MATA ATLÂNTICA DO RIO: MACACÚ (BRAZIL)

Socioeconomic development

The GMRB extends across three municipalities of the State of Rio de Janeiro: Cachoeiras de Macacu, Guapimirim and Itaboraí. However, the two first municipalities account for almost 95% of its total surface. The approximate population living within the basin reaches 106,000 inhabitants representing only 0.7% of the total state population (IBGE, 2013). Due to its low population density (~ 65 inhabitants per square kilometer) the basin could be described as being rural (Guimarães & Magrini, 2007). The biggest and most populated urban centers include: Cachoeiras de Macacu, Papucaia, Japuíba and Guapirim
In economic terms, the most profitable activities include industry and services (see table below, services alone represent 70% of the total GDP for the three municipalities). However, agriculture and pasture are still the activities demanding the greatest share of land and occupying large part of the population. The vicinity to Rio de Janeiro influences largely agricultural production, defining which crops, since most of the production is sent to there.

Table: GDP composition of the three municipalities and the state of Rio de Janeiro

Since the Campos and Santos marine oil deposit in the State’s continental shelf began to be developed and started producing oil and gas in the past two decades, petrochemical industry experienced strong development in the region. Framed in this scenario, the GMRB will host the Complexo Petroquímico do Rio de Janeiro (COMPERJ, Rio de Janeiro Petrochemical Complex), an oil refinery of 45 km², near the cities of Itaboraí and Cachoeiras de Macacu. COMPERJ is the largest single venture of the national oil company: Petrobras. Other large scale projects within the GMRB are a gas pipeline, a highway (Arco Metropolitano do Rio de Janeiro, Rodoanel) and a dam across the Guapiaçu river in order to secure water availability to the eastern shore of the Guanabara Bay.

The expected socio-economic impacts are large. For instance, Petrobras estimates a generation of 212,000 direct and indirect jobs. Moreover, the GDP increase may reach 40% of the total GDP in the region (Carvalho Gomes Pedreira et al., 2009). Moreover, the demographic dynamics are expected to completely change due to job generation and economic boosting: demographic explosion, urban and peri-urban growth, water consumption increase, and land use changes.

References and further reading:

Almeida, F. F. de M., Carneiro, C. dal R. (1998) Origem e Evoluçáo da Serra do Mar, Revista Brasileira de Geociências, 28(2), 135–150, http://sbgeo.org.br/pub_sbg/rbg/vol28_down/2802/2802135.pdf.

Barreiro, M., Chang, P., Saravanan, R. (2002) Variability of the South Atlantic Convergence Zone Simulated by an Atmospheric General Circulation Model, Journal of Climate, 15(7), 745–763, http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/10.1175/1520-0442(2002)015<0745:VOTSAC>2.0.CO;2, accessed: 20.12.2013.

Benavides, Z. et al. (2009) Consumo e Abasticemento de Água nas Bacias Hidrográficas dos Rios Guapi-Macacu e Caceribu - RJ.

Ecologus-Agrar (2003) Plano Diretor de Recursos Hídricos da Região Hidrográfica da Baía de Guanabara, p. 3087.

Fernandes, N. F. et al. (2010) Rio de Janeiro: A Metropolis Between Granite-Gneiss Massifs, P. Migón, ed. Geomorphological Landscapes of the Worl, Springer, p. 387, http://books.google.com/books?id=-TI55urJYyEC&pgis=1, accessed: 21.12.2013.

Ferrari, A. L. (2001) Evolução Tectônica do Graben da Guanabara, Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da USP, http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/44/44136/tde-29082013-152530/, accessed: 25.09.2013.

Fidalgo, E. C. et al. (2008) Uso e Cobertura da Terra na Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Guapi-Macacu, Rio de Janeiro - Brazil.

Finotti, R. et al. (2012) Variations in structure, floristic composition and successional characteristics of forest fragments of the Guapiaçu river basin (Guapimirim/Cachoeiras de Macacu, RJ, Brazil). Acta Botanica Brasilica, 26(2), 464–475, http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-33062012000200022&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=pt, accessed: 23.12.2013.

IUSS Working Group WRB (2006) World reference base for soil resources 2006, Rome.

Lumbreras, J. F. (2008) Relacoes solo-Paisagem no noroeste do estado do Rio de Janeiro: Subsídios ao Planejamento de uso sustentável em áreas de relevo acidentado do bioma Mata Atlântica, Universidade Federal de Rio de Janeiro.

Naegeli, F. E. (2010) Evaluation of Forest Fragmentation and Land Use Change Patterns using Remote Sensing Techniques and Field Methods.

Penedo, S. et al. (2011) Implementation of a Hydro-climatic Monitoring Network in the Guapi-Macacu River Basin in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, XIVth IWRA World Water Congress, Porto de Galinhas, Brazil, p. 12, http://dinario.fh-koeln.de/pdf/Implementation of a Hydro-climatic Monitoring Network in the Guapi-Macacu River Basin in Rio de Janeiro Brazil.pdf.

Pinheiro, H. S. K. et al. (2012) Modelos de elevação para obtenção de atributos topográficos utilizados em mapeamento digital de solos, Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira (Online), 47, p.10, http://geostat-course.org/node/1033, accessed: 23.09.2013.

Riccomini, C., Sant’Anna, L. G., Ferrari, A. L. (2004) Evolução geológica do Rift Continental do sudeste do Brasil, V. Mantesso-Neto et al., eds. Geologia do Continente Sul-Americano: Evoluçao da obra de Fernando Flávio Marques de Almeida, Beca, 383–405.

Scheffer, F. et al. (2009) Lehrbuch der Bodenkunde (Sav Geowissenschaften) (German Edition), Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, http://www.amazon.com/Lehrbuch-Bodenkunde-Geowissenschaften-German-Edition/dp/3827413249, accessed: 30.09.2013.

UFF/FEC (2010) Planejamento Estratégico da Região Hidrográfica dos Rios Guapi-Macacu e Caceribu-Macacu, Niterói, Brazil.

Wesenberg, J., Seele, C. (2009) Floristic-structural composition and diversity of tree and woody understorey vegetation in the montane Atlantic Forest of the Serra dos Órgaos National Park, Teresopolis, RJ, Brazil, H. Gaese et al., eds. Biodiversity and land use systems in the fragmented Mata Atlântica of Rio de Janeiro, Göttingen, p. 46, http://dinario.fh-koeln.de/pdf/Chapter 14_Wesenberg & Seele_259-280.pdf.