Determination of current and potential soil erosion of Chile

Executive Director EUGENIO GONZÁLEZ AGUILÓ. March 2012

Towards Global Soil Information: Activities within the GEO Task Global Soil Data

Chile Total Area : 75 mill. Ha

Arable land 5.1 million ha

Pastures 11.2 million ha

Forestry plantations 2.3 million ha

Natural forests 13.6 million ha

Length: 4,329 km long, equivalent to one

tenth of the circumference of the Earth.

Chile: environmental macroregions

Chilean Antarctica

Canadá

México

Unión Europea

Corea del Sur

América Central Salvador Costa Rica Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua

Nueva Zelanda Singapur

Malasia

China

Japón

Brunei

Australia

Turquía

Perú Panamá

Mercosur Argentina Brasil Paraguay Uruguay

India

Cuba

Colombia

EFTA Islandia Liechtenstein Noruega Suiza

Estados Unidos

Ecuador

Venezuela

Bolivia

P4

Natural Resources and Agriculture are fundamental for Chilean development

Chile has 22 trade agreements with 59

countries

90% World GBP & 63% world population

GENERAL PURPOSE

To determine current and potential soil erosion for territory of Chile using geomatics and remote sensing techniques.

OBJETIVOS ESPECÍFICOS

• Current and potential soil erosion maps. • Soil erosion geodatabase • Publications •Transferring data to partner institutions according to the national forest law and soil conservation system.

PRODUCTS

METHODS

Example: Maule Region

Severe Erosion

No Erosión

No apparent erosion

Slight Erosion

Very severe erosion

Moderate Erosion

INTERPRETATION OF SOIL EROSION

Santa Laura Valley

Slight erosion

Moderate erosion

No apparent erosion

Very severe erosion

Severe erosion

No erosion

CLASSIFICATION OF SOIL EROSION

Nationally, we see that the most eroded soils increase from south to north. An area of 36.8 million hectares, equivalent to 49.1% of the country have some degree of erosion.

North Zone (desert)

The sectors with higher current erosion problems leading the regions of Coquimbo, with 84% of eroded soil, Valparaiso, with 57%, and O'Higgins with 52% of the soils.

North Zone

Not all eroded soil is the product of human action. Most of the soil erosion in northern Chile due to natural causes.

Atacama Region

Like other sustainable uses, the native forest effectively protects the soil from erosive agents (water, wind and ice).

South Zone

Here we see soils topography of hills with slopes

of 30% to 50% In these conditions of slope, the planting to harvest the

soil is fullyexposed to water erosion processes

Araucania Region

Soils of mild to moderately undulating topography characteristic ofthe Los Rios, who maintain a permanent vegetation cover for agricultural use. Current exhibit slight to moderate erosion.

South Zone

Central Zone

Soil dominant characteristic of rolling hills and the coastal area of the Bío-Bío. Visualizes areas with sparse vegetation cover on soil with ahistory of use and management have created conditions for much ofthe soils present, today, severe to very severe erosion.

9,6%

11,1%

13,8%

14,8%9,2%

18,1%

22,8%

0,6%

SIN EROSIÓN

EROSIÓN LIGERA

EROSIÓN MODERADA

EROSIÓN SEVERA

EROSIÓN MUY SEVERA

EROSIÓN NO APARENTE

OTROS USOS

AREAS DE EXCLUSIÓN

PORCENTAJE (% ) DE SUPERFICIE DE SUELOS EROSIONADOS

RESULTS

Cartografía de Erosión Actual Región Maule

Cartografía de Erosión Actual Comuna de Pencahue

With this project the Ministry of Agriculture of Chile has a nationalgeo-referenced databases of eroded soils at the regional levelprovincial and communal.

RESULTS

- Update 1979 - 2009 (30 years) - Detailed information by region, province and commune. - Information more accurate results - Satellite Technology - compatibility SSOT - Effort and institutional support for professionals in regions. -General information about development programs and recovery of degraded soils.

CONCLUSIONS

A serious problem ..... forest fires In the current summer broke ll records of hectares affected by forest fires, many of them caused by human hands.

What are we doing…? 1) In the current summer broke

all records of hectares affected by forest fires, many of them caused by human hands.

2) It is developing a program for the recovery of degraded soils.

3) By law (Decree 701) is given a grant to fund the planting of forests of introduced species.

4) We are working to change driving habits in praise of the small agriculture sector, especially the goat breeders.

Thank you www.ciren.cl