Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística

About the publication - 2011

The Geographic Atlas of Brazil's Coastal and Oceanic Zones of 2011 is aimed at the dissemination, among students and the public in general, of information and updated knowledge about the Brazilian coast, in terms of historical, demographic, economic, social, cultural and natural aspects. The publication was conceived by the Inter-ministry Commission for Sea Resources (CIRM) and developed in partnership with the IBGE. The objective is to stimulate society to think about, get to know and value the rational use of biodiversity and of mineral and energetic resources in ocean waters, marine soil and underground, which constitute a fundamental part of the socioeconomic development and environmental sustainability in the country. The Atlas also presents the evolution of the population distribution on the territory and the occupation patterns of the coast, as it deals with socioeconomic topics and their relationship with coastal environments: population, tourism, water quality, fishing resources, port infrastructure, oil logistics and preservation and environmental protection areas. Released in 2017, its digital version allows a comparative analysis of its maps in an interactive environment.

The Atlas is organized in seven themes. The first one, “The ocean in Brazil's history”, highlights the Portuguese colonial expansion and the ocean importance in the Brazilian space organization. Next comes “The political map of Brazil”, which approaches the relative position of Brazil in the Atlantic Ocean and in South America, explaining its limits of the territorial Sea, Contiguous Zone and Exclusive Economic Zone.

The topic “The geological evolution of the oceans”, in turn, details the origin and the current tectonic framework of the ocean basin as well as some results of the last researches in Brazilian continental shelf, and about the potential of its mineral resources. The next chapter, “The oceanographic characteristics”, presents an overall picture of the oceanographic phenomena in the Atlantic Ocean, which are essential for understanding the coastal and marine environmental aspects in Brazil.

“Coastal and marine ecosystem”, the fifth theme, highlights the diversity of the Brazilian coastal and marine environment, with particular relevance in the areas for conservation and sustainable use of the ecosystems. And the topic “Diversity of aspects in the Brazilian coast” presents maps of 14 areas with details of the Brazilian coast, including different environments and four maps of oceanic islands, and of the distribution of urbanized areas in the coast of the country;

Finally, the Atlas ends with the chapter “Cross-cutting aspects in the study of coastal and oceanic environments”, which deals with several socioeconomic themes and their relationship with these environments, including aspects of population, tourism, water quality, fishing resources, port infrastructure, oil logistics and preservation and environmental protection areas.