Geotecnologias aplicadas às dinâmicas ambientais causadas pela implantação da Usina Hidrelétrica de Belo Monte-PA

Abstract

The Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant (UHBM), located on the Xingu River in Pará, is one of Brazil's largest hydroelectric projects, with significant environmental and social impacts. This study analyzed environmental changes in the UHBM's area of influence between 2001 and 2022, using geotechnologies and satellite images processed on the Google Earth Engine plat-form. The Random Forest algorithm was applied to classify land use and land cover, focusing on changes in vegetation, hydrography, and human occupation. Multitemporal analyses cov-ered the years 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, 2021, and 2022, and the Normalized Difference Vege-tation Index (NDVI) was used to distinguish different types of vegetation cover. The results revealed a significant reduction in forest area, from 48.97% in 2001 to 44.10% in 2022, while pastureland increased from 27.02% to 36.68% over the same period. Urban areas also expand-ed, rising from 0.27% to 0.62%. These transformations highlight the need for effective mitiga-tion and environmental monitoring policies to minimize long-term impacts on biodiversity and local communities. This study reinforces the importance of geotechnologies for the sustainable management of large hydroelectric projects, providing insights for future research and deci-sions that balance energy development and environmental preservation. The adopted method-ology demonstrated the relevance of remote sensing and geoprocessing for understanding en-vironmental dynamics in large-scale projects, emphasizing the importance of continuous moni toring and the adoption of sustainable strategies to minimize impacts. It is concluded that the UHBM significantly altered the region's landscape, reinforcing the applicability of geotech-nologies in tracking these transformations and suggesting that future research should further explore the relationship between energy development and environmental conservation in the Amazon.