Spatial assessment and prioritization strategies for water erosion-induced soil loss in the Brazilian semiarid

Abstract

To mitigate erosion on the Earth's surface, organizations and entities responsible for environmental management and enforcement have called for measures and policies aimed at preserving, maintaining, and restoring ecological integrity, such as the Degraded Area Recovery Plan (DARP) and Payment for Environmental Services (PES). To assess water erosion and support land planning at a watershed scale, this study used the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) via multicriteria analysis in a geographic information system (GIS) to determine soil loss in the Potengi River Basin (400,000 ha) in Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil. Estimated soil loss was 2,073,523.40 tons/year, equivalent to 782,461.69 m³ of sediment. The extensive livestock areas were economically assessed using the net present value (NPV), whereby 5111.53 ha with low opportunity costs were prioritized for erosion control and implementation of DARP and PES. In this scenario, a minimum value of US$94,89/ha.year was established for the economic viability of PES programs, a voluntary agreement between users and providers of environmental services to produce positive externalities.