- Introduction
The development of the “Study of Land Use Capacity” (ECUT), is part of the “supplementary studies” developed in the process of preparing the Territorial Planning Plan for the Upper Basin of the Yaque del Norte River (CAY) and the municipality of Jarabacoa.
conservation-and-management-of-natural-resources-rio-yanqueTogether with the Mapping of Key Actors (MAC), the Diagnosis of Critical Areas (DAC), the Rapid Socioeconomic Characterization (CSR) and the revision of the existing secondary information, it will allow the development of the POT that after validated in a condensed and participatory way, will promote the sustainable development of the territory.
For the development of the ECUT, the joint support of PROCARYN was counted as a framework project for the consultancy, the Environmental Management Unit (UGAM) of the Jarabacoa City Council, the Agroforestry University (UAFAM) and the Ecotourism Cluster of Jarabacoa.
Conceptually, "Land Use Capacity" is the determination in physical terms of the support that a land unit has to be used for certain uses or covers and / or treatments. It is generally based on the principle of the maximum intensity of bearable use without causing physical deterioration of the soil (Klingebield and Montgomery 1961). The Land Use Capacity allows defining the conflict zones of use in a given territory, with it you can direct actions to mitigate and correct the use of land to achieve a desirable use that can sometimes be considered as a subuse, but that in the logic of ecological fragility is desirable because of the direct benefits on the one priority resource in watershed management that is “water”.
Establishing the true capacity for land use can be considered of vital importance, since this makes it possible to plan the sustainable development of the different productive activities, for which it is necessary to apply a methodology adapted to the conditions of the territory (basin, region, country, etc.), which must be complete, of compliance and practical use, which will allow unifying criteria and eliminating differences in interpretation. The ECUT together with other "supplementary studies" (DAC, MAC, CSR), allows the development of a planning process aimed at developing sustainable and comprehensive management systems for natural resources, mainly oriented to the management of basins, sub-basins and micro-basins hydrographic.
The ECUT results confirm that in the 960.09 km2 that make up the CAY (753 km2), such as the Municipality of Jarabacoa (690.53), they are in an area with a high level of ecological fragility, so agricultural, livestock and urban development should consider that both the use capacity and the potential of the soil in more than 65% are oriented towards the conservation and promotion of forest cover for protection and production.
The ECUT of the CAY and the Municipality of Jarabacoa should be considered as previously stated as a collective achievement of the main actors in the territory, it should not be considered as a personal effort of a Consultant or of a specific Consultant.
The added value that must be considered is also the process of adapting the methodology as a tool or instrument for similar processes of Territorial Planning, as well as the different phases of training at the conceptual, practical and analytical level that a group of students selected from the Agroforestry University (UAFAM) and members of the Jarabacoa Municipal Council by participating in the preparation of this study.
At the end, we must consider that the main purpose of the ECUT is to serve as a complementary instrument for the development of a territorial planning system, considering it as a non-static system, but to be subject to constant modifications that reflect both processes of social change and new problems or a modified perception of a problem.
- Study objectives
- Developing the Land Use Capacity Study as a complementary tool to other supplementary studies (MAC, DAC and CSR), to be integrated into the analysis of the Land Management process of the CAY and the Municipality of Jarabacoa; Identify the capacity of use of the CAY and the Municipality of Jarabacoa, allowing the identification of the desirable uses of the land; Establish based on the capacity of land use and the coverage and use currently existing in the conflict zones of land use; Prepare an instrument for the actors with decision making and direct activities on the management and conservation of the natural resources of the CAY and the Municipality of Jarabacoa; Generate local capacities for the development of similar studies in other areas of the country;Adapt and validate the methodology for the development of Land Use Capacity Studies for the Cordillera Central region and in the future for the Dominican Republic.
- Justification of the study
During the development of the preliminary phase of the process of elaboration of the Territorial Planning Plan for the Upper Basin of the Yaque del Norte River and the Municipality of Jarabacoa, it was possible to identify that there was no instrument to define the capacity to use the land in the rural area, which did not allow to reliably establish the area that presented a conflict of use.
The aforementioned was considered by the Territorial Planning Technical Team (ETOT) to establish the existing “information gaps”, for which the need to carry out the Study of Land Use Capacity of the Upper Yaque River Basin was determined. North and the Municipality of Jarabacoa.
- Methodology
Determination in physical terms of the support that a land unit has to be used for certain uses or covers and / or treatments. It is generally based on the principle of maximum intensity of bearable use without causing physical deterioration of the soil. Determined through a classification of use capacity, which is basically the grouping of interpretations that are made mainly for production and conservation purposes and begins with the distinction of mapping units. It allows some generalizations to be made regarding the potentialities of the soil, limitations of use and management problems.
It refers only to a maximum level of application of the soil resource, without it deteriorating, with a rate greater than the rate of its formation. In this context, soil deterioration refers to human use. Includes geology, physiography, soils, climate, vegetation.
Through the ECUT it will be possible to determine in the form of a thematic map “the conflict of use” by comparing the results of “ideal use” and crossing it with the map of “coverage and current use”. When conceiving the “use conflict” map, it will allow guiding actions that allow guiding the identified areas towards a suitable or desirable use. For a greater detail of the methodology, you can consult “Manual No. 2” of the OT Kit of the CAY and Municipality of Jarabacoa.
For the development of this study, the following methodological steps were followed:
- Step 1: Adaptation of the methodology for the Study of Land Use Capacity to the biophysical characteristics of the Central Cordillera of the Dominican Republic; Step 2: First phase of cabinet and geospecial analysis; Step 3: Training UAFAM and PROCARYN students to apply the methodology; Step 4: First field phase, collection of information on biophysical variables (effective soil depth, stonyness, slope, coverage and use of the soil); Step 5: Second phase of the cabinet, analysis of the collected information and crossing with geospatial information; Step 6: Second phase of the field, verification of non-coincident information points and information gaps;Step 7: Preparation of a map of land use capacity (OPTIMAL OR DESIRABLE USE) and a map of land use conflict. Step 8: Preparation of the final document for the Study of Land Use Capacity (ECUT).
