Variabilidade do clima, do uso e cobertura das terras no estado da Paraíba.

Abstract

The activities carried out by man are capable of transforming the landscape, and are driven by development models that are often unsustainable and that favor the intensification of deforested areas. However, not only human practices such as agriculture have this effect of alteration, the climate and its variations with climatic events, such as droughts, are also capable of conditioning the variability of vegetation. Therefore, the present study aims to understand and investigate the behavior that the Caatinga Biome had by microregion of the State of Paraíba, investigating the environmental conditions and the variability over the years. To this end, Ward's grouping method and Mann Kendall's statistical tests, which point out the trend, and Pettitt's, which characterizes possible homogeneities, were used, applied to the time series comprising data on savannah formation from 1985 to 2020. In continuity data from agricultural production of crops in the state in the period from 1990 to 2020 were used, characterizing the areas with suggestive productions, as well as climatological data that indicate the climatic variability of Paraíba. The results, in turn, showed that there was a reduction in Caatinga areas in several micro regions of Paraíba, in addition to the fact that many of the areas have a tendency to reduce, and in general, the climate and agricultural production in the state, possibly, were agents that contributed to the decreases seen in the State.