Modeling the urban growth dynamics in protected areas and water sources surroundings: a comparative study between Australia, Brazil, and Chile

Abstract

Population growth along with deficiencies in urban planning have been notably recognized as a problem nowadays, which often leads to inadequate environmental conservation. The scientific literature highlighted that the disordered expansion of urban areas over protected areas (PA) can cause impacts, potentially compromising their management objectives and threatening biodiversity and the provision of quality water resources, as they are considered to be water sources surroundings. In this context, the present study aims to characterize and compare management tools of PAs in three different regions including: Australia, Brazil, and Chile. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), case studies will be developed in the three regions to diagnose the instruments and the current model of urban growth in these areas.Cartographic and census information will be used to build scenarios of anthropic pressures. The results of this research will provide subsidies for the identification of environmental impacts arising from different patterns of urban expansion into PA areas, and will propose alternatives to foster better integrated urban-environmental management. (AU)