Serviços ecossistêmicos culturais na Serra do Curral, Minas Gerais, Brasil: uma avaliação por meio do uso de redes sociais e aprendizado de máquina

Abstract

The present study presents an assessment of the Cultural Ecosystem Services of the Serra do Curral, an important urban green area that is a symbol of the city of Belo Horizonte, capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Using photos from Flickr social media, the services provided by the Serra do Curral were identified, using visual and automatic classification methods, in which artificial intelligence and machine learning resources were used. The spatial distribution of the identified services, their reach and how they are protected within the study area was also analyzed. Furthermore, this study reveals how the data associated with the photos varied over time, at different scales. The results demonstrated the importance of Serra do Curral as a provider of Cultural Ecosystem Services. In total, 12 categories were registered, with “Appreciation of the landscape”, “Appreciation of biodiversity” and “Viewpoint” being the most frequent. Some of the registered services went beyond the limits of Serra do Curral, reaching almost 20km beyond it. Six categories of SEC were registered within protected areas. The use of data from social networks and innovative technologies, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, has proven to be effective for evaluating Cultural Ecosystem Services in the study area, resulting in information that can foment the decision-making process on the part of institutions and actors involved in the management, management and conservation of Serra do Curral.