Diagnóstico socioeconômico e ambiental das vulnerabilidades à desertificação na comunidade do Bravo - Boa Vista / PB.

Abstract

This paper addresses the desertification of the rural community of Bravo, city of Boa Vista / PB, and analyzes the socioeconomic and environmental vulnerabilities, revealing the interplay between the vulnerability of rural households surveyed with the phenomenon of desertification. Desertification is a major environmental problems of our time and cause deleterious effects to the population. To in connection to Brazil, semiarid conditions is the most affected region and geoecologically pre-disposed to this phenomenon. In Paraíba, due to the prevailing dry climate (semi-arid and sub-humid dry), over 90% of its territory has areas susceptible to desertification (Sertão, Borborema and Agreste) and also has the highest percentage of areas with land degradation level too severe (29%), according to the National Action Program to Combat Desertification and Mitigate the Effects of Drought - PAN-Brazil (2004). Deforestation, trampling and inadequate agricultural practices contribute greatly to the increase of the phenomenon. Thus, this work has as main objective to diagnose the socio-economic and environmental vulnerability to desertification of the Bravo community in Boa Vista / PB. To perform the job evaluation questionnaires were used in socioeconomic and environmental conditions of the farmers of the Bravo community regarding the measurement of vulnerability. In addition, literature searches were made in specialized sites, articles, publications in journals, dissertations, theses and books on the subject at hand. The methodology used in the diagnosis of socio-economic and environmental vulnerabilities is adapted by Rocha (1997), to the Rio Grande do Sul and Araújo et al. (2002) for the Semi-Arid Paraiba. The survey revealed the following results regarding the Bravo community: Social Vulnerability, with 29.07% - which is considered moderate; Economic Vulnerability, with 8.1% - which is considered low; Technological Vulnerability, with 31.2% - which is considered high; and Vulnerability to Drought, with 8.58% - which is considered low. Therefore, it can be concluded, based on the results of the research, the community of Bravo performed well with respect to social, economic vulnerabilities and droughts. With only an unsatisfactory result for technological vulnerability (which was high), due to scarce support and technical assistance by the competent organs of the farmers surveyed community.