PROJECTS

SOIL CONSERVATION PROJECT

The Andean Region has faced a continuous soil erosion process. This results in the loss of water and productive soil. Even though this natural process cannot be avoided, the effects can be reduced by accurate assessment and management. That is why there is a need to evaluate conservation techniques to reduce the effects of erosion in vulnerable areas.

Within the Prometeo Project framework, and with the participation of teachers from Universidad Técnica del Norte, it has been raised a research to evaluate the effect of conservation techniques on the recovery of degraded soils. The study is focused on assess different soil conservation structures in the mid basin of the Mira river during three years, starting in January 2014.

Geographic Information Systems have an important role on this study. It would help to simplify the access to information of the study area such as climate, soil, plant cover and land use, slope, rainfall, among others. This information would be based on remotely sensed ground observation and existing map data. For the project, it has been planned the generation of base maps and thematic maps of the area such as: slope, soil taxonomy, soil texture, climate, vegetation cover, land use, soil depth, soil fertility, organic matter, pH, and erosion vulnerability map.

For the research, we have selected tree locations, based on the slope and erosion presence, within the mid basin of the Mira river. The places are shown in the following maps.