The impact of the implementation of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on the trees of the central region of Palmas, Tocantins

Abstract

The accelerated and disordered growth of cities contributes to the increase in environmental deterioration unleashed mainly by the lack of basic infrastructure, fragmentation and loss of habitats. All these factors culminate in the loss of biodiversity and decrease of the quality of life of the citizens. In this context, the maintenance of green areas in urban centers becomes indispensable to minimize the effects of urbanization on the environment and the urban population, since they perform various environmental services such as landscape, ecological, climatic, recreational and psychological. In this manner, through this project, we evaluated the impact of the implementation of the BRT public transportation system on the afforestation of the central plat of the Teotônio Segurado Avenue in Palmas, Tocantins, discussing its effects on urban ecological structure and environmental services. We also analyzed an alternative proposal for tracing the BRT circulation channel in order to reduce its impact on local afforestation. A total of 3,980 arboreal individuals of 112 species were registered on the Teotônio Segurado Avenue, totaling 72.64 ind./ha. The impact on the afforestation of the original BRT circulation channel on the central area of the avenue is about 30% greater than the alternative route proposed in this study, with at least 456 individuals being suppressed. In terms of composition and biological and ecological importance, the design of the original project will cause the suppression of 23 more native species of the cerrado when compared to the alternative route. The impacts on the afforestation of the original design of the BRT circulation channels imply the loss of several environmental services provided by the vegetation of the Teotônio Segurado Avenue, such as mitigation of air pollution and noise, decrease of the islands of heat, improvement of the quality of life, maintenance and dispersion of species, therefore, revealing that the proposed alternative route is the most viable environmental and socioeconomical option.