Biomes / Environment

Protected areas

Where the forest still keeps the spring

In the Litoral Norte, 73% of the basin lies in strictly protected areas, most of it in the Serra do Mar State Park. In the west of the state, three basins — Baixo Tietê, São José dos Dourados and Baixo Pardo/Grande — have none at all. Taken together, the 270 protected areas in the CNUC for São Paulo cover 15.1% of the territory, but only 4.0% under strict protection; nearly all the rest are Environmental Protection Areas, which allow settlement under rules. Over the 22 basins, the map shows where protected forest still keeps the springs: in the Serra do Mar and the Ribeira valley. Final plate of the collection “Water in São Paulo”.

Technical record · downloads · citation

At a glance

Layers

unidades_conservacao polygon 270 protected areas: category, group, sphere, founding act and area in SP
ugrhi polygon 22 UGRHIs with the area and share under strict protection and in any protected area
limite_estadual polygon State boundary

Metadata

Sources: MMA — National Register of Protected Areas (CNUC), as published by GeoSEADE (2024)
SEADE — GeoSEADE: Water Resources Management Units (UGRHIs)
IBGE — Municipal Mesh 2025 (2025)
Extent: São Paulo state (SP)
CRS / Projection: SIRGAS 2000 (EPSG:4674)
EPSG:4674
Software: Python · GeoPandas · GDAL · QGIS · Node.js · d3-geo
Method: CNUC protected areas clipped to São Paulo’s territory; areas dissolved so overlaps are not counted twice, and crossed with the 22 UGRHIs.
Version: v1.0.0
Licence: CC BY 4.0
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23539373

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Figure to reuse

The map without a frame, with legend, scale, reference system and credit written on it: ready for papers, lectures and slides. In two versions: with the basemap (neighbours and sea) or only the mapped area, on white.

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How to cite

Cerejo, L. N. (2026). Unidades de conservação: onde a floresta ainda guarda a nascente [Protected areas: Where the forest still keeps the spring] (Version 1.0.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23539373

@dataset{cerejo2026_unidades_de_conservacao_sp,
  author    = {Cerejo, Lucas Nakamura},
  title     = {Unidades de conservação: Onde a floresta ainda guarda a nascente},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  version   = {1.0.0},
  doi       = {10.5281/zenodo.23539373},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23539373},
  language  = {portuguese},
  note      = {English title: Protected areas: Where the forest still keeps the spring. Licence CC BY 4.0}
}