Proposta de classificação de relevância de quedas d água como subsídio à conservação do patrimônio natural

Abstract

The protection of natural abiotic heritage is in vogue in the academic scene and environmental agencies. However, there is a lack of specifi c legislation and technical criteria on the subject, especially in the relationship to geological/ geomorphological heritage. With waterfalls is no diff erent, due the absence of legislation or specifi c work on geoconservation of these environments. In this context, this study aimed to raise, through the Delphi methodology, a set of criteria that allowed to propose a protocol to classify the relevance of waterfalls to support the environmental legislation. The protocol has been fi eld-tested in 20 (twenty) of the most important and recognized scenic beauty waterfalls of the Estrada Real section in Minas Gerais, aiming to verify if the criteria, theoretically raised by experts - Delphi technique - was consistent to reality. After the protocol test, in the selected waterfalls, it was possible, through a multi-criteria method for analysis decision, frame the waterfalls visited according their score, in the following classes: (i) extreme; (ii) high; (iii) medium and; (iv) low. The results showed that it was possible to create a waterfalls classifi cation protocol according to their relevance.