Method to identify priority areas for forest recomposition aiming to increase water availability
Name: LAIS THOMAZINI OLIVEIRA RAVANI
Publication date: 29/08/2018
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| ROBERTO AVELINO CECÍLIO | Advisor * |
| SIDNEY SARA ZANETTI | Co-advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| ALEXANDRE CÂNDIDO XAVIER | External Examiner * |
| HELDER DE AMORIM MENDES | External Examiner * |
| ROBERTO AVELINO CECÍLIO | Advisor * |
| SIDNEY SARA ZANETTI | Co advisor * |
Summary: Forest restoration has multiple functions in the landscape, among them, restoring ecological processes, storing carbon and protecting water resources. Forest cover contributes to the reduction of surface runoff and water erosion, providing an improvement in water quality. The forest areas have great influence in the creation of the ideal conditions for the infiltration of the water in the soil, which can increase the recharge of the aquifers and the subsurface flow, providing water in the system. However, the water consumption by evapotranspiration is higher, and may reduce its quantity. In view of this, the objective of the study is to locate these potential areas for forest restoration in order to increase water availability. For this, the multicriterial approach was used to identify a set of relevant factors and the degree of their importance, so that the combination between them reflects the objectives of interest. The Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to integrate the data and criteria into the decision-making process. In this way, potential alternatives of forest restoration for a part of the Itapemirim River Hydrological Basin (BHPAIN) were identified and evaluated through the multi-criteria methods and the GIS, using the criteria that help in understanding the problem of forest cover allocation. After this step, it was used the DHSVM for the hydrological modeling of the BHPAIN in the simulation of flows, using different allocations of the reforestation with native vegetation, aiming to evaluate the potential areas for the increase of water availability.
Key-words: native vegetation, scenarios, hydrological modeling.
