Abstract
Environmental Protection in Brazil: Where the Truth Lies Track: Ecology and Conservation Author(s): Carlos Antonio Ribeiro, Michael Meitner, Marcello Veiga The rates of deforestation in Brazil show that having one of the most advanced environmental legislations is not enough for effectively protecting its forests from being converted to food crops or pastures. Delineation of permanent preservation areas, according to the new Brazilian Forest Code, is imperative and may be the last chance to revert this scenario. A substantial portion of the current agricultural production fields is likely to be in protected areas. An integrative approach of SRTM data and digital hydrography Brazilian datasets was developed to produce a hydrographically correct digital elevation model for the Crepori River watershed, a major tributary of Tapajos River, belonging to the Amazon basin. The main objective was to assess the potential and the bottlenecks of using the SRTM data for supporting a countrywide automated delineation of natural preservation areas, a condition sine-qua-non for law enforcement. Carlos Antonio Ribeiro University of British Columbia Mining Engineering Rm: 530A - Frank Forward 6350 Stores Road Vancouver , B.C. V6T 1Z4 CA Phone: 604 827 5089 Fax: 604 822 5599 E-mail: cribeiro@interchange.ubc.ca Michael Meitner University of British Columbia Forest Resources Management Rm: 2045 - 2th Floor - Forest Sciences Centre 2424 Main Mall Vancouver , B.C. V6T 1Z4 CA Phone: 604 822 0029 Fax: 604-822-9106 E-mail: mike.meitner@ubc.ca Marcello Veiga University of British Columbia Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering Rm: 509 Frank Forward - 5th Floor 6350 Stores Road Vancouver , British Columbia V6T 1Z4 CA Phone: 604 822 4332 Fax: 604 822 5599 E-mail: veiga@mining.ubc.ca |