Geographical distribution of traditional rural neighborhoods and their connection to biodiversity in São Paulo state, Brazil

Abstract

In recent decades, traditional communities have assumed a prominent role in international debates on sustainable development, especially as maintainers of practices and knowledge about wild and agricultural biodiversity. Thus, information about their territories is of fundamental importance for planning and implementing public policies suitable for maintaining and valorizing the traditional way of life. The research aimed to identify and map areas with the occurrence of traditional rural neighborhoods in the state of São Paulo and understand their relationship with natural vegetation and areas of interest to biodiversity conservation. The work was conducted based on secondary data, using the method of content analysis from a geographic approach with a territorial and cultural focus, as well as geoprocessing techniques. One hundred eighty-eight rural neighborhoods of interest were identified, 36 were officially recognized as territories of quilombo remnant communities, and 152 were classified as i) having strong evidence of traditionality, ii) having evidence of traditionality, and iii) having low evidence of traditionality. A close relationship between the possible coverage area of traditional territories and biodiversity was identified.