Following
the same logic used for establishing conservation targets described
above, cost values were considered to be different according to their location
for three altitudinal zones within each hydrologic basin given
that the effect of pressure factors differs depending on their location
with respect to the upland, midland, or lowland part of the catchment
area.Within the hydrologic region, threats were sorted from the most
to the least impacting, and arbitrary costs were assigned to each one
with the highest cost for the upper part and the lowest cost to the lowland
part. For example, a damlocated in themidlevel of a basin will impact
more the mid and lower levels but not as much the upper one, or
water qualitywould also be poorer in the mid and lower levels because
of agricultural and industrial activities.
Table 1