SIMULATING THE EFFECT OF PERMANENT PRESERVATION AREAS ON SOIL EROSION RATES

ABSTRACT Water erosion is one of the main problems faced by the Furnas Lake Surrounding Watershed, located in southeast Brazil. The erosive process is intensified by inadequate land occupation of the lake margins where should be riparian forests, or permanent preservation areas (APP), in order to protect water resources. In this context, our work aimed to estimate the soil losses of this watershed using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) in two different scenarios: I - considering the actual occupation of the area, and II - building an alternative scenario where permanent preserv...