Use of GIS to improve livestock and natural resources management

摘要

The Guiniguada basin (Canary Island, Spain) is a valuable area in terms of landscape and natural resources, affected by the abandonment of livestock and agricultural production. The Gran Canaria island's high population density, the area limitations and also the dependence on tourism are leading to unsustainable development. The Guiniguada project (an Urban Pilot Project, FEDER Art 10, ERDF 97.11.29.003H) was promoted by the Canary Island Regional Government in order to mitigate the above mentioned problem. A part of the Guiniguada project consists in the creation of the "Information System for Agricultural and Livestock management, (ISAL)", a Geographic Information System (GIS) to improve agricultural, livestock and hydraulic resources management.Using the ISAL application presented in this paper, a higher speed data management, new possibilities for integration of different types and formats of data (maps, database files, statistics, remote sensing,...) and finally better decision making are achieved. Thus, best practices on agricultural and livestock management are provided. Two application types are developed in ISAL: one is for the database management (water irrigation, manure management and nutrient crop needs, Graphic User interface for the data base) and the other one is for the ISAL final user. Conceptual models, database designed for data thematic storage (agriculture, livestock and hydrology), are presented. Finally, some ISAL examples are demonstrated.