Analysis of susceptibility to desertification scenario in the Pajeú Watershed - State of Pernambuco

Abstract

Desertification is a dynamic process of land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid zones, resulting from climatic variations and human activities. The main cause of that is the removal of vegetation cover, which causes soil exposure to erosive agents. In Brazil, areas that are susceptible to desertification cover the semiarid tropics, the dry sub-humid’s, and surrounding areas, directly affecting 30 million people. Thus, this study aims to analyze the susceptibility to desertification of river basin Pajeú through natural and physical land use aspects. The letter of environmental susceptibility to desertification (SAD) was generated by crossing map information of susceptibility to soil erosion (SES) with the letter of climate sensitivity to desertification (SCD). The results indicated that the basin of Pajeú have a degree of susceptibility to desertification with dominance of Moderate and High classes, being removal of vegetation cover the attribute that is most aggravating a possible development of the process.