Linking people to watershed protection planning with a gis: A case study of a central american watershed

Steven Shultz, Fernando Saenz, Glenn Hyman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

In the Pacuare River Watershed in Costa Rica, farm size, ownership, and production data were collected and spatially referenced through global positioning surveys and farmer assessments of property boundaries in relation to cadastral maps and air photographs. Using geographic information system (GIS) based spatial overlays, these data were integrated with previously collected land use and land degradation data. The resulting integrated database allowed for land use and degradation data to be classified by alternative farm sizes in order to assess the individual needs and relative priority of a soil conservation program for different farms. In spite of limited funding and many technical and data constraints in Central America, such GIS-based methodologies linking farms and people to biophysically based land use and degradation are seen as a feasible and cost-effective approach to plan and implement soil conservation and other types of natural resource management projects.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)663-675
Number of pages13
JournalSociety and Natural Resources
Volume11
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - 1998
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Central America
  • Farm-level ownership and production data
  • GIS
  • Land use and degradation
  • Soil conservation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Development
  • Environmental Science (miscellaneous)
  • Sociology and Political Science

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