ANALYZING DRYLAND SALINITY MANAGEMENT ON A CATCHMENT SCALE WITH AN ECONOMIC-ECOLOGICAL MODELING APPROACH

This article presents the development of a mathematical programming model aimed at investigating the economics of managing soil salinisation at a catchment level. The model integrates agronomic, hydrological and farm financial modules within a system of model farms that represent different land management units within the catchment. A range of methodological requirements are identified to capture the complexity and characteristics of the salinisation problem. Two of these requirements are specifically addressed, one being the need for synthesising detailed hydrological data. This is achieved by employing a soil-water simulation model. The second aspect deals with introducing climate-related risk into the model through discrete stochastic programming. The paper concentrates on discussing the advantages and limitations of the methods applied.