2.3 Innovated CDA Methodology
In this CDA operation, as well as in other projects implemented throughout the territory of the State of São Paulo, we were faced with the difficulty of covering the 330 thousand agricultural properties in the state, and a new strategy urged to be developed. Hence, a new methodology for inspection was adopted - the Innovated CDA Methodology - which was applied in watershed section III, in Marília, with an area of ​​27,775 ha (monitored from 2017 to 2018).
This methodology consists of preparing the diagnosis in the office, using the databases of the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR, 2017) and, then, opening and saving the georeferenced “shapefile” with the property limit. Information about the owner and the property was retrieved from the Animal and Plant Defence Management System (GEDAVE, 2017). The CAR and GEDAVE information are spatialized in Google Earth® Pro, (current aerial images), allowing an interface with databases, through which we are able to perform a diagnosis, and an inspection by remote sensing. Within the perimeter of the property, which shapefile was imported into Google Earth®, the diagnosis begins with a visualization of the erosions, followed by inserting a georeferenced GPS point on this erosion, drawing a polygon of the outline of this erosion, classifying the erosion according to soil conservation legislation (São Paulo State, 1988) and preparing an Excel® spreadsheet with the following information: number of georeferenced GPS points, erosion type, description of the erosion (Table 2), and erosion surface area (ha). This work is carried out throughout the property’s perimeter.
Once the diagnosis by remote sensing is completed, a coloured aerial image is saved (in JPEG format), as well as the spreadsheet in Excel®, and they are made available to the CDA Staff, who will, then, visit the property and go straight to the erosion site, as it is geo-referenced, without the need to inspect the site to identify an erosion. The presence of the erosion is investigated and, if present, checked against the description in the Excel® spreadsheet. If the erosions agree with the data on the spreadsheet, the information is maintained; if they differ, the information on the spreadsheet is corrected. Once all the points on the spreadsheet have been visited, , and the erosions photographed, we have real data on the soil situation of the agricultural property. The data is incorporated in the notification that is handed to the owner and, after this stage, the procedures are identical to the conventional CDA methodology: the property owner hires an Agricultural Engineer, who prepares a technical conservation project to restore the degraded area.