Deforestation in the tropics is considered to be a primary cause for worldwide loss
of biological diversity. Future land use decisions have the potential to escalate or
ameliorate this global problem. The goal of this research is to present a case study of an
analysis of forest change within the Chocó-Andean Conservation Corridor in the Upper
Guayllabamba Watershed in Northwestern Ecuador. Fieldwork, remote sensing, and a
Geographic Information System (GIS) were used to analyze land use/land cover changes
within the corridor. Change detection from 1986 to 2001 using Landsat imagery
confirmed that forests were rapidly being converted to other land covers, but patterns of deforestation rates varied dramatically for different types of forests. The average annual
rate of overall loss of forest was 2.7% for lower montane forest, 1.7% for mid-slope
cloud forest 2.1% for upper montane forest, and 2.0% for riparian forests. The patterns
of deforestation also varied based on scales of analysis. For example, the overall loss of
forest within the southern portion of the Chocó-Andean Conservation Corridor occurred
at an average rate of 1.3% per year, while the overall annual rate of forest loss within
particular sub-watersheds varied from 0.2%-3.1% and the annual average rate of overall
forest loss surrounding particular communities ranged from 0.3%-3.3%. Fifty interviews
were conducted in 2003 in seven communities within the conservation corridor to
determine local perspectives of current land use practices, past land use trends, and future
land use goals; regional changes in the forest; and opinions of local conservation projects.
An intriguing finding of the study is that remote sensing in isolation of fieldwork would
have provided incomplete or misleading results. For example, the community that had
the most deforestation between 1986 and 2001 was the community where the
conservation projects were actually the most successful, based upon local resident
opinion. This report asserts that a holistic approach to conservation is needed to
reconcile environmental and socio-cultural needs in order to maintain and improve forest
habitat and hydrologic connectivity at multiple spatial scales (including community-level,
watershed, and regional) by extending conservation efforts beyond protected areas and
utilizing a basin-scale perspective to make land use decisions that maintain biodiversity
and promote watershed protection. / text
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTEXAS/oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/ETD-UT-2010-05-1517 |
| Date | 01 December 2010 |
| Creators | Gordon, Jessica Danielle |
| Source Sets | University of Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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