%0 Journal Article
%T Quality of Life and Socioenvironmental Degradation in the Cantareira System Environmental Protected Area, SP, Brazil
%A S£¿nia Regina da Cal Seixas
%A Jo£¿o Luiz de Moraes H£¿effel
%A Michelle Renk
%A Benedita Nazar¨¦ da Silva
%J Urban Studies Research
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/918931
%X Studies on quality of life can contribute to a better understanding of situations where socioenvironmental transformations are evident, from environmental, social, cultural, and political perspectives. This paper analyzes the quality of life of the inhabitants of the Moinho rural settlement in the context of the surrounding conditions of environmental degradation. Moinho is located in Nazar¨¦ Paulista municipality, which belongs to the Cantareira System Environmental Protected Area (Cantareira EPA), state of S£¿o Paulo, Brazil. The methodology used was based on secondary data collection and interviews with local residents. The results explore the interface between the transformation of land use and the growing change of rural life that are greatly influenced by expanding urban sprawl in the region. Over recent decades, changes in the production systems, substitution of agriculture crops, and the impacts of these variables on environmental health and water availability, as well as damage to the Municipal Human Development Index (HDI-M) of its municipalities, are indicators of the region¡¯s present social complexity. This study shows that an improvement in the quality of life has an intimate relationship with the creation of sustainable economic activities and the real participation of the local population in decision making processes. 1. Introduction The last century experienced a global process of urbanization and industrialization that resulted in increased consumption and energy generation. This process created the foundations of modern society and resulted in unprecedented pressure on natural resources throughout the biomes of the planet [1¨C5]. In Brazil, studies show the existence of exploitive production activities in the remnants of the Atlantic Forest even in Environmental Protected Areas (EPAs).This can be seen in the case of the Cantareira System Environmental Protected Area, an area composed of 227,949 hectares and encompassing municipalities on the border between the states of S£¿o Paulo and Minas Gerais in southeast Brazil. In the 1970s, this region¡¯s abundant water led to its being chosen for the creation of the Cantareira Water Supply System that produces approximately 33£¿m3/s of potable water which goes to various parts of the Metropolitan Region of S£¿o Paulo [6, 7]. The region has undergone several periods of economic activity that have transformed the landscape into a new urban and rural configuration [8]. There is a pressing need to understand the impact of this new configuration upon the quality of life of the inhabitants of the rural
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/usr/2012/918931/