A propose for the delimitation of the buffer zone of the Itatiaia National Park, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The search for biodiversity conservation and natural resources protection is part of history of Brazil and has been built in different moments and in different ways. At present, one of the ways of minimizing the potential risks caused by human activities that threaten the conservation of biodiversity in our planet, has been the creation of protected areas. However, the integrity of these areas and its effectiveness in fulfilling the functions has been at risk for economic activities and by inappropriate usage of natural resources. There is, nowadays, a global consensus that these conservation units cannot be operated as islands, so management strategies in higher degree should be established, with creation of buffer zones. Such zones should work as filters, preventing that external human activities put at risk the natural ecosystems inside the protected areas. Facing this scenery, nowadays the cartography and remote sensing techniques can represent a tool of high importance in terms of biodiversity management and conservation of protected areas, because they can support, especially, strategies for conservation, environmental management, territorial planning and monitoring, integrating, in a specialized way, information of complex and multi-disciplinary nature. Making use of these remote sensor tools, the present study has as objective the presentation of a proposal for demarcating the buffer zone around Itatiaia National Park, Conservation Unit located at Southeast region of Brazil (southwest region of Rio de Janeiro), in areas of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais state. Apart from fauna, flora and geomorphology heritage, Itatiaia National Park has a great relevance for being the first national park to be created in Brazil. For the achievements of this work, it was used an integrated approach, using tools of visual interpretation of products of remote sensing techniques, considering the following aspects: the incidental legislation, political/social aspects from the region covering the buffer zone (radius of 10Km ) and aspects of land usage. Apart from the objectives described before, this work will be able to supply subsidy for future planning and management actions, for medium and long term.