Public Policies Toward the Reduction of Heat Flares in Conservation Units and Indigenous Areas: The Case of the Cerrado Biome

Abstract

In Brazil we can find the most diverse formations of vegetation, which in turn are classified into biomes. However, in the last decade, Brazilian biomes have faced challenges related to the maintenance of their ecosystem. Among these challenges, the fires stand out, which present more and more sources of heat in their extensions without even sparing the areas protected by law, called Conservation Units (UCs). The Cerrado is the largest biome in biodiversity and is the second most affected by fires, second only to the Amazon biome. It is worth noting that a large part of the affected area in the Cerrado is affected by Conservation Units, extremely important for the preservation of the local ecosystem. These data were analyzed and verified from INPE's monitoring program-Fires, which addresses the information in detail day by day, and worked on with the help of the geotechnological tool of geographic information system (GIS), to increase comprehensibility, with the objective of giving support and obtaining support related to public policies directed to these events, also serving as a subsidy to demonstrate possible weaknesses in the elaboration of new policies. The results found show the number of hotspots in preserved areas may be related to the characteristics of the location or to fire control management practices, highlighting the importance of the knowledge of traditional indigenous peoples for the use of fire as a tool to prevent large fires in preserved areas. Finally, planning the environmental management of the protected areas of the biome is fundamental for the environmental maintenance of the ecosystem, in addition to the economic and social point of view.