Comprehensive Framework for Analysing the Intensity of Land Use and Land Cover Change in Continental Ecuadorian Biosphere Reserves

Andrea Urgilez-Clavijo, David Rivas-Tabares, Anne Gobin and Juan de la Riva ()
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Andrea Urgilez-Clavijo: Instituto de Estudios de Régimen Seccional del Ecuador (IERSE), Universidad del Azuay, Cuenca 010204, Ecuador
David Rivas-Tabares: Centro de Estudios e Investigación para la Gestión de Riesgos Agrarios y Medioambientales (CEIGRAM), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Anne Gobin: Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek (VITO) NV, 2400 Mol, Belgium
Juan de la Riva: GEOFOREST-IUCA, Department of Geography and Land Management, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 4, 1-21

Abstract: The conventional methods of land use and land cover (LULC) analysis are frequently based on crosstabulation matrices. However, this analysis becomes complex when including sites with multiple management zones and categories at different time points. This is challenging regarding data processing and the presentation of numerous results. We transformed the graphical representation of conventional Intensity Analysis to assess and compare the intensity and magnitude of LULC changes in six Continental Ecuadorian Biosphere Reserves at three levels: interval, category, and transition, and at three time intervals. A dimension reduction strategy was used to convert multiple bar charts into three composite heat maps. The results confirm the global conservation effectiveness in the core zones among the biosphere reserves with less than 10% change, but worrisome dynamics were detected in buffers and transitions with a change of up to 10% for all periods. Deforestation and agriculture were detected as the most relevant land processes. This work highlights the dimension reduction by summarizing 17, 51, and 312 bar charts from conventional Intensity Analysis in three composite heat maps, one for each level of analysis. Systematic suspicious transitions occurred in the water body category because of its dynamics and misclassification in LULC maps.

Keywords: terrestrial ecosystem; UNESCO; periodic review; suspicious transitions; Ecuadorian forest; systematic transitions; sustainable development; SDG 15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
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