DEFORESTATION IN THE RIVER VERDE GRANDE BASIN, NORTHERN MINAS GERAIS - BRAZIL

Deforestation is present in vast areas of the globe, mainly due to human pressure against the capitalist model. Specifically, in the north of Minas Gerais, there are trends of systematic conversions of native vegetation into agricultural systems. Thus, the objective of this article was to analyze areas of natural vegetation that were converted for human use in the Rio Verde Grande basin, the northern portion of Minas Gerais. The study is justified by the importance of the basin in the context of regional supply. For the analysis, remote sensing techniques integrated with geographic information systems were used, and data available in the MapBiomas library in the mapping. In the context of the analyzed basin, there was a decrease of 2,643.46 km(2) (21.19%) of vegetation between 1990 and 2018. As for the patterns of use and land cover, ecological stresses were observed in all parallels in the basin. It was observed that the municipalities with the greatest loss of vegetation were Porteirinha (-511.61 km(2) or 74.09%) and Sao Joao da Ponte (-480.28 km(2) or 57.33%). Regeneration was observed for Varzelandia (252.45 km(2) or 71.98%) and Riacho dos Machados (114.22 km(2) or 26.77%). This study can serve as a guide for decision making for the study area, mainly because it points out the most deforested areas.