| Autor: |
Emmanuel Da Ponte, Monserrat García-Calabrese, Jennifer Kriese, Nestor Cabral, Lidia Perez de Molas, Magali Alvarenga, Arami Caceres, Alicia Gali, Vanina García, Luis Morinigo, Macarena Ríos, Alejandro Salinas |
| Jazyk: |
angličtina |
| Rok vydání: |
2021 |
| Předmět: |
|
| Zdroj: |
Forests, Vol 13, Iss 1, p 25 (2021) |
| Druh dokumentu: |
article |
| ISSN: |
1999-4907 |
| DOI: |
10.3390/f13010025 |
| Popis: |
Over the past 40 years, Paraguay has lost the majority of its natural forest cover, thus becoming one of the countries with the highest deforestation rates in the world. The rapid expansion of the agricultural frontier, cattle ranching, and illegal logging between 1987 and 2012 resulted in the loss of 27% of original forest cover, equivalent to almost 44,000 km2. Within this context, the present research provides the first yearly analysis of forest cover change in the Paraguayan Chaco between the years 1987 and 2020. Remote sensing data obtained from Landsat images were applied to derive annual forest cover masks and deforestation rates over 34 years. Part of this study is a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of protected areas, as well as an analysis of the degree of fragmentation of the forest. All classification results obtained accuracies above 80% and revealed a total forest cover loss of approximately 64,700 km2. Forest clearing within protected areas was not frequent; however, some natural reserves presented losses of up to 25% of their forest cover. Through the consideration of several landscape metrics, this study reveals an onward fragmentation of forest cover, which endangers the natural habitat of numerous species. |
| Databáze: |
Directory of Open Access Journals |
| Externí odkaz: |
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