Área degradada pela extração de areia: um estudo da derivação da paisagem no bairro do Umbará, Curitiba-PR

Abstract

Activities related to mining generate a great deal of changes in the structure and dynamic of the landscape and, as such, they are liable to the process of environmental permission and the recovering of degraded areas. The legislation that deals with the matter demands a Plan of Recovery of the Degraded Areas. But the point in question is what is really being recovered. To achieve this, the possibility of recovering the environment in areas degraded due to the extraction of sand was analyzed. The area of study is the Parque Ecológico Costa and its surroundings, which is located on the right bank of Rio Iguaçu, borough of Umbará, in the South region of Curitiba, State of Paraná. A chronological study was made of the area in order to specify the original landscape, and afterwards to verify changes occurred in the use and occupation of the land during the last 50 years. It was concluded that there had not been an environmental recovery but an "environmental transformation", that is, landscape rehabilitation that has different structure, dynamic and possibilities of use by the community from that of the original one and the landscape of the 50's.