Incorporating geology and geomorphology in land management decisions in developing countries: A case study in Southern Costa Rica

The fast and uncontrolled expansion of industries, agriculture and settlements in developing countries implies a definite need to develop strategies for effective land management. For this reason we carried out a case study in southern Costa Rica within an area of high vulnerability for landslides and seismic hazards aiming at the development of a GIS-based system for the analysis of the physical environment that is of practical use for land management decisions in developing regions with limited financial, technical and data resources. Our concept is based upon the assessment of five so-called geofactors, reflecting the most important aspects for land management planning: (1) Lithology/Petrophysics, (2) Geomorphology, (3) Hydrogeology, (4) Slope Stability and (5) Seismic Hazards. In order to take as much advantage as possible of the limited existing base data, and efficient tools for data collection, evaluation of data quality and data analysis were developed. Second-degree normalization of all database attributes guarantees extensive data query and access possibilities. The application of geofactor terrain analysis for land management is discussed on the basis of a land use plan for the town of Rio Claro located in the NE of the study area. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.