Abstract
This paper presents an Ecological-Economic (Eco-Eco) modelling using the Intensity of Erosion and Outflow (IntErO) model for calculation of sediment yield and runoff assessing the impacts of different land covers on soil erosion intensity. Calculations have been made for the Velicka River basin, which is one of 57 sub-basins of the Lim River in the Northeast Montenegro. Several different land use scenarios were then simulated in the model in order to find the optimal scenario of land use for intensive seed potato production. The results of Ecological (Eco-) analysis shown that the real soil loss under current conditions is 18148 m³yr-1. If seed potato production is introduced, the model calculated a soil loss of 20834 m³yr-1 as sediment yield. In order to balance the damage caused by the introduction of seed potato production we considered also the ecological measure of afforestation to reduce soil loss caused by seed potato production. The model calculated that afforestation would result in a decrease of sediment yield to 17886 m³yr-1. The results of Economic (-Eco) analysis revealed that the investment of €3,385 per ha for the establishment of the seed potato production will provide the income for the farmers of €15,000 per hectare annually. In parallel, we proposed the investment for the protection of the area (258 ha) with afforestation that amounts to €330,608 (€1,281 per ha), for the period of two years, with no other costs in the next decade. The research results demonstrate that the application of the Eco-Eco modelling, by using the IntErO model for studying the effect of soil erosion and possible land use for intensive seed potato production in the Velicka River Basin provides cost effective solutions for the benefit of the local population.
Highlights
In mountain areas such as the most part of Montenegro, watersheds are often affected by natural disasters including overflows, floods and inundations, erosion and landslides
In order to carry out model verification for the study area, sediment yields were calculated for all the tributaries of the Lim river basins, which include the Velicka river basin
It should be highlighted that the EPM/Intensity of Erosion and Outflow (IntErO) model considers the total sediment load, whereas most of the measurements conducted in the studies cited take into account suspended load only
Summary
In mountain areas such as the most part of Montenegro, watersheds are often affected by natural disasters including overflows, floods and inundations, erosion and landslides. Soil erosion is one of the most widespread and a major environmental threat which decreases agricultural productivity and affects water quality (Poesen et al, 1997; Weltzin et al, 2003; Nearing et al, 2005). There are several stages/types of water erosion, including splash, sheet, rill, gully and stream bank erosion (Toy et al, 2002; Poesen et al, 2003; Khaledi Darvishan et al, 2014 and 2015). Received in revised form: 10 Aug 2017.
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