The objective of this work was to evaluate the environmental impacts of caatinga agroecological handling, in production unities of family farms, in Rio Grande do Norte, using the method Ambitec of animal production - environmental dimension, developed by Embrapa Meio Ambiente. Seven family farm production units were evaluated within four projects of agrarian reform in the county of Apodi, RN, Brazil. The data for surveying were obtained through applying queries to the responsibles for the production units, who attributed - to each studied variable - a value which represented the alteration resulted from the technology implementation. After insertion of the alteration coeficients of each indicator by production unit, the impact coeficients was automatically calculated using Ambitec sheet. The caatinga agroecological handling had a positive environmental impact, and its major contributions were related to the positive effects of the following indicators: soil production capacity, use of material input, product quality, and decrease of pollution emission to atmosphere. Two indicators had negative impact scores: energy use and use of natural resources. By the superiority of the benefits, caatinga agroecological handling is a technology innovation which generates positive environmental impacts.
family agriculture; agroecology; environmental degradation; environment; sustainability
