Areas of Permanent Preservation (APPs) play a crucial role in maintaining some of the most important factors regulating hydrological processes and biological conservation. In Amazonia, APPs are being used in economic activities with high environmental impact in violation of legislation concerning this category of protected land. This leads in turn to the suppression of vegetation. This paper analyzed land use conflicts within APPs and outlined these areas in the municipality of Moju according to the Brazilian Forest Code of 2012. Moju is one of the main biodiesel production centers in the State of Pará. The study used high‑resolution multispectral imagery acquired in 2010 by the RapidEye satellite and supervised classification algorithm to determine eight classes of land cover and use, with special attention to forest, agricultural cultivation and oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) cultivation. Altered lands in the municipality amount to 30.29% of the total, of which 17.08% is used by livestock. APPs with original vegetation cover (forest and campinarana) constitute 68% of the municipality area. The loss of 28.29% of the vegetative cover in local APPs is due mainly to agriculture and animal husbandry. Oil palm cultivation comprises only 0.63% of the APP and 2.17% of the municipality areas. Application of the latest guidelines for APPs delimitation according to the new Forest Code will result in the loss of 60.69% of the APP-recovered areas in this municipality.
remote sensing; supervised classification; oil palm cultivation