Land use of the environmental protected area of the coastal environment of Serra do Tabuleiro State Park-Palhoça/SC, Brazil: zoning and environmental restrictions

The creation of National Parks challenges institutions, technicians and actors involved in the processes of management and protection of natural resources, due to numerous conflicts experienced by local population. The extensiveness of nine municipalities in the Serra do Tabuleiro State Park (PEST—acronym in portuguese) within the limits of the Park, along with the development of cities, displays many interests and land conflicts in the Park. This situation forced, in 2009, governmental parties to establish a new demarcation process, aiming the removal of conflict areas and creation of new categories of protected areas. In this context, this paper aims to report the PEST history, collecting environmental characteristics and land use owned by the environmental protection area of surrounding coastal of the Serra do Tabuleiro State Park, in the northeastern portion of the Baixada Massiambu, the locations of the Pinheira and Guarda do Embaú beaches, in city of Palhoça/SC, Brazil. On this regard, a literature research was performed, referring to the uses of the area under study, as well as the legal and territory definitions; then, field visits were performed from March 2012 to March 2014, and finally, data collected were aggregated using geographic information systems, along with data regarding the ecological and legal characteristics of the area. Results displayed 6501 plots of land on the Pinheira and Guarda do Embaú beaches, and of these, 77% had no environmental restrictions, 13% had partial restrictions, and 10% presented total restrictions. Thus, the PEST delimitation demonstrated great ecological significance for human settlement, especially in some detached areas, which should be kept and preserved. This work makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of the Baixada Massiambu problem, mainly related to land use; protective measures and environmental recovery can be formulated in this region, taking into consideration aspects such as environmental planning and mechanisms of reorganization discussion for this territory.