Environmental vulnerability applied to the territorial planning of a tropical semiarid basin.

Tropical semiarid regions are naturally prone to environmental damage. Human activity can worsen this situation. To understand how human actions affect the ecosystem, plan land use effectively, and establish targeted management practices, assessing environmental vulnerability is crucial. This study focuses on a sub-basin receiving water transfers from the São Francisco River in Brazil's semiarid region. Here, we map and evaluate how land use and occupation alter natural vulnerability. We also propose zoning strategies to support water resource management and implement sustainable development policies in the region. To achieve this, we conducted an integrated analysis of physical factors (soil types, geology, climate, vegetation, and landforms) and spatial land-use data using geographic information systems (GIS) and map algebra techniques. Map algebra allowed us to combine these various datasets within the GIS environment, enabling the creation of maps that synthesize both natural and environmental vulnerability across the study area. Following analysis of these vulnerability maps, our findings reveal a high level of vulnerability. The areas with high to very high degrees of natural vulnerability coincide with the places that have high slopes, high altitudes, Lithic Neosols, and thick vegetation. Furthermore, the interaction between environmental factors and human activity exacerbates vulnerability. Based on the environmental vulnerability assessment, we defined four environmental management zones. These zones require distinct protection measures and management approaches. As a method to potentially improve the basin's vulnerability scenario, soil conservation measures are recommended. This approach is highly relevant for managing land in tropical semiarid regions and, with adaptations to specific regional factors, can be applied globally.

Analysis of Susceptibility to Degradation of Water Ecosystem Services as a Tool for Land Use Planning: a Case Study in a Small Brazilian Watershed.

Mapping priority areas for environmental conservation and restoration is essential to informing policy formulation and decision-making. This study proposes a methodology based on multicriteria analysis and on-site assessment to develop environmental zoning that enhances the provision of water ecosystem services (WES) from Brazil's Água Quente River Basin. Integrated analysis of multiple criteria enabled identification of degrees of susceptibility to degradation, assessment of effects of land-use changes between 1990 and 2020, and validation of the study's methodology via field protocol. The results indicated that the spatial and temporal patterns of WES susceptibility to degradation varied little within the study area with the most critical levels occurring primarily in the Agua Quente's floodplain, where there are sandy textured soils and coverage with a low degree of soil protection. Zoning analysis designates 40% of the basin`s area as consolidated use, 28% for environmental conservation, 19% as anthropic use, and 13% for environmental restoration. Field analysis indicates that the occurrence of degraded areas and pollution by solid waste and urban effluents are relevant factors that affect the basin's water resources. Linear regression analysis indicated a good fit between the data modeled by the multicriteria analysis and those observed on-site (R² = 0.6 p < 0.05). The study's method is effective and its structure can be used in other river basins, as its approach is simple and flexible and can be readily adjusted to fit the characteristics of the study site.

How to allocate discharge permits more fairly in China?-A new perspective from watershed and regional allocation comparison on socio-natural equality.

Equitable and efficient allocation of pollutant discharge permits is vital for controlling total pollutant amounts. However, the conventional water pollutant discharge permit allocation method is criticized for dividing the environmental attributes of water bodies, which is mainly based on administrative units. China is establishing a water ecological environment zoning management system to manage the water environment more scientifically, which may have a great impact on for controlling total pollutant amounts. Whether the ecological environment zoning management system can promote more equitable and efficient permit allocation remains unknown. In this paper, an environmental zoning system and "basin-region" correlation are established to take both regional and watershed allocation processes into consideration. Then, a multi-index Gini coefficient method is established to evaluate the equality of different allocating methods. The Gini coefficient is then combined with a linear interactive and general optimizer method to achieve an equitable allocation of ammonia nitrogen discharge permits in the Songhua River Basin from both watershed and regional perspectives. Forty-five water pollutant discharge allocation scenarios are considered to represent different manager tendencies. The results show that allocation based on watershed functional units is more equitable than that based on administrative units. The index weighting settings also have a large impact on regional and total equality and environmental efficiency. Midstream and downstream areas show large allocation differences, although no scenario can satisfy all watershed regions in terms of equality and environmental efficiency at the same time. Thus, more trade-offs are needed during decision making. By considering the coordination of social, environmental and economic development at the basin level, this study provides new insight into equitable and efficient allocation. Moreover, the findings suggest that an environmental zoning system should be considered for discharge permit allocation in water resource management.

Integração entre planejamento do uso do solo e de recursos hídricos: a disponibilidade hídrica como critério para a localização de empreendimentos / Coupling land-use and water resources planning: hydric availability as a locational criterion

RESUMO: Na medida em que a disponibilidade de recursos hídricos, tanto em termos de quantidade quanto em termos de qualidade e tempo de recorrência, constitui um fator cada vez mais relevante ao desenvolvimento econômico e social, existe a necessidade de se voltar a atenção do planejamento para a sustentabilidade dos recursos hídricos, atuando principalmente de forma preventiva sobre a gestão da demanda. O presente trabalho apresenta uma proposta metodológica que permite incluir a avaliação da disponibilidade dos recursos hídricos, em termos qualiquantitativos, em um processo de planejamento territorial. O trabalho pretende, fundamentalmente, despertar o debate sobre a necessidade de incluir, nas etapas iniciais dos processos de tomada de decisão, uma avaliação relativa à capacidade de atendimento, por parte dos recursos hídricos, às solicitações decorrentes do desenvolvimento territorial. A utilização da metodologia apresentada mostra-se potencialmente útil durante um processo de planejamento do uso dos recursos hídricos. Uma vez agregada ao processo de planejamento da ocupação do território, estaria se oferecendo aos tomadores de decisão uma valiosa contribuição no sentido de orientá-los para uma decisão adequada e esclarecida, que considera a avaliação da capacidade de suporte do recurso hídrico como um fator primordial a ser observado durante o planejamento.

ABSTRACT: Availability of water resources is increasingly lower, considering the amount and quality. There is a need of recovering this availability, focusing on the planning process on demand's management. The present paper presents a methodological approach that allows the evaluation of water resources' availability in a context of territorial planning as a way to assess the compatibility between the development needs and environmental answers. This paper intends to promote a discussion on the need to include, in the early stages of the decision-making process, an evaluation on the supplying capacity of water resources to the demands arising from the territorial development. The approach showed a promising potential to support the planning process, including water resources planning. By doing so, planning processes are potentially benefited, once decision-makers will be able to find a more suitable decision, which recognizes that the assessment of water resources' carrying capacity plays a major role during the planning process.

Land Use and Environmental Zoning of Mixed Ombrophilous Forests for Sustainable Use (Irati National Forest, Brazil Southern Region)

ABSTRACT An environmental zoning proposal due to the demand to develop strategies to ensure biodiversity scenarios for the remaining mixed ombrophilous forests was carried out for the Irati National Forest, a legally protected area for sustainable use located in southern Brazil. To identify land use and cover, Ikonos PSM images dated from December 2004, based on the interpretation of visual character and vectorization of orbital data were used. Qualitative and quantitative classifications identified six types of land and cover use: native forest, forestry, capoeira grass, wetland, araucaria plantation, and anthropic. The native forest relative to the mixed ombrophilous forest was the prevailing type of land cover. The environmental zoning proposal defined seven zones of use, some that involved several potentially harmful activities to the biodiversity of the Irati National Forest. The environmental zone proposal, based on ecosystem conservation, outlined specific factors that enhanced ecosystem and community viability, supporting the design and evaluation of the management plan of the Irati National Forest.

Participación comunitaria para la construcción e lineamientos de uso y conservación de humedales altoandinos. experiencia piloto en el sector el ocho y páramo de letras / Communty particiipation in the construction of guidelies for the use and conservation of the high andean wetlands, a pilot experience in the ocho and páramo de letras arass

La participación comunitaria es un aspecto relevante en la toma de decisiones para la implementación de acciones relacionadas con la protección del patrimonio natural. Objetivo: En el presente trabajo el principal objetivo es la construcción participativa de los lineamientos de uso y conservación de humedales en el sector El Ocho y Páramo de Letras. Método: La metodología comprende los siguientes pasos: 1) revisión de información secundaria; 2) una zonificación ambiental participativa de los sistemas productivos mediante la técnica de mapas parlantes, con la ayuda de la herramienta de AutoCAD; y 3) análisis del potencial turístico y florístico con base en los saberes tradicionales, y utilizando entrevistas con la comunidad, potenciales turistas y charlas informales. Resultado principal: La comunidad tiene conocimiento tradicional de los beneficios que ofrecen los recursos del ecosistema, pero no tiene las herramientas para lograr un sistema productivo sostenible; la zona de estudio tiene un gran potencial turístico, debido a las ventajas de paisaje e infraestructura; el uso actual del suelo es inadecuado con respecto a la normatividad ambiental. Conclusión principal: Es necesario formular e implementar estrategias de uso y conservación de humedales altoandinos que sean adecuados a las particularidades del ecosistema bajo estudio, puesto que las estrategias existentes a nivel nacional e internacional son muy generales.

Community participation is a relevant aspect in decisions making concerning the implementation of actions related to protection of natural heritage. In the present work, the main purpose is the participative construction of the guidelines for the use and conservation of wetlands in El Ocho and Páramo de Letras. The methodology includes the following steps: 1) review of secondary information; 2) a participatory environmental zoning of the productive systems using the talking maps technique and the AutoCAD tool; and 3) floral and touristic potential analysis, on the basis of traditional knowledge, by means of interviews to the community, potential tourists and informal talks. The main result of this research indicates that the community has traditional knowledge of the benefits offered by the ecosystem resources, but they do not have the necessary tools to achieve a sustainable productive system. The study area has a great touristic potential, due to its advantages of landscape and infrastructure but the current use of the land is inadequate according to the environmental law. The main conclusion of the work is that it is necessary to formulate and implement strategies for use and conservation of High Andean Wetlands which are adequate for the ecosystem under study, as the current national and international strategies are too general.