UM ÍNDICE INTERDISCIPLINAR DE PROPENSÃO À DESERTIFICAÇÃO (IPD): INSTRUMENTO DE PLANEJAMENTO1

Abstract

The desertification phenomenon is a worldwide problem that provokes loss in natural resources productive capacity, having as its main cause the degrading action of human beings on a prone environment. The State of Ceará (Northeast Brazil) has 92% of its territory included in the Semi-arid Tropics (SAT) which means that it is a highly vulnerable area to desertification processes, after almost five centuries of inconsequential human settlement. In order to study the various state counties propensity to desertification, a matrix of natural, agricultural and economic, demographic, and social variables related to the phenomenon was built, and then the multivariate statistical model of Factor Analysis was applied to it. The final result was the construction of an index, based on the interdisciplinary conception on desertification proposed by the United Nations (1992, 1994), for classifying the counties into six levels of propensity to desertification: severe, very strong, strong, moderate, weak, and very weak. Such a desertification propensity index (DPI) may be a useful preliminary planning and management tool in semi-arid and other areas susceptible to land degradation and desertification processes.