Processo de ocupação urbana pelos moradores que vivem no Igarapé Santo Antônio em Tabatinga/AM: dimensões socioambientais

Abstract

The Santo Antônio stream, located in the city of Tabatinga, underwent an unplanned occupation process, being today in a deforested and polluted area, which has a negative impact on environmental sustainability as a whole and on the health and quality of life of families that there they reside. In the midst of this problem, the present study aimed to understand the occupation process by the population living in Santo Antônio stream, and the consequences of the environmental and social dimensions on the border of Brazil and Colombia. The methodology used mixed bibliographic research, which describes the process of historical occupation of the population that lives on the banks of Santo Antônio stream; documentary, carried out with the local, state and federal environmental protection agencies; and a field survey in which families living in the stream were interviewed in order to identify the socioeconomic profile, origin, family income, education level of these people, general conditions of the housing infrastructure, as well as the causes of the degradation of the stream waters and the environmental problems inherent to this process of historical occupation. After tabulation and analysis of the results of the interviews, these were discussed according to the literature. The residents of the Santo Antônio stream cannot buy or rent a house in an area with better infrastructure and for this reason they have settled in the place. What motivated the mobility of these people to the stream was the concern with better living conditions for the family of these people who came from other neighborhoods, countries or from the countryside. Most residents are below the poverty line and live in conditions of poverty. Also, the majority attended only incomplete elementary education, in addition to the high rate of illiteracy among respondents. Regarding housing conditions, most refer to wooden constructions (stilts) and many of the homes do not have running water. A large part of daily solid waste and domestic sewage is discharged into the stream and pollution is aggravated by the waste from the Thermoelectric Plant present in the region, degrading the stream. The lack of running water and, in some cases the absence of septic tanks, make the residents themselves pollute the stream that is so useful to them. Thus, the waters of the stream are contaminated and unfit for consumption. Another socio-environmental problem is the problem with solid waste discarded by the population of Tabatinga-Brazil and Letícia-Colombia. Finally, there are houses in a permanent preservation area, aggravating the problems of erosion and silting