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Soc. Bras. de Arborização Urbana REVSBAU, Piracicaba – SP, v.7, n.2, p.1-8, 2012

CASE STUDY ON THE MINDU ECOLOGICAL URBAN CORRIDOR: MAPPING ENVIRONMENTAL

LIABILITIES OF THE MINDU MUNICIPAL PARK, MANAUS-AM.

ABSTRACT

In the first operational and administrative incursions in the Mindu Municipal Park, we observed that many data were collected and filed loosely without treatment or a multi-criteria analysis. Due to the amount of loose data, a procedure to input them into only system was established, choosing one that could generate and make available geographic information on the area. Therefore, we used open-GIS, the SPRING, for possessing a wide range of reception for the data treatment to obtain necessary information on the protected area at cost zero. The present work aimed, in a simple and inexpensive way, to optimize the human resources and material to obtain a necessary mapping of environmental liabilities that affected the municipal park of the Mindu. The objective is to use the results to direct the actions of management of this protected area, to concentrate the efforts on the most problematic issues to secure the existence of natural asset in this protected area for the generations to come.

Keywords: Geotechnologies, environmental liabilities, risk management

ESTUDO DE CASO DO CORREDOR ECOLÓGICO E URBANO DO MINDU: MAPEAMENTO DE PASSIVOS

AMBIENTAIS DO PARQUE MUNICIPAL DO MINDU, MANAUS-AM

Rogério Fonseca1; Lizit Alencar da Costa2; Julio César Rodriguez Tello2; Carlos Moisés Medeiros3

RESUMO

Nas primeiras incursões operacionais e mesmo administrativas no parque municipal do Mindu, percebeu-se que muitos dados eram coletados e arquivados dispersadamente sem que houvesse algum tratamento ou análise criteriosa sobre os mesmos. Com muitos dados dispersos estabeleceu-se um procedimento de lançamento dos mesmos em um sistema único, escolhendo um que desse a oportunidade de gerar e disponibilizar informações geográficas sobre a área, utilizando, portanto, um SIG livre, o SPRING, por possuir um amplo espectro de recepção para o tratamento dos dados para obtenção de informações precisas sobre a unidade de conservação, a custo zero. O presente trabalho objetivou de forma simples e barata, aperfeiçoar os recursos humanos e materiais, para obter um mapeamento preciso dos passivos ambientais que afetavam o parque municipal do Mindu, direcionando as ações das equipes que compõem a gestão desta unidade de conservação, para concentrar os esforços no que é de maior problemática no presente para garantir a perpetuidade do patrimônio natural existente nesta área protegida a longo prazo.

Palavras chave: Geotecnologias, danos ambientais, gestão de riscos.

1 Biólogo, Mestre. Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias, Departamento de Ciências Florestais, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus-AM. [email protected]. 2 Engenheiro Florestal, Doutor. Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias, Departamento de Ciências Florestais, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus-AM. [email protected], [email protected]. 3 Agrônomo, Doutor. Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias, Departamento de Ciências Florestais, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus-AM.

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INTRODUCTION

The spatial data generated daily in conservation units

(CU) processed in environments of geographic

information systems (GIS) shows that the understanding

of situations, previously regarded as natural, are totally

contrary to those imagined by managers of protected

areas.

Increasingly, management based on facts, with the use of

appropriate tools, such as the geographic database and

GIS, leads to the refinement of management actions in

protected areas (Araújo, 2007) The simple action of

mapping environmental liabilities, generated in CUs or in

their vicinity, raises the question that monitoring should

be a basic premise in any management system of

protected areas, because in the decision-making process,

it gives adequate support for the management team to

direct their actions properly, not based on empirical

experiences of the administrative “hunch”.

Currently, more and more administrators of public areas

in governmental bodies should place efforts on the use of

geotechnological tools (GPS, GIS, remote sensing, aerial

photography, etc) to have support in the decision-making

process. For example, the study conducted at the Bacanga

State Park, municipality of São Luis – Maranhão state –

Brazil –, shows that the collection of information

provided, in addition to contributing to cartographic map

of the CU, new data on the use of resources in the park

(PINHEIRO JUNIOR, 2006).

The study conducted by Greggio et al (2009), in the

municipality of Jaboticabal – São Paulo state – Brazil –,

mapped the forest fragments in the municipality to assess

them qualitatively and quantitatively in terms of space

and time.

Two other notable cases were performed in the

municipalities of Linhares – Espírito Santo state – and

Volta Redonda – Rio de Janeiro state (both in Brazil),

where the System of Geo-Environmental Analysis

(SAGA) from UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de

Janeiro) and developed by Silva (2007) was used, which

allowed insights on the natural and anthropogenic

conditions of both sites.

However, the current scenario, in general, is that few

government offices hold the expertise and human

resources to use these tools, and those that have skilled

personnel use only one software program strictly

commercial, which eventually becomes restricted to

sectors of the same institution because it requires a

license to be used in other sectors.

One way to eliminate the restrictions imposed by licenses

is to use free software (OpenGIS) coupled to all the

geotechnological tools available, contributing to a

professional management directed to long-term

preservation of public and private protected areas. This

study demonstrates that it is possible to map

environmental liabilities in a CU that composes an urban

ecological corridor such as the Mindu Municipal Park, at

relatively low cost that can be replicated to other

protected areas.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The area study is the Municipal Park Mindu,

Conservation Unit of the Integral Protection Group,

situated in the neighborhood Dez de Novembro, Central

Southern Region of the municipality of Manaus,

Amazonas state – Brazil –, (Decree No. 9043/2007) as

highlighted in Figure 1.

ESTUDO DE CASO DO CORREDOR...

Soc. Bras. de Arborização Urbana REVSBAU, Piracicaba – SP, v.7, n.2, p.1-8, 2012 3

Figure 1. Study area in relation to the State of Amazonas, municipality of Manaus – Brazil –, and hydrographic basin the

Mindu River

The materials used for mapping the environmental

liabilities were: register of occurrences, notices of

environmental violations and on site verification through

approximately 680 incursions conducted and recorded by

the staff of the Mindu Park from December 2006 to

December 2007, in the surroundings and boundaries of

CU object of this study.

In order to record visually the liabilities generated, we

created a database of images using a digital camera and to

generate spatial information about the liabilities, we used

a Garminn Map76S GPS receiver, spreadsheet/notepads

with field data. To create the analogical maps, we used

the programs Track-maker, Scarta and Spring 4.2.

The data collected to map the environmental liabilities

demanded much attention, as they referred to many

classes of liabilities, as examples: fire, unauthorized

constructions, tree falls, forest invasion, oil discharge,

sewage discharge, noise from appliances, garbage

disposal, sweep burning, and illegal fruit collection,

among others. This is because the analysis of the

occurrence registers as well as notices of violation to the

activities hid detailed specification of the fact.

Among the various classes, we refined four categories of

liabilities: 1 – Invasion of forest limits by buildings,

defined as constructions used as housing/commercial

property/land with fenced boundaries that were

established within the limits of the CU and for one reason

or another was extended into the protected area; 2 –

Disposal of solid waste, liquid and gas, defined as any

and all effluent that may interfere in any way with the

integrity of natural resources inside the CU; 3 – works

inside and around the CU without authorization,

understood as un necessary residential buildings for

housing/commercial property/ fenced land, and 4 –

natural disasters, which are all effects generated by a

natural/human action that trigged a process that resulted

in damage to the CU or to the ecosystem nearby.

After defining the categories of liabilities, we performed

the collection of spatial data for spatial distribution

Rogério Fonseca et al..


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through the GPS receiver and to create a database of

images, we photographed the liabilities found using a

digital camera.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Invasion of the CU boundaries by buildings: we found

in the Mindu Park twenty-three built-up areas within the

limits of the region identified as CU. We observed

extremely complex situations such as a gas station within

the CU limits and other unusual situations such as

residences on the western edge of the CU.

All these residents have extended their land area into the

Mindu Park. Conversely, some residents claimed that the

ownership of these areas were given to them prior to the

establishment of the CU and those who extended their

land area into the park had authorizations granted by

local politicians, however nothing has been documented

to prove the existence of such authorizations.

Comparatively, the establishment of a CU in a rural area

is a heroic act to consolidate different viewpoints, often

antagonistic, which leads to huge technical successive

studies and public consultations that grant or not its

establishment.

Contrary to rural areas, many urban conservation areas

are created from the demand from residents and even

from researchers who use certain green areas within the

city limits for leisure, as it was the case of the creation of

the Mindu Park. Much appreciated by residents of the

neighborhood Parque Dez de Novembro, the area in

question was established as protected, but this concept is

not so much followed by the “next door” neighbors of the

Mindu Municipal Park.

When the protected area was established, a small number

of residents of the immediate surroundings were not

aware of the purpose of a protected area under the

category of park, i.e., the creation of the protected area

for some of those residents would not affect their

relationship with the continuous extraction of natural

resources area.

In mid-2005, environmental education programs were

established and conducted by the Municipal Secretariat

for Environment and local NGOs, in order to direct

actions aimed at conservation of local flagship species,

the Sauim-de-Coleira (Saguinus bicolor), which

indirectly contributed to the dissemination of the

importance of conservation in urban areas.

However, situations in a very recent past of successive

invasions in several regions of Manaus gave rise to a

general feeling of impunity causing some residents of the

immediate surroundings of protected areas of Manaus to

extend opportunistically their land area into the protected

areas already established.

Waste disposal: we identified in the field all points of

disposal of liquid, solid and gaseous effluents. We

highlight that we also found noise emission beyond

established limits within the limits of the CU.

The existence of 58 points of waste disposal in the

immediate surroundings of the Mindu Municipal Park

shows that anthropogenic actions cause a huge imbalance

to the ecosystems inserted in the CU.

One of the most interesting situations is a flower shop

installed in the west side of the park that uses the park as

a deposit of waste that, theoretically, “is taken away

weekly”. Commonly, some residents in the surrounding

of the park refurbish their households and have a nasty

habit of disposing construction debris into the area of the

Mindu Municipal Park, specifically residents from the

western side, who repeatedly dispose their waste

illegally, despite the guidance given weekly by park

administrators. This shows that more reprehensive

actions should be taken in these situations. In 2007,

actions led by park volunteers and the Department of

Public Sanitation decreased the amount of garbage

disposed inside the protected area, specifically in the

western and eastern sectors.

When a CU is established, we have in mind, theoretically,

that this area is a geographically delimited region free

from harmful actions, which is because humans are aware



that the environment’s ability to bear the consequences

affecting activities is limited.

However, the urban fact, i.e., human concentration in

spaces known as “cities” brings many benefits, but,

conversely, another much higher number of drawbacks.

The agglomeration of people in spaces not designed for

human settlements, from centuries ago to present, has

caused numerous situations of risk to human life and

other living beings. The law establishing the National

Environmental Policy No. 6938/81 defines pollution, in

the subparagraphs of paragraph III of art. 3,

understanding that every situation mentioned by the law

encompasses waste disposal into the Mindu Municipal

Park.

Unauthorized constructions: in a survey conducted in

the Mindu Municipal Park, we identified 18 unauthorized

constructions. We highlight the southern sector where a

business store has two wells drilled within the

conservation area. Situations like these should be

combated, but the financial appeal that these institutions

bring to the city is relatively high, according to the local

judiciary; therefore, they continue their activities using

natural resources and common use for everyone.

Assuming that all constructions must be authorized by

any regulatory body, these agencies should officially

confer with the management of the protected area to

deliver assessment on the project or construction

informing about the potential of pollution, degradation or

use of natural resources within the limits of the protected

area. Even if the protected area has no management plan,

as is the case of the Park Mindu, this area is identified by

resolution of the National Council of Environment No.

13/90 until the establishment of a management plan,

which redefines the boundaries of this area into

something approaching the reality of the ecosystem

protected.

Natural disasters: spatially representation of natural

disasters of the Mindu Municipal Park has become an

extremely effective indicator to discern whether they

were actually caused disasters or natural catastrophes

generated by lack of planning. Initially it was thought that

all the effects generated by a natural action of the

ecosystem would trigger a process that would result in

damage to the CU, but the processing of the first spatial

data showed standards that were repeated over several

months, particularly those concerning the fall of trees.

Currently the Mindu Municipal Park has a system of 12

tracks, which were established for the educational

interpretation focused on nature conservation and others

for the monitoring of the protected area. Of the 12 tracks,

only two tracks (jungle and waterfall) have the design

appropriate for nature interpretation without damaging it,

but they are underused, due to their remoteness from the

administrative headquarters of the CU.

The other ten existing tracks were re-planned in 2006 by

a team of technicians of SEMMA (Municipal Secretariat

for the Environment) and the developing company J.

Nasser. These ten tracks were increased in size of passage

corridor from 1.25 m and 2.00 m, considered a balanced

corridor for the passage of people, FBPN (2006), to up to

4.00 m 8.00 m currently, a passage corridor extremely

wide that led to a serious conservation problem, known as

internal insularization4.

This increase in size of the tracks led established trees,

which previously had a natural corridor to woody area

connected by a canopy, to form open real “avenues”

inside the park, causing, in addition to the canopy

opening, the leaning of trees located along the tracks to

obtain light in the canopy gaps. The leaning of trees to

obtain light is typical at the edges of fragments and not in

the middle of the fragments, as observed in the protected

area. As a result, we note an “internal islanding” of the

large fragment of the Mindu Park in least three other

internal fragments, caused by the opening of excessively

wide tracks.

Another major problem that caused a huge loss of forest

species with arboreal size was the creation of three tracks

that did not follow the level curves. Lechner and

Caiut/CCCB (2004) propose as restrictions to the creation

of tracks: “fragile areas like marshes and fields,

inadequate due to soil, with steep slopes and likelihood of

flooding”. After the establishment of these situations

unsuitable for the creation of tracks, it was still

implemented a trace of trails that instead of following the

level curves, it cuts the level curves, thus exposing the

roots of trees of medium and large size, increasing



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sediment removal and silting of the few existing drainage

systems on the tracks.

The cut of the level curves to open the tracks, will

certainly cause in the short-term the fall of all trees with

exposed roots. Proposed management procedures to

avoid further accidents would involve necessary

silvicultural treatments and even the removal of trees

with high tendency to fall.

The infrastructure that should, theoretically, contribute to

the public use of a protected area, mainly in the Mindu

Park, contributed to accelerate the degradation of the

area. An example was the installation of inappropriate

tracks to a region with high incidence of rainfall. The

installation of a drainage system (squared model 40cm x

40cm) did not help to reduce the speed of the water on

the tracks. In addition, the inclusion of concrete stairs in

podzolic soil, not suitable for runoff, led to an

acceleration of erosion on trails that had these types of

structures.

Totaling facts: to direct and concentrate efforts and

scarce financial resources, we decided to quantify

environmental liabilities and separate them into sectors of

the Mindu Park, so that mitigation measures can be taken

in the short-term and give a more Cartesian form to the

spatial data. Figures 2 and 3 show qualitatively and

quantitatively which indicator has the greatest incidence

on the CU and separates it into sectors based on spatial

information.

Proposals that contribute to the overall reduction of the

major indicator “waste disposal” in the park should

encompass actions for the watershed as the eastern,

northern and southern boundaries suffer direct influence

of hydric regime of the bayou of the Mindu Park.

Environmental education activities and mainly sanitary

contribute to the reduction of waste in these sectors.

However, the western boundary, the most critical, should

suffer large-scale intervention, residents (industries,

businesses and residences) in this sector dispose their

waste into the park area.

Figure 2. Indicators of environmental liabilities by sector in the Mindu Municipal Park

Figure 3. Spatial mapping of the environmental liabilities in the Mindu Municipal Park

Limit invasion Garbage disposal Unauthorized constructions Natural catastrophes

South limit

North limit

East limit

West limit

Environmental liabilities of the Mindu Municipal Park



Regarding the indicator “natural disaster”, the situation

could stabilize after five years, if taken, in the short-term,

silvicultural treatments applicable to trees on the tracks,

and procedures of geological engineering in the

infrastructure of these tracks have erosion grooves and

drainage system extremely poorly dimensioned. With

regard to the indicators “unauthorized constructions” and

“invasion of boundaries”, situations like these should

never be permitted by the local executive government.

The legislative and judiciary powers, however, must

effectively contribute to the consolidation of Brazilian

environmental policy to ensure that the conservation unit

is perpetuated for future generations.

CONCLUSION

By mapping the “problems” in a CU of the urban area,

we are able to, in a short period, boost actions for

environmental protection. What we noticed before the

compilation of the occurrences of the park was a group of

people that worked to find occurrences in the CU, and not

a team that we aware of the problem that most affected

the general dynamics of the protected area. The mapping

of environmental liabilities redirected management

actions to the most critical situations of the CU and

allowed the management team to input autonomously

data for the analysis and solution of problems, which was

fully achieved by the Park Manager, creating conditions

to conduct the activities in a simple and inexpensive way,

improving human resources and materials.

After continual use of the mapping of environmental

liabilities, updated in real time, the tool proved to be

robust to assist in the decision-making process, especially

for the spatial distribution of the teams in CU, however, it

should be highlighted that that the data input to generate

this information was only possible to be executed in

personal desktop of the CU manager. This is due to the

simple fact that the use of free software depended on

acceptance by specific sector of the Municipality of

Mindu Park Natural catastrophes Limit invasion by constructions Unauthorized constructions Garbage disposal Minu Basin Track opening



8

Manaus, since it had consolidated the license to use

another software program exclusively commercial, which

is an extremely limiting aspect for the management

system of the protected area regarding free

geotechnological tools.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author wishes to thank CNPq – National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development – for the financial

support to conduct the scientific research.

REFERENCES

ARAÚJO, Marcos Antonio Reis. Unidades de Conservação no Brasil: da república à gestão de classe mundial. Belo Horizonte: DEGRAC, 2007. CCCB, Centro de Capacitação em Conservação da Biodiversidade. Curso de Planejamento e Manejo de Áreas Naturais Protegidas – Fundação O Boticário de Proteção à Natureza. Guaraqueçaba, 2004. FUNDAÇÃO O BOTICÁRIO DE PROTEÇÃO À NATUREZA (FBPN); Planejamento, implantação e manejo de trilhas em Unidades de Conservação – Larry Lechner. Cadernos de Conservação, ano 3, nº. 3, Curitiba, 2006. GREGGIO, Thiago Claudino; PISSARRA, Teresa Cristina Tarlé e RODRIGUES, Flávia Mazzer. Avaliação dos fragmentos florestais do município de Jaboticabal-SP. Rev. Árvore [online]. 2009, vol.33, n.1. MANAUS, Diário Oficial do Município de, 21 de maio de 2007, Decreto nº. 9043 de redelimitação e ampliação do Parque Municipal do Mindu, Manaus, Amazonas PINHEIRO JUNIOR, José de Ribamar, Uso de geotecnologias como subsídios à gestão do Parque Estadual do Bacanga, São Luis, Maranhão, Brasil, Dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, 2006. SILVA, Jorge Xavier da. Geoprocessamento e Análise Ambiental: aplicações, Jorge Xavier da Silva, Ricardo Tavares Zaidan (Organizadores), Rio de Janeiro: Bertrand Brasil, 2007.

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