Mapping Land Suitability to Guide Landscape Restoration in the Amazon

René Poccard-Chapuis, Sophie Plassin, Reinis Osis, Daniel Pinillos, Gustavo Martinez Pimentel, Marcelo Cordeiro Thalês, François Laurent, Mario Rodrigo de Oliveira Gomes, Laura Angelica Ferreira Darnet, Jaqueline de Carvalho Peçanha and Marie-Gabrielle Piketty
Additional contact information
René Poccard-Chapuis: CIRAD, UMR SELMET, Paragominas 68627-451, Brazil
Sophie Plassin: CIRAD, UMR SELMET, Paragominas 68627-451, Brazil
Reinis Osis: UMR ESO, Le Mans Université, 72085 Le Mans, France
Daniel Pinillos: Farming Systems Ecology, Wageningen University & Research, 6700 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Gustavo Martinez Pimentel: NUMA, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém 66075-110, Brazil
Marcelo Cordeiro Thalês: Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi (MPEG), Belém 66077-830, Brazil
François Laurent: UMR ESO, Le Mans Université, 72085 Le Mans, France
Mario Rodrigo de Oliveira Gomes: EMBRAPA Amazônia Oriental, Paragominas 68627-451, Brazil
Laura Angelica Ferreira Darnet: CDS, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília 70910-900, Brazil
Jaqueline de Carvalho Peçanha: Norte Brasil Consulting, Paragominas 68628-120, Brazil
Marie-Gabrielle Piketty: CIRAD, UMR SENS, 34000 Montpellier, France

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-24

Abstract: Beyond reducing deforestation, the control of forest degradation, the promotion of forest restoration, and the improvement of agricultural practices in the Brazilian Amazon are becoming increasingly important for sustainable development. To enable farmers and authorities to organize their landscapes and optimize both agricultural practices and the provision of ecosystem services, mapping land suitability is essential, but it is lacking in the region. In this paper, we present a method for mapping land suitability at a fine scale (30-m pixels), adapted to the needs of farmers and municipalities, to not only optimize agricultural production but also the ecosystem services provided by forests. We used topographic data from the Brazilian municipality of Paragominas to produce four maps, one each of soil texture, slope, floodplains, and hydrography, that we then combined into a single land suitability map. This map has been incorporated into a spatial database, which also contains information on land use, remoteness, and land tenure. We performed spatial analyses to measure the process of land use change, and to define indicators that enable local stakeholders to organize landscape restoration. We highlight an organic link between agricultural intensification and forest restoration, and provide a spatial tool for landscape design, assessment, and monitoring.

Keywords: land suitability; landscape restoration; landscape design; amazon region; ecosystem services; land use policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:4:p:368-:d:529134

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