Abstract

ALVAREZ MORALES, Yarelis et al. Hydroclimatic vulnerability and soil degradation in agricultural semiarid regions. Terra Latinoam [online]. 2014, vol.32, n.1, pp.47-58. ISSN 2395-8030.

Water-soil-climate vulnerability of three agricultural regions of Baja California Sur (BCS) was analyzed: Valle de Santo Domingo (VSD), Valle del Vizcaíno Guerrero Negro (VVGN), and the Agricultural Watershed of La Paz (CALAP, acronyms for their names in Spanish) using aptitude markers of climate (FC), water (FA), and soil (FS) factors. In La Paz, BCS, data was obtained through climate study, physicochemical soil analyses, and chemical analyses of irrigation water in five selected sites. For VVGN and VSD, as the reference sites, parameter indicators from available sources and publications were used to assess the current state of these factors. Of the 22 markers selected, five corresponded to FC, seven to FA, and ten to FS. For FC, only two indicators reached a favorable score, and thus this factor was considered deficient in the three regions analyzed. FA reached the acceptable condition in the three zones; however, values were borderline. Soil in VSD was graded acceptable, whereas in VVGN and CALAP it was assessed as inadequate. According to the vulnerability threshold, we can infer that CALAP is the region that is most vulnerable to adverse climate and to soil and water degradation processes. The essential markers place the area in the "highly vulnerable" category while VSD was graded as an agricultural region "vulnerable" to the analyzed factors.

Keywords : drought; abiotic factors; Baja California Sur.