Banca de DEFESA: RAÍSSA FIM ALMEIDA

REVITALIZATION AND PRESERVATION STRATEGIES FOR THE LOWER CAUAMÉ RIVER IN THE CITY OF BOA VISTA-RORAIMA

Cauamé River. Ecosystem Protection. Water Resources. SDG. Environmental Sustainability

Bodies of water present in the urban environment are important providers of ecosystem services and despite this, they are the ones that most face problems such as the impairment of their biota and natural functions because of predatory and unplanned urbanization processes. During the last two decades, the city of Boa Vista - RR has experienced large population growth, changing the urban fabric in a disorderly way. Where the fluvial environment of the Cauamé River was and still is the target of the growing advance of legal and illegal occupations, receiving direct and indirect interventions that do not benefit the preservation of the ecosystem. The environmental risk situations in this area are directly linked to the location of the area where urban expansion occurs and the main environmental problems relate to irregular land occupation, real estate speculation, environmental degradation caused by the removal of riparian forests, and domestic pollution by the account of the lack of sanitation in some neighborhoods and illegal occupations. Such problems interfere with water quality and, consequently, the local ecosystem and the quality of life of the city's population. Given these facts, it is necessary to evaluate the possibilities of revitalization, where necessary, and preservation of the river environment of the lower Cauamé river region, which is inserted within the urban perimeter of the city, adopting approaches that consider the local ecosystem, the natural geometry of the river with its roughness, depressions and sills, and the reintroduction of native vegetation. In addition to establishing the main techniques that can be used in the revitalization process and determining the main factors of human interference that lead to the loss of the environmental characteristics of water bodies. To achieve the proposed objectives, we sought to highlight the problem based on the exploratory research method of a qualitative nature. Starting initially from a bibliographic review composed of the definitions and concepts of the most relevant themes for the study. Subsequently, the cartographic survey began, showing the delimitation of the proposed study area and characterization of the type of vegetation present, land use, and flooding area, as it is a riverside region, to ascertain possible areas of vulnerability. In possession of the cartographic data, we sought to certify the information obtained through the field survey through observation and photographic records, in addition to verifying the existing anthropization processes such as: pollution by solid waste and domestic effluents, removal of native vegetation, increase in erosion and surface runoff. As a result of this study, there is a technical preservation and revitalization project for the area with the proposal to bring the balance between the urban area and the environment and regulate the unbridled expansion in the bordering areas of the river, guaranteeing the conservation of water quality, ecosystem services, and riparian forest, mitigating the effects of habitat fragmentation and improving the quality of life of the region's population.