Deforestation Hotspots in the Brazilian Amazon: Evidence and Causes as Assessed from Remote Sensing and Census Data

Ferreira, Nilson Clementino; Ferreira, Laerte Guimarães; Miziara, Fausto

doi:10.1175/ei201.1

Cited by 18 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…In this case, deforestation and reforestation may exhibit statistically significant spatial clustering or “hotspots” (Ferreira et al. , Reddy et al. , Harris et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of forest cover changes in the Chocó‐Darien Global Ecoregion of South America

2019

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Tropical rain forests are suffering the highest deforestation and reforestation ever recorded. Interactions between direct (proximate or direct causes) and indirect (underling or indirect causes) drivers could cluster these forest cover changes forming hotspots (areas that exhibit significant spatial correlation of deforestation or reforestation transitions). Using land use–land cover maps and global (I) and local (Ii) Moran's tests, we identified these hotspots in the Chocó‐Darien Global Ecoregion (CGE) of South America, a natural region that was declared one of the top 25 hotspots for conservation priorities in the world. Subsequently, we tested and studied the effects and interactions between deforestation and reforestation hotspots and their direct and indirect drivers using Bayesian Structural Equation Modeling (Bayesian SEM). We found that deforestation and reforestation were spatially auto‐correlated forming hotspots (I = 0.49, P = 0.001 for deforestation transitions and I = 0.48, P = 0.001 for reforestation transitions). Also, hotspots of deforestation and reforestation were auto‐correlated within municipality borders (I = 0.5, P = 0.001 for deforestation transitions; I = 0.49, P = 0.001 for reforestation transitions). Eighteen municipalities located on the border between Colombia and Ecuador showed significant aggregations of deforestation hotspots, while thirty‐four municipalities in three areas of Colombia and the area between the Colombian and Ecuadorian border showed significant clustering of reforestation hotspots. Eleven of these municipalities presented significant clustering of both reforestation and deforestation hotspots. The Bayesian SEM for deforestation showed that population growth and road density were indirect drivers of deforestation hotspots (0.191 and 0.127 standard deviation units). The Bayesian SEM for reforestation found that armed conflicts, Gross Domestic Product, and average annual rain were indirect drivers related to reforestation hotspots (0.228, 0.076, and 0.081 standard deviation units, respectively). Our assessment shows a novel methodology to study interactions among direct and indirect drivers of forest change and their potential dissimilar effects on forest transitions.

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“…In this case, deforestation and reforestation may exhibit statistically significant spatial clustering or “hotspots” (Ferreira et al. , Reddy et al. , Harris et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of forest cover changes in the Chocó‐Darien Global Ecoregion of South America

2019

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“…In Brazilian Amazon, deforestation is primarily related to road development (Laurance et al, 2002) and governmental colonization programs (Alves et al, 1999;Batistella & Moran, 2005;Ferreira et al, 2007). Moreover, infrastructure implementation and government policy are the primary drivers controlling time and spatial scales of deforestation in most cases (Ballester et al, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Physical and Political Factors on the Conservation of Native Vegetation in the Brazilian Forest-Savanna Ecotone

Sawakuchi¹,

Ballester²,

Ferreira³

2013

OJF

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The Araguaia River Basin covers a considerable extent of Brazilian Savanna (locally called Cerrado) and part of Amazon Tropical Rainforest, embracing high biodiversity and a vast flooding area. This region has been converted to agricultural lands since 1970s, for the past four decades, leading to a fragmented landscape that holds one of the few large remaining blocks of Cerrado primary vegetation. Therefore, to assess the degree of preservation of this area a 2007 primary vegetation map was derived through Boolean operations using land use and land cover maps from 1975, 1985, 1996 and 2007, from digital classification of Landsat MSS and TM images. To evaluate the role of driving factors on the presence of pristine vegetation, a logistic regression analyses was performed. Tested factors were: distance from roads and cities, terrain slope, land tenure, soil fertility and flooding. We found statistical significant values (p < .05) showing that distance from roads and cities, the increase in slope, the presence of protected areas, indigenous lands, wetlands and areas with low fertility have positive influence on the presence and maintenance of these pristine areas. The occurrence of original vegetation in many cases is associated with environmental constraints that difficult or do not allow agricultural use. Analysis of physical and political factors, which may have direct or indirect influence on the conservation and degradation of native vegetation are very important for the comprehension of the dynamics of regional land use, and provide supporting information for a more efficient and sustainable regional landscape planning.

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“…The selection of potential explanatory variables (e.g. socioeconomic and biophysical) was based not only on the approaches undertaken in previous studies by combining remote-sensing data with spatially-explicit information (Pahari and Murai 1999, Mertens et al 2000, Gautam et al 2004, Ali et al 2005, Armenteras et al 2006, Chowdhury 2006, Ferreira et al 2007), but also on the availability of data for the entire study area. Both demographic and economic data at township level were acquired from the statistical yearbooks of each county.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of conservation policies on forest cover change in giant panda habitat regions, China

et al. 2013

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After long periods of deforestation, forest transition has occurred globally, but the causes of forest transition in different countries are highly variable. Conservation policies may play important roles in facilitating forest transition around the world, including China. To restore forests and protect the remaining natural forests, the Chinese government initiated two nationwide conservation policies in the late 1990s -- the Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP) and the Grain-To-Green Program (GTGP). While some studies have discussed the environmental and socioeconomic effects of each of these policies independently and others have attributed forest recovery to both policies without rigorous and quantitative analysis, it is necessary to rigorously quantify the outcomes of these two conservation policies simultaneously because the two policies have been implemented at the same time. To fill the knowledge gap, this study quantitatively evaluated the effects of the two conservation policies on forest cover change between 2001 and 2008 in 108 townships located in two important giant panda habitat regions -- the Qinling Mountains region in Shaanxi Province and the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuary in Sichuan Province. Forest cover change was evaluated using a land-cover product (MCD12Q1) derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). This product proved to be highly accurate in the study region (overall accuracy was ca. 87%, using 425 ground truth points collected in the field), thus suitable for the forest change analysis performed. Results showed that within the timeframe evaluated, most townships in both regions exhibited either increases or no changes in forest cover. After accounting for a variety of socioeconomic and biophysical attributes, an Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression model suggests that the two policies had statistically significant positive effects on forest cover change after seven years of implementation, while population density, percent agricultural population, road density, and initial forest cover (i.e. in 2001) had significant negative effects. The methods and results from this study will be useful for continuing the implementation of these conservation policies, for the development of future giant panda habitat conservation projects, and for achieving forest sustainability in China and elsewhere.

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Deforestation Hotspots in the Brazilian Amazon: Evidence and Causes as Assessed from Remote Sensing and Census Data

Cited by 18 publications

References 16 publications

Drivers of forest cover changes in the Chocó‐Darien Global Ecoregion of South America

Drivers of forest cover changes in the Chocó‐Darien Global Ecoregion of South America

The Role of Physical and Political Factors on the Conservation of Native Vegetation in the Brazilian Forest-Savanna Ecotone

Effects of conservation policies on forest cover change in giant panda habitat regions, China

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