Natural Resources and Environmental Studies
Introduction
IBGE holds a significant group of material on natural resources, stored in a database configured so as to allow the generation of derived data which can be valuable to the management of such resources in the evaluation of environmental quality. This group of data has increased progressively over the years.
The incorporation of RADAM Project to the Institution represented an important contribution to the enriching of data, encompassing thematic data obtained throughout the systematic survey conducted all over the national territory. Specific studies dedicated to geology, geomorphology, soils, vegetation, climate and land use filled out “information gaps” and brought together the enormous group of already existing data. However, the accumulation of a big and heterogeneous amount of information would be of little use if there were not a suitable structure for the manipulation and recovery of data, and able to perform constant update at the same time.
Some products have been elaborated in the realm of environmental zoning and diagnosis, in which basic data processing is an essential step of studies, guiding not only the management of available resources, but also making it possible to obtain scientifically-based prospects concerning the effects of their exploration.