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Abstract
Agricultural activities have historically had great importance
in the Economy, and within such context the environment was relegated
to secondary importance. Major impacts occurred in environmental degradation
terms, leading to the question about which effects towns would
have withstood and which similar characteristics are among them. This
study attempted to quantify the environmental degradation level of Minas
Gerais State’s towns. Specifically, a multivariate analysis attempted to
determine such economic, population and biological indicators causing
environmental degradation; next, to quantify the degradation in those
cities and, finally, to group them according to their similarities. The results
showed an average degradation indicator (ID) of 86% for Minas
Gerais State; it should be pointed out that more than 40% of those cities
had ID values equal to 1. Additionally, other index values were shown
above 0.70 that means 70% of the area degraded. The exceptions were
the cities of Senator Amaral and Bom Repouso with minimum IDs of 0.04
and 0.10, respectively.