Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística

Description

This study investigates the main land use and cover in the National Territory, through mapping based on the interpretation of satellite images, periodically detecting and quantifying changes in the dynamics of land occupation and organization of geographic space.

The survey, initially called Changes in Land Use and Cover in Brazil, began in 2015. In 2018, it underwent conceptual and methodological improvements, among which the following stand out: adoption of the Statistical Grid, developed by the IBGE, as the unit of analysis and dissemination of data, which allows for the systematic spatio-temporal evaluation of land use and cover for each of the 8.5 million km² of the National Territory; replacement of the base input of MODIS satellite images with Landsat 8 OLI images, resulting in a more accurate visual interpretation of the Earth's surface; and changes in land use and cover classes, with the improvement of their descriptions and the reduction from 14 to 12 classes due to the merging of those considered similar. These methodological adjustments were reflected in the revision of previously published statistics corresponding to the years 2000, 2010, 2012, and 2014, and in the supplementation of data for the year 2016. In 2022, a new methodological review was carried out to incorporate some updates from official databases also used as inputs for the Monitoring of Land Use and Cover, highlighting as the main adjustment the changes implemented in the Continuous Vegetation Database of Brazil, at a scale of 1:250,000, part of the Environmental Information Database - BDiA, which are reflected in the distribution of forest and grassland environments present in the Monitoring. These modifications were also retroactively applied throughout the time series. Also in 2022, the Monitoring data was reconciled with the data from the Urbanized Areas of Brazil study and with the most recent version of the water body class from the Continuous Cartographic Database of Brazil at a scale of 1:250,000, BC250, both produced by the IBGE, in addition to incorporating agricultural crop mapping data from the National Supply Company - CONAB. All modifications resulting from the incorporation of these geospatial databases were considered as reassessments for the years 2018 and 2020. The old and revised time series can be consulted in the Downloads channel.

Due to the revision of the descriptions made in the land use and cover classes and their reduction from 14 to 12, the following are currently considered in mapping activities: Artificial area (1), Agricultural area (2), Managed pasture (3), Mosaic of occupations in forest area (4), Silviculture (5), Forest vegetation (6), Wetland (9), Grassland vegetation (10), Mosaic of occupations in grassland area (11), Continental water body (12), Coastal water body (13), and Uncovered area (14). To minimize changes in the database and the dissemination of results, the codes for classes 1 to 14 were maintained, with the resulting time series adhering to the Environmental-Economic Accounting System - SCEA.

The survey is conducted biennially. Its geographic scope is national, with results published for Brazil and its Federation Units. It should be noted that the data collection is carried out within the spatial unit of the Statistical Grid, an arrangement of regular cells with 1 km², and that the interpretation of the results must take into account this scale of analysis, as well as possible limitations at more detailed territorial levels.