Por: Joaquim Carlos Lourenço

The management of natural resources in urban areas is currently a topic of great concern for municipal public managers, especially the environmental resources of Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs), due to the illegal removal of vegetation, predatory hunting of animals, illegal housing occupation, the disposal of solid waste and domestic effluents.

These human actions, combined or not, cause environmental degradation of urban APPs. Moreover, other human activities that also cause negative impacts to the urban environment are the advertising campaigns that use the Branding strategy, since the large panels and billboards used on the facades of buildings disfigure the urban landscape.

In Brazil, most municipalities lack the technical, operational and financial infrastructure to coordinate enforcement actions against irregular and degrading human activities in APPs. In addition, there is a lack of specific legislation to regulate the fixing of billboards and billboards for advertising campaigns on architectural buildings with historical value.

As a result of all this, the whole society ends up losing, since solid waste and domestic waste deposited irregularly in forest areas or river courses and tributaries, can contaminate soil, rivers, groundwater, animals, water, vegetation, cause bad odor, attract vermin, visual pollution, and, consequently, damage human health.

Given the population's need to live in a sustainable urban environment, it is essential that municipal managers, the population and other social actors in society participate effectively in the processes of managing natural resources in urban areas, and that the government establishes rules for the use of advertising on the facades of buildings and other urban spaces. Urban sustainability is only possible without the degradation and disfiguration of the landscape.

The present book results from the compilation of some academic works developed by the author. The idea of publishing them as a book arose after realizing that the available bibliography on the subject is still incipient, while the theme gains relevance every day around the world, besides being of great importance to the whole society.

In this sense, the content developed was oriented to cover systematically the related themes: the environmental degradation of urban PPAs; the decharacterization of the urban landscape by the use of the Branding strategy; urban sustainability; and the management of urban solid waste.

The content of this book may be useful for students and professionals graduated in the following undergraduate and/or graduate programs: geography, forest engineering, agronomy, environmental sciences, environmental engineering, agricultural sciences, biology, environmental management, architecture and urbanism, geology, administration, among others.