Erosion externalities: an empirical study of resident beliefs for a watershed in south-eastern Spain

This research explores the external effects of erosion as a criterion based on the perceptions of residents of populated areas within a watershed. We applied a multiple correspondence analysis to survey responses in order to reveal the attitudes of residents towards erosion in the study area. This analysis is combined with an analysis of the adjusted residuals, with the goal of identifying the most important erosion externalities that characterize part of south-eastern Spain. Our results demonstrated that the survey approach, combined with the statistical analysis, is capable of revealing differences among communities within a watershed in the perceived externalities of erosion. We identified the following key variables: municipality, conservation status of access routes, conservation status of sewer systems, conservation status of landscape, nature outings per year and agriculture abandonment.