Environmental assessment of areas vulnerable to desertification processes

Given the need for more studies on the transposition of the São Francisco River and its potential effects on changing the dynamics of the receiving basins this study was carried out in the area corresponding to the middle section of the Ipojuca Basin in the state of Pernambuco. The work uses remote sensing and image processing techniques to analyse the vegetation around the basin and seeks to estimate the degree of vulnerability to climate change and the degree of hydrological stress in its middle stretch. The results show that the basin is highly vulnerable to climate change with high hydrological stress and high levels of water stress in large areas of the middle section of the Ipojuca Basin. The results of the Basin's high water stress corroborate studies that already warned that several of the drier areas of the Northeast would face water stress which would worsen over the course of this century. In view of this we conclude that it is necessary to transpose the waters of the São Francisco River into the Ipojuca Basin but we discuss the social benefits and potential environmental impacts that this transposition will bring to the area in question.