Georeferenced Information System as a Tool in the Quantification of Protection Areas

The use of georeferenced systems has been widely used to obtain data on the quality of the environment, aiming to quantify how areas are being occupied, and how natural reserves are being affected as a result of human action. The Sanga Mineira microbasin belongs to the Paraná basin 3 and is considered one of the main water reservoirs in the municipality of Mercedes, with 120 properties in its territory, whose main source of income is agriculture and livestock. For the expansion of monoculture areas, many areas of Legal Reserve and Permanent Preservation are being destroyed by farmers, causing a series of environmental imbalances. Thus, through the above, the research aimed to quantify the areas of Legal Reserve (RL) and Permanent Preservation Area (PPA) in the Sanga Mineira microbasin, using the Georeferenced Information System (GIS), in addition to detecting the main changes that occurred as a result of the change in the Forest Code, to assess whether the new laws have helped to improve the sustainability of the environment. Methodological technical procedures the SPRING program was used to evaluate 97 properties, of which the three main land use classes were verified: Permanent Preservation Area, Legal Reserve Area and Total Consolidated Area. It was concluded that there was a decrease in the Legal Reserve areas and an increase in the areas of APP’s and Total Consolidated Area.

control and prevention of fires forestry, in addition to providing economic and financial instruments to achieve its objectives (Brazil, 2012).
According to the forest code chapter I, article 3, it is defined: II: Permanent Preservation Area (PPA), protected area, covered or not by native vegetation, with the environmental function of preserving water resources, landscape, geological stability and biodiversity, facilitating the gene flow of fauna and flora, protecting and to ensure the well-being of human populations. III: Legal Reserve: area located inside a rural property or possession, delimited in terms of art. 12, with the purpose of ensuring the sustainable economic use of the natural resources of the rural property, assisting the conservation and rehabilitation of ecological processes and promoting the conservation of biodiversity, as well as the shelter and protection of wildlife and native flora (Brazil, 2012).
The Forest Code provides differentiated ranges and parameters for the different typologies of PPAs, according to the characteristics of each area to be protected. In the case of the minimum ranges to be maintained and preserved on the banks of the watercourses (river, spring, lake or pond), the standard considers not only the conservation of vegetation, but also the characteristic and width of the course d ' water, regardless of location region, in either rural or urban areas (Schäffer, 2011).
The PPAs, together with the Legal Reserves (in the case of rural properties), with their protected vegetal cover, exert a buffer effect, reducing the drainage and transport of substances and elements to the bodies of water (Tundis et al., 2006).
Removal of vegetation in a forest environment leads, consequently, to erosive processes, which generate degradation of the environment and can spread to adjacent areas. Thus, declivity and vegetation cover become important factors in the decision making of an adequate management of the river basin, since they influence the effective precipitation, runoff and water flow in the soil (Cardoso et al., 2006). Therefore, it is important that the adequate management of these basins be carried out in a coherent way, and a series of diagnoses must be elaborated, which should contain all the problems and the basin area history, identifying the conflicts and indicating the solutions in all levels, integrating conclusions and recommendations for the total recovery of the environment, resulting in the prognosis of the area (Silva & Ramos, 2001).
Thus, through the above, the research aimed to quantify the legal reserve and permanent preservation areas in the Sanga Mineira microbasin, using the Georeferenced Information System (GIS), in addition to detecting the main changes that occurred as a result of the forest code change, to assess whether the new laws helped improve environmental sustainability by analyzing data for the years 2005 and 2017.

Method
The research is characterized as applied because it has the purpose of seeking solutions for the impacts caused by the change of the Forest Code, which has been affecting mainly the Legal Reserve and Permanent Preservation Areas in the Sanga Mineira microbasin in the municipality of Mercedes-Paraná, raising the question of how there can be a sustainable development in these areas, and their native forests are being taken to expand agroecosystems.
Regarding the problem approach, this is a qualitative and quantitative research, according to the methodology of Triviños (1994). Regarding the objectives, the research is defined as descriptive (Triviños, 1987). Regarding the procedures, in this work exploratory, descriptive and documentary studies were adopted.
For the delimitation of the research, data were used of 97 of the 120 properties in the hydrographic basin, since it was not possible to obtain the current data of 23 properties in the base used, but the sample was quite significant, since more than half of the existing properties were used in the microbasin. The microbasin is located in the municipality of Mercedes, West of the State of Paraná, latitude 24°09′04″ W and longitude 54°26′55″ S, with an approximate elevation of 415 meters and a total area of 2058.59 ha. Figure 1 shows the location of the microbasin according to the DigitalGlobe images.
The information was obtained by means of already existing bases generated from the Basin Management Project of the Cultivating Good Water Program, carried out by Itaipu Binacional in the year 2005. For the conduction of this Program it was established that the microbasin should contain from 60 to 100 producers rural, a number considered adequate to be worked in rural extension processes, technical assistance and environmental education (Itaipu, 2018 Note. ha = hectares. Regarding the Permanent Preservation Areas (APP), there was an increase of 39.85 ha, because in 2005, they had areas near river basins and did not have APPs, were forced by law to recover them, since according to the legislation, using the SISLEG System, there was a period of 20 years for the reforestation of these areas.
According to the legislation of the time, properties that contain water resources had an obligation to preserve the riparian forests, which are responsible for maintaining a balanced environment. Among the main functions are: preserving water resources, landscape, facilitating the genetic flow of fauna and flora, protecting the soil and ensuring the well-being of human populations (Borges et al., 2011).
The law that determined the preservation and conservation of the areas, maintaining a minimum of 10% APPs, was only repealed in 2013, and the owners could not clear the Permanent Preservation Areas, considering that only those who had deforested until April 22 2008 and presented as reasons: public utility, social interest, agropastoral activities, ecotourism, rural tourism. If there were none of these reasons, the owners would be fined and forced to do the reforestation.
In the State of Paraná a fiscal module corresponds to 18.72 hectares. In the studied microbasin, property balances were performed to determine the amount of hectares that each property has inside the basin.
According to Table 2, of the 97 properties identified in the microbasin, in 2005, 73 were less than or equal to 1 fiscal module, totaling an area of 714.77 ha, while 22 properties had between 1 and 2 fiscal modules, corresponding to 511.96 ha and 2 properties between 2 and 3 modules, totaling 103.14 ha. According to Wammes et al. (2007), there was a predominance of small properties in the Sanga Mineira microbasin in 2005 and the average area was 12.92 ha. The main activity in this period was agriculture and cattle ranching, and this factor may have contributed to the degradation of the Permanent Preservation areas, since small properties have the need of the maximum exploitation of the lands for the economic exploitation by means of the implantation of grazing areas near rivers, lakes and springs, causing in this way the environmental degradation of the APPs.
In 2017, it was verified that this situation of land division changed, being that the areas smaller or equal to 1 (one) fiscal module happened to be 69, equivalent to 676.90 ha; already those between 1 and 2 fiscal modules increased to 25 properties, with an area of 602.20 ha and 3 properties with 142.97 ha between 2 (two) and 3 (three) modules.
What may justify this increase is the fact that some owners have bought areas to expand their own, and now, with the new data cadastre system, properties that belong to the same owner must be added as one. Figure 2 represents the existing scenario in the watershed in 2017, the colors were used to distinguish the size of the properties. In light yellow are the areas of up to 1 fiscal module, yellow canary areas between 1 and 2 fiscal modules and burnt yellow are properties between 2 and 3 fiscal modules.   One can say that there has been a setback in relation to the old legislation, since it is clearly seen that the areas of permanent preservation and legal reserve are of inestimable importance in relation to the equilibrium of a microbasin. A development that does not take into account the ecosystem of a place, can not be defined as sustainable, as opposed to sustainable it is a delay for society.
However, the CAR brought some benefits, such as the registration of all rural properties for greater control of the amount of each existing area, since not all the states that had a specific legislation and database of their municipalities, such as Paraná. But this is not enough, it is important to think of laws that help maintain the areas of permanent preservation and legal reserve, only in this way will there be a balanced environment and especially that seeks a development with sustainability.

Conclusion
The study provided a comprehensive overview of the changes that have occurred in the last 12 years, mainly due to changes in legislation. Highlighting important items related to the development of the Sanga Mineira microbasin, it was observed that, with the changes made in the Forest Code, producers started to occupy their areas as much as possible, utilizing previously preserved areas.
Among the 97 properties, there was a predominance of small properties, which showed an increase in the number of APPs, reaching an area of 67.73 ha, presenting 4.89% in the total area of the basin. However, there was a decrease in the Legal Reserve area which exhibited an area of 183.13 ha, 13.23%.
The Total Consolidated Area also expanded, reaching 81.09% of the total area of the watershed.