2. Land Use Change
2.1. Context
Land use data is the main input for land use and cover change scenarios. A few land use and cover LUCC datasets are available for the whole Amazon
region. The Terra-i dataset is available with good spatial 250 m and temporal annual from 2004-2011 resolution for the whole Amazon. Terra-i
detects land-cover changes resulting from human activities in near real-time updates every 16 days Terra-i, 2012. There is also a regional initiative
from the Amazon Geo-referenced Socio-environmental Information Network RAISG,
www.raisg.socioambiental.org , to obtain geo-referenced
information for all the countries within the Amazon Basin. Many institutions that contribute to RAISG have worked on a deforestation map
using a standardized methodology for the whole Basin for the years 2000- 2005-2010 RAISG, 2012.
In the Brazilian Amazon the PRODES project INPE, 2012a produces an annual deforestation map and estimates annual deforestation rates. DETER
INPE, 2012b is an alert system which monitors deforestation monthly, allowing the government to take rapid action to control and prevent
deforestation. Recently, Terraclass INPE, 2012c was released, classifying the deforested areas in a Land Use Map for the Brazilian Amazon for the
year of 2008 in 30x30 m
2
spatial resolution. In addition, Brazil executes an agricultural census every 10 years the latest was released in 2006 IBGE,
2006. Open and public access to satellite mapping datasets allows wide monitoring and analysis of Brazilian Amazon land use change by different
stakeholders. The data is also important for drawing alternative land use scenarios for the future. Generally, scenarios that cover the entire Amazon
Basin extrapolate data produced in Brazil, or combine these sources with global datasets Table 1 for the rest of the countries. In this sense, there is
a disproportionate amount of information and data available for the Brazilian Amazon in comparison with the rest of the Amazon countries.
Outside of the Brazilian Amazon at national or sub national level there are some efforts in generating land use and cover change data. In Bolivia, a land
use and cover change map for the lowlands generated by the Natural History Museum Noel Kempff Mercado for the periods 1976-1990-2001-2004
and 2008 is available Killen et al., 2007 and 2008, and recently Friends of Nature Foundation, a RAISG member, presented its Deforestation map of
the Bolivian Lowlands and Yungas 2000-2005-2010 FAN, 2012. In the same context the institution “Instituto del bien Común” presented the
deforestation map of Peru for the same period 2000-2005-2010 RAISG, 2012. Another interesting experience in Peru is the System to Monitor
Land Cover, Deforestation and Forest Degradation for the years 2000-2005 and 2009 MINAM Peru, 2011. In the Ecuadorian Amazon some LUCC
data derived from satellite imagery interpretation also exists i.e. Mena, 2008; Messina and Walsh, 2001. In Colombia there are publications that
address LUCC data e.g. Etter et al., 2006; CONPES, 2011 however Cuervo et al. 2012 mention that there is not a consistent wall-to-wall, multi-
temporal dataset for LUCC, and they generate a LUCC map from 2001-2010 in Colombia using MODIS 250 m products coupled with high spatial
resolution imagery.
LUCC at the local level can be found also from REDD projects. A list of certified REDD projects is available from the Climate, Community
Biodiversity Alliance Standards CBBA CBBA, 2012. Some of the available datasets are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1: Land use and cover change data
Level LUCC
data
Description SpatialTemporal
Resolution
Source
Global GLC2000
Vegetation map of South America
Global Land Cover 2000
1 km 2000 GLC,
2003
GlobCover Global composites
and land cover map 300 m2005-2006;
2009 ESA,
2010
Amazon Basin
Terra-i Detects land-cover
changes resulting from human
activities in near 250m2004 to 2011;
updated every 16 days
Terra-I, 2012
real-time RAISG
Deforestation map of the Amazon
Basin 30m2000-2005 and
2010 RAISG,
2012
Brazilian Amazon
PRODES Yearly
deforestation map 60 mannual
INPE, 2012a
DETER Monthly
deforestation alerts 250mmonthly
INPE, 2012b
IBGE Agricultural census
data Municipal
leveldecadal IBGE,
2006
Terraclass Land use map 30m
INPE, 2012c
2.2. Land use and cover change LUCC