THE GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS AS ALLOWANCE FOR WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN PONTAL DO PARANAPANEMA/SP

Abstract

The social perception that water resources need to be managed sustainably is relatively recent and that economic development must be harmonized with the conservation of natural resources. Aiming to make a more efficient management of water resources and to minimize conflicts generated by multiple uses of water, a number of legal and institutional initiatives have emerged in Brazil, culminating in the preparation of Water Resources Policies (National and State). The state of Sao Paulo has the Water Resources Situation Report, which aims to monitor changes and impacts on Water Resources to propose adjustments in planning. Considering the complexity and the volume of information included in these reports, as the importance of social assimilation, it is necessary that these reports have a language that will allow people to understand them. Promote this process is the objective of this article, proposing another way of representing the indicators, not only through tables and graphs, but also through cartograms with data spatialization, based on methodological references previously validated in academy, especially the four levels of geographic research, proposed by Libault (1971), and also the graphic semiology, which is guidance for thematic mapping. The proposed methodology supported the elaboration of an Atlas of Indicators, an integral part of the Pontal do Paranapanema Basin Plan (base year 2015), allowing a better understanding of basin watershed information.