Navegando por Assunto "Impacto ambiental - Avaliação - Belém (PA)"

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Acesso aberto (Open Access)
Ecosystem services and urban vegetation coverage in Belém: the influence on noise pollution, air pollution and climate regulation
(Universidade Federal do Pará, 2013-06-27) CARVALHO, Roberta Mendonça De; SZLAFSZTEIN, Claudio Fabian; http://lattes.cnpq.br/1348005678649555
The ties between urban areas and environmental issues are growing as strong as the global awareness of the need to conserve, improve and valorize the ecosystem services provided by nature, in order to ensure the sustainability of life in and outside cities. Green vegetation coverage (or green areas) is one of the major sources of such services. Considering that there is no turning back on urbanization process, and the urban environmental problems are on the rise, the urban green areas should be among the elements that influence urban life quality. As a result of the urbanization process, the city of Belém has lost a great percentage of its natural ecosystems. This work focused at analyzing ecosystem services (air quality, air pollution and climate regulation) provided by local vegetation coverage quality and quantity, considering the spatial distribution and temporal changes on three administrative districts. A theoretical framework was built and assessed while vegetation coverage was calculated using NDVI and Fractional Vegetation Coverage on LANDSAT 5 imagery over a 23-year period. Owing to a more detailed scale, NDVI enabled conducting the quantitative and qualitative analyses of vegetation coverage, which showed significant loss of very dense, dense and moderate vegetation coverage and an increase in poor vegetation and bare soil areas. In addition, the study findings revealed increased noise pollution, decrease in air quality and increase in temperature, all resulting from changes in natural coverage. The significant lack of environmental data leaves no doubt about the urgency of investing on vegetation coverage for the urban sustainability in Belém, given that both actual and forecast scenarios indicate drastic green area losses. Hence, more research and both public and private initiatives are encouraged to contribute to the development of Belém ecosystems services and contribute to the enhancement of public well-being.