Análise da supressão vegetal e exploração mineral na construção da barragem Serro Azul em Palmares, Pernambuco.

Abstract

In the last decades, the construction of great dams have caused worldwide repercussion due to their degradation potential to the natural resources and the safety of these dams. Due to climatic changes and the increase of extreme climatic events such as high rainfall, for example, dams appear as measures of adaptation to these events and protection against the consequences that they may entail. In Pernambuco, in the watershed of the Una river in the region of South Forest, natural disasters are recurrent. This region suffered major floods in the years 2000, 2004, 2005 and 2010, causing economic and social losses, such as: deaths, destruction of housing, public facilities, infrastructure, agricultural areas, affecting the economy of the cities affected by the floods. As a measure of adaptation to this phenomenon was launched the flood control system of the South Forest with the construction of five dams, among which the object of this study, the dam of Serro Azul located in the city of Palmares - Pernambuco. From this perspective, the present study analyzed the vegetation suppression and mineral exploration that took place in the implementation of the Serro Azul dam through the environmental licensing requirements. Specifically, it was analyzed the fulfillment of the environmental requirements of the plant suppression authorizations for the filling of the reservoir and license of operation of the mineral extraction deposit for construction of the project. In addition, some projects were analyzed, such as the degraded areas recovery program, entrepreneur measurement tables, forest inventories and the vegetation suppression report. The Environmental Impact Study (EIS) and the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) generated the main focus of this study, which was the analysis of vegetation suppression and mineral exploration using a methodology adapted from Silva (2016). From this analysis, it was found that the suppressed volume of vegetation was 56.5%, lower than that indicated in the plant suppression authorization and in relation to the mineral exploration only a percentage of 26.8% of the exploited material was used in the work. The suppression and mineral exploration analysis showed a certain concern in the evaluation of the reports and projects presented to the environmental agencies, because of the evaluated data, the plant suppression was partially executed and in the mineral exploration there was a surplus of very large material. Environmental licensing constraints have not been met efficiently. Plant material not removed in the vegetation suppression may interfere with the water quality, leading to higher water treatment costs for the company that will operate the reservoir. The amount of unused surplus stone in the construction of the reservoir has generated unnecessary exploitation, resulting in higher costs and irreversible environmental impacts in the exploited region. It is recommended to improve the control mechanisms of the competent environmental agencies and control by the business body regarding the monitoring of the technical reports and the constraints presented in the environmental licenses to minimize environmental impacts and effectively to fulfill the role of public management.