of rivers or even their intermittence,problems that reflect, in a significant way, upon the quality of life standards of the regionalpopulation, historically characterized by poverty.