ABSTRACT
The coast of the State of Sao Paulo has an extension of about 700 km covering 16 cities with over two million inhabitants and diversified ecosystems. There are several protected areas, such as the Serra do Mar State Park, which contains the largest continuous area of preserved Atlantic Forest in Brazil. The MAS integrates the coast of Sao Paulo and is characterized as an industrial area, occupying a territory of 2818 km2, with 9 municipalities, as shown in Figure 1 (Sao Paulo [Estado] 2011). The MAS has a permanent population of almost 1.7 million inhabitants (see Table 3) and a significant seasonal population, as a result of its tourism function. Santos is the main and biggest city of the area, with more than 400,000 people.
