Abstract
Abstract. Deforestation is a global concern due to its problematic consequences, which intensify natural phenomena such as floods. In the past century, Brazil lost large areas of forests due to agricultural and livestock development, mining activities, the construction of hydroelectric plants and the expansion of the urban-industrial sector. The recovery of forests is an alternative to mitigate impacts caused by floods, although it is not known for sure the extent of such mitigation. The objective of this study was to assess the flow behavior of the Velhas River, Southeast Brazil, under different reforestation and deforestation scenarios, through multicriteria analysis and hydrological modeling. The combination of these methods allowed for interesting results, showing that a reforestation in 34.3% of the watershed area would have effects on river flow behavior similar to a reforestation of 9.2%. A scenario of deforestation in 100% of the forest area showed that there would be an increase in flow peaks in the rainiest months.
Highlights
In Brazil reforestation has been a plausible and low cost solution to reduce surface runoff and control erosion
3.1 Reforestation and Deforestation Scenarios The mapping resulting from the multicriteria analysis showed that the suitability for reforestation in the VRW ranged between 30 and 244
This study allowed the identification of priority areas for reforestation in the VRW;
Summary
In Brazil reforestation has been a plausible and low cost solution to reduce surface runoff and control erosion. The multicriteria analysis is commonly used for the definition of priority zones for reforestation (Nossack et al, 2014; Pinheiro, 2015; Santos, 2013; Sartori, Zimback, 2011), enabling the choice of variables and attribution of weights and values, giving priority to different options, and facilitating the decision making by presenting alternatives according to the proposed objective (Francisco et al, 2008). The analysis is based on the representation of a complex problem, structuring it hierarchically to prioritize factors in the analysis of several alternatives It provides a hierarchical structure, facilitates the pairwise decomposition, reduces inconsistencies and generates priority vectors, in addition to reducing the subjectivity of the choice (Calijuri et al, 2002; Feizizadeh et al, 2014)
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