Recovery of the Tambobamba Watershed after Environmental Zoning and Monitoring Using Vegetation Indices

Abstract

Environmental zoning (EZ) in a watershed is intended to analyze the socioeconomic and biophysical parameters and design potential areas of intervention for the management and sustainability of natural resources, thereby improving people’s quality of life. EZ is incomplete without soil and water conservation techniques and management (SW/mct) to remediate natural environments. In this study, the Tambobamba watershed—during and after EZ—was analyzed in terms of socioeconomics, biophysics, and SW/mct, and monitored according to vegetation indices (VIs). To determine the socioeconomic situation, a rapid rural survey was conducted. To design biophysical maps, each area of the watershed was evaluated. The EZ was designed in 2018, under the demands and basic needs of the population. For monitoring in 2017, 2019, and 2021, the VIs were applied. Population density and poverty levels were low, economic activity was high, there was no university education, and basic services and communication routes were scarce. The watershed presented four climates, two natural domains, a glacial surface, six life zones, eight physiographic zones, two taxonomic orders of soils, and twelve geological classifications. The land is dominated by unused areas, the dominant slope was steep and had four types of HLCUs. Watershed remediation after S-W/mct showed that SAVI increased by 0.01, MSI increased by 0.8, EVI remained constant, NDWI increased by 0.06, and NDVI increased by 0.02. After performing the EZ, we affirmed that the Tambobamba watershed is in a slow recovery.