Deforestation in protect areas in the Amazon: a threat to biodiversity

The creation of protected areas (Protected Areas—CA and Indigenous Lands—IL) is one of the effective strategies to contain deforestation, and landscape fragmentation and conserve biodiversity. However, several such areas in the Amazon suffer from anthropogenic pressures which prevent the fulfilment of their purpose. The objective of this study is to analyze the use and vegetation cover in four protected areas in the Amazon in the state of Maranhão by showing the threats to biodiversity by means of digital processing of satellite images in 1984, 1996, 2008 and 2017. Images from the Landsat satellites 5 and 8 were used for supervised classification and identification of deforestation in these areas. The results obtained in 1984 show a predominance of the forest class in the studied area, where the ILs Caru and Alto Turiaçu stand out for presenting excellent preservation in that year. As of 2008, changes related to deforestation and the presence of secondary vegetation and occurrence of fires in the area studied were observed. In this case, the changes resulting from urban and farming expansion, and infrastructure projects (roads, highways, dams and land division), mining, illegal logging, cattle raising, among others, are easily identified by satellite images. The Indigenous Lands and Strict Nature Reserve of Gurupi are connected, representing the best and the most homogeneous Amazonian biome in Maranhão. The study concludes that of the remaining vegetation, 76.41% is within the protected areas, represented mainly in the analyzed indigenous lands. So, this study highlights that although protected areas are being constantly deforested, invaded and criminally burned, these are still the best way of preserving the biodiversity of the last remnant of the Biome in the region, and its protection is necessary for the conservation of its biological resources and vegetation cover.