Comprehensive Study of Water Resources in the Aguarongo Protected Forest: Consequent Analysis of Climate Change Adaptability

This project focuses on water resource management within the Aguarongo Protective Forest (BVPA), a montane forest impacted by anthropogenic activities such as agriculture and livestock farming, leading to habitat fragmentation. The initiative follows up on previous studies concerning land use, aiming to diagnose, recognize, and reformulate plans for the conservation and regeneration of natural resources, with a specific focus on water. The comprehensive water resource study includes determining the physical and ecological characteristics of the basin, analyzing rainfall (pluviometry) and surface runoff, identifying extreme hydrological events, and performing hydrological modeling. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and specialized software will be utilized to facilitate analysis and modeling. Specifically, the pseudo-distributed HEC-HMS Model will be employed to determine basin-level flows, which is crucial for planning water storage for irrigation, human and industrial consumption, as well as quantifying minimum flows essential for ecosystem function during the dry season.<br/><br/><b>Goal</b>: <br/>The main objective of this project is to describe, evaluate, quantify, and simulate the hydrological behavior within the geographical area of the Aguarongo Protective Forest. This is carried out as a continuation of previous territorial planning research, focusing specifically on the comprehensive management of water resources.<br/><br/><b>Research lines</b>: <br/>Ecology and management of natural resources