Sustentabilidade da atividade minerária no polo mínero industrial da microrregião de Formiga, MG

Abstract

The Micro-region Formiga- MG stands out in state economic scenario as a major producer of agricultural lime and products of mining limestone. Knowing the importance of products coming from the mining and the importance of mining in the regional economic environment is necessary to carry out studies to become sustainable activity and generate products whose environmental characteristic is desirable. This study aims to characterize and analyze the limestone mining activity in the micro-region of Formiga, more precisely in the municipalities of Arcos, Pains and Corrego Fundo. The study was divided into four chapters: the first chapter sought to characterize the mining of limestone and analyze their social and environmental impacts (Article I). Following the Sustainability Barometer methodology was used to assess the sustainability of Arcos, chosen due to its higher number of mining industries (Article II).The third chapter makes a proposal for the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) using the SWOT methodology. The fourth chapter concludes the study proposing strategies for the restoration of biodiversity, ecological function and structure of the soil in limestone mining areas. To test the initial hypothesis, according to the purpose of Chapter I, the main activities were raised in the mining process, correlating their most significant environmental impacts. Punctually, mining in Formiga micro-region, evolved from the 1970s to today, with the long-term exploration potential, whereas in the region there are many fields to be explored. This future exploration should be done in a planned manner in order to mitigate impacts and resolve environmental liabilities. The mining of limestone, despite employing considerable portion of the population, generates counterpart derisory, because it brings significant environmental impacts and lower revenue with CFEM. The second hypothesis (second chapter) use the Barometer of Sustainability (BS) to assess the sustainability of Arcos and its relation to the presence of limestone mining. The combination of the indices of human welfare and environmental well-being showed that Arcos municipality is potentially sustainable in the subsystem that is the environmental well-being and intermediate in the human well-being subsystem, although very close to the unsustainable condition. The third chapter proposes strategic planning for municipalities and stands for the third hypothesis, discussing the economic dependence of municipalities at one productive activity for its development showing that this dependency can be a barrier so that they can follow a path of development and sustainability.