We included all landcover types located below the natural montane tree line (~3000 m), including ... more We included all landcover types located below the natural montane tree line (~3000 m), including forest, savanna, scrubland, seasonal wetland, second-growth forest, pasture, and cropland. The rate of land-use change has increased from approximately 4.7 × 10 4 ha/yr in the 1960s to > 2.9 × 10 5 ha/yr in the most recent period. Land-use change was quantified for 10 groups within which cultural traditions and production systems are shared, including three nonmechanized indigenous groups, four mechanized farming groups, two cattle ranching groups, and the forest products sector. Mechanized Cruceño farmers and Andean indigenous colonists were responsible for most land-use change in the 1960s and 1970s; deforestation by the latter group increased to twice that by all other groups during 1986-1991, declined in the 1990s, and then increased again in the most recent period. In the last 15 years, land-use change by agro-industrialists specializing in soybean has become important, and cattle ranching based on cultivated pastures has surpassed land use by all other groups. When the rates of change increased for the three indigenous nonmechanized groups, they tended to decrease for the four nonindigenous mechanized groups, and vice versa.
Land-cover change in eastern Bolivia was documented using Landsat images from five epochs for all... more Land-cover change in eastern Bolivia was documented using Landsat images from five epochs for all landscapes situated below the montane tree line at approximately 3000 m, including humid forest, inundated forest, seasonally dry forest, and cloud forest, as well as scrublands and grasslands. Deforestation in the eastern Bolivia in 2004 covered 45,735 km2, representing ~9% of the original forest cover, with an additional conversion of 9,050 km2 of scrub and savanna habitats representing 17% of total historical land cover change. Annual rates of land cover change increased from 450 km2 yr-1 in the 1960s to ~2,900 km2 yr-1 in the last epoch spanning 2001 to 2004. This study provides Bolivia with a spatially explicit information resource to monitoring future land cover change, prerequisite for proposed mechanisms to compensate countries for reducing carbon emissions as a result of deforestation. It also shows that policies to limit deforestation had no observable impact on reducing defor...
Este estudio incorpora el análisis del cambio de uso de suelo entre dos épocas (entre 1987-1993 y... more Este estudio incorpora el análisis del cambio de uso de suelo entre dos épocas (entre 1987-1993 y entre 1999-2002), que muestra una deforestación de 69.714 hectáreas. La mayor parte de la deforestación fue ubicada en áreas previamente colonizadas en la zona montañosa, especialmente en los municipios de Caranavi (28%), Guanay (20%) y Palo Blancos (11%), con el 57% de la deforestación en las planicies de Rurrenabaque, San Buenaventura y Yucumo. Los mapas de cobertura vegetal fueron realizados utilizando imágenes Landsat TM y ETM de múltiples fechas para documentar toda el área que, a menudo se encuentra nublada; también se aprovechó información de satélites radar de JERS y SRTM DTEM. Se identificaron unidades como puna, páramo yungueno, zonas periglaciales, glaciales, ceja de monte, bosque montano, bosque de tierras bajas, bosques estacionalmente inundados, sabanas inundadas y pantanos de diversos tipos. Para el bosque húmedo montano fue estratificado para mostrar la distribución de diferentes gradientes naturales, como pendiente, elevación, aspecto o nubosidad.
Pragmatic methods to assess the status of biodiversity at multiple scales are required to support... more Pragmatic methods to assess the status of biodiversity at multiple scales are required to support conservation decision-making. At the intersection of several major biogeographic zones, Bolivia has extraordinary potential to develop a monitoring strategy aligned with the objectives of the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON). Bolivia, a GEO Observer since 2005, is already working on the adequacy of national earth observations towards the objectives of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). However, biodiversity is still an underrepresented component in this initiative. The integration of biodiversity into Bolivia's GEO framework would confirm the need for a country level biodiversity monitoring strategy, fundamental to assess the progress towards the 2020 Aichi targets. Here we analyse and discuss two aspects of the process of developing such a strategy: (1) identification of taxonomic, temporal and spatial coverage of biodiversity data to detect both availability and gaps; and (2) evaluation of issues related to the acquisition, integration and analyses of multi-scale and multi-temporal biodiversity datasets. Our efforts resulted in the most comprehensive biodiversity database for the country of Bolivia, containing 648,534 records for 27,534 species referenced in time and space that account for 92.5% of the species previously reported for the country. We capitalise this information into recommendations for the implementation of the Bolivian Biodiversity Observation Network that will help ensure that biodiversity is sustained as the country continues on its path of development.
Abstract Protecting biodiversity in RAMSAR sites through conservation activities, like ecotourism... more Abstract Protecting biodiversity in RAMSAR sites through conservation activities, like ecotourism, can be very useful to maintain ecological function. There are very few studies in Bolivia that incorporate landscape ecology as a strategic vision for ecotourism in general, and even less that focus on wetlands systems. The aim of this research was to assess the degree of fragmentation and structural connectivity in the landscape in order to understand the anthropogenic processes that have influenced Bañados de Isoso (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) in the last 30 years. To achieve this we used land use change coverage for the Bolivian lowlands (1976-2005) and we quantified changes in vegetation patterns and connectivity through moving windows and spatial sampling based on the scale of a typical ecotourism circuit. The most significant changes occurred after the 1990s with more than 40% natural habitat loss in the northwest and 10-20% in the south. Mean patch areas decreased by more than 75% and ...
ABSTRACT Palabras Claves: Imágenes LANDSAT, Deforestación, Detección de cambios, Escenarios Futur... more ABSTRACT Palabras Claves: Imágenes LANDSAT, Deforestación, Detección de cambios, Escenarios Futuros. RESUMEN Esta investigación es parte de un proyecto a gran escala, denominado "Escenarios para la Amazonía", que involucra a los países de la cuenca amazónica. El objetivo fundamental es pronosticar la deforestación 25 años a futuro, mediante la creación de modelos predictores, basados en los 25 años anteriores. El proyecto trabaja en tres escalas: la Macro es la cuenca Amazónica y su área de influencia o de riesgo; en Bolivia y Brasil incluye también otra formación boscosa como es la formación Chiquitana y el Escudo Brasileño. El nivel Meso considera zonas de envergadura dentro de la cuenca, como corredores viales. El nivel Micro es el nivel de detalle, que permitirá informar a los modeladores las variables determinantes y su comportamiento, se trabaja con cartografía en escala 1:100,000, y en las variables socioeconómicas se trabaja a nivel de propiedad o asentamiento. El estudio de la tendencia del cambio de uso de suelos de micro escala en Bolivia se realizó en los municipios de San Javier y Concepción, a través de un estudio multitemporal de la deforestación utilizando imágenes de satélite LANDSAT para el área en cuestión, generación de la información cartográfica digital, así como la recopilación y análisis de información social y económica, corroborada por trabajo de campo y el respectivo análisis en un sistema de Información geográfico, todo esto con el fin de modelar las tendencias. ABSTRACT This investigation is part of a large scale project denominated Amazonian Scenarios, involving countries along Amazonian river basin. The main objective is to foretell deforestation 25 years into the future, by creating predicting models based on the 25 previous years. The project works in three levels: The Macro level considers the Amazonian river basin and its area of influence or risk, in Bolivia and Brazil it also includes other forest formations such as the Chiquitana and the Escudo Brasileño. The Meso level considers wide range areas within the river basin, such as road corridors. The Micro level, is the detail level, which will inform the modelers of the determining variables and their behavior. At this level works is done with cartography on a 1:100,000 scale, and with socio-economics variables work is developed at property or settlement levels. Investigations of changes in trends regarding land use at a micro scale in Bolivia, were carried out in the municipalities of San Javier and Concepción, through a multitemporal study of deforestation using LANDSAT satellite images for the area under investigation, generation of digital cartographic information, as well as the compilation and analysis of social and economic information, corroborated by field work and the respective GIS analysis, all this with the purpose of modeling tendencies.
Este estudio incorpora el análisis del cambio de uso de suelo entre dos épocas (entre 1987-1993 y... more Este estudio incorpora el análisis del cambio de uso de suelo entre dos épocas (entre 1987-1993 y entre 1999-2002), que muestra una deforestación de 69.714 hectáreas. La mayor parte de la deforestación fue ubicada en áreas previamente colonizadas en la zona montañosa, especialmente en los municipios de Caranavi (28%), Guanay (20%) y Palo Blancos (11%), con el 57% de la deforestación en las planicies de Rurrenabaque, San Buenaventura y Yucumo. Los mapas de cobertura vegetal fueron realizados utilizando imágenes Landsat TM y ETM de múltiples fechas para documentar toda el área que, a menudo se encuentra nublada; también se aprovechó información de satélites radar de JERS y SRTM DTEM. Se identificaron unidades como puna, páramo yungueno, zonas periglaciales, glaciales, ceja de monte, bosque montano, bosque de tierras bajas, bosques estacionalmente inundados, sabanas inundadas y pantanos de diversos tipos. Para el bosque húmedo montano fue estratificado para mostrar la distribución de diferentes gradientes naturales, como pendiente, elevación, aspecto o nubosidad.
We included all landcover types located below the natural montane tree line (~3000 m), including ... more We included all landcover types located below the natural montane tree line (~3000 m), including forest, savanna, scrubland, seasonal wetland, second-growth forest, pasture, and cropland. The rate of land-use change has increased from approximately 4.7 × 10 4 ha/yr in the 1960s to > 2.9 × 10 5 ha/yr in the most recent period. Land-use change was quantified for 10 groups within which cultural traditions and production systems are shared, including three nonmechanized indigenous groups, four mechanized farming groups, two cattle ranching groups, and the forest products sector. Mechanized Cruceño farmers and Andean indigenous colonists were responsible for most land-use change in the 1960s and 1970s; deforestation by the latter group increased to twice that by all other groups during 1986-1991, declined in the 1990s, and then increased again in the most recent period. In the last 15 years, land-use change by agro-industrialists specializing in soybean has become important, and cattle ranching based on cultivated pastures has surpassed land use by all other groups. When the rates of change increased for the three indigenous nonmechanized groups, they tended to decrease for the four nonindigenous mechanized groups, and vice versa.
A 40-year history of land-use change in two municipalities in Santa Cruz (Bolivia) shows how defo... more A 40-year history of land-use change in two municipalities in Santa Cruz (Bolivia) shows how deforestation and savanna conversion has increased as the region has become incorporated into the national economy. Deforestation was greater than savanna conversion in both relative and absolute terms; land-use change was more prevalent in areas with greater road access and which closer to urban markets and local population centers. Private landholders converted more than 125,500 ha compared to only 4,800 ha by indigenous communities; deforestation was minimal in both forest concessions and indigenous forest reserves. Regulatory and legal reforms enacted in the mid 1990s had no impact on slowing deforestation on lands zoned for forest management or protected as ecological easements. A spike in the rates of land-use change coincided with a governmental program to resolve overlapping land titles; evidence that such programs constitute a perverse incentive to deforest land so as to establish evidence ownership. Forest royalties resulting from land-use change went largely uncollected, representing annual losses in excess of $250,000 to local government and regulatory authorities. National economic growth was shown to impact land-use change and the only periods were the rate of land-use change actually decreased coincided with severe economic recession in Bolivia.
... An electronic version of this map can be obtained from the Museo Noel Kempff web site (http:/... more ... An electronic version of this map can be obtained from the Museo Noel Kempff web site (http://www. museonoelkempff. org). ... There are also Chiquitano species present in these plots, and a comparison of the floristic composition of the plots from the south-central Amazon ...
Land-cover change in eastern lowland Bolivia was documented using Landsat images from five epochs... more Land-cover change in eastern lowland Bolivia was documented using Landsat images from five epochs for all landscapes situated below the montane tree line at approximately 3000 m, including humid forest, inundated forest, seasonally dry forest, and cloud forest, as well as scrublands and grasslands. Deforestation in eastern Bolivia in 2004 covered 45 411 km 2 , representing ;9% of the original forest cover, with an additional conversion of 9042 km 2 of scrub and savanna habitats representing 17% of total historical land-cover change. Annual rates of land-cover change increased from ;400 km 2 y À1 in the 1960s to ;2900 km 2 y À1 in the last epoch spanning 2001 to 2004. This study provides Bolivia with a spatially explicit information resource to monitor future land-cover change, a prerequisite for proposed mechanisms to compensate countries for reducing carbon emissions as a result of deforestation. A comparison of the most recent epoch with previous periods shows that policies enacted in the late 1990s to promote forest conservation had no observable impact on reducing deforestation and that deforestation actually increased in some protected areas. The rate of land-cover change continues to increase linearly nationwide, but is growing faster in the Santa Cruz department because of the expansion of mechanized agriculture and cattle farms.
Pragmatic methods to assess the status of biodiversity at multiple scales are required to support... more Pragmatic methods to assess the status of biodiversity at multiple scales are required to support conservation decision-making. At the intersection of several major biogeographic zones, Bolivia has extraordinary potential to develop a monitoring strategy aligned with the objectives of the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON). Bolivia, a GEO Observer since 2005, is already working on the adequacy of national earth observations towards the objectives of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). However, biodiversity is still an underrepresented component in this initiative. The integration of biodiversity into Bolivia’s GEO framework would confirm the need for a country level biodiversity monitoring strategy, fundamental to assess the progress towards the 2020 Aichi targets. Here we analyse and discuss two aspects of the process of developing such a strategy: (1) identification of taxonomic, temporal and spatial coverage of biodiversity data to detect both availability and gaps; and (2) evaluation of issues related to the acquisition, integration and analyses of multi-scale and multi-temporal biodiversity datasets. Our efforts resulted in the most comprehensive biodiversity database for the country of Bolivia, containing 648,534 records for 27,534 species referenced in time and space that account for 92.5% of the species previously reported for the country. We capitalise this information into recommendations for the implementation of the Bolivian Biodiversity Observation Network that will help ensure that biodiversity is sustained as the country continues on its path of development.
We included all landcover types located below the natural montane tree line (~3000 m), including ... more We included all landcover types located below the natural montane tree line (~3000 m), including forest, savanna, scrubland, seasonal wetland, second-growth forest, pasture, and cropland. The rate of land-use change has increased from approximately 4.7 × 10 4 ha/yr in the 1960s to > 2.9 × 10 5 ha/yr in the most recent period. Land-use change was quantified for 10 groups within which cultural traditions and production systems are shared, including three nonmechanized indigenous groups, four mechanized farming groups, two cattle ranching groups, and the forest products sector. Mechanized Cruceño farmers and Andean indigenous colonists were responsible for most land-use change in the 1960s and 1970s; deforestation by the latter group increased to twice that by all other groups during 1986-1991, declined in the 1990s, and then increased again in the most recent period. In the last 15 years, land-use change by agro-industrialists specializing in soybean has become important, and cattle ranching based on cultivated pastures has surpassed land use by all other groups. When the rates of change increased for the three indigenous nonmechanized groups, they tended to decrease for the four nonindigenous mechanized groups, and vice versa.
Land-cover change in eastern Bolivia was documented using Landsat images from five epochs for all... more Land-cover change in eastern Bolivia was documented using Landsat images from five epochs for all landscapes situated below the montane tree line at approximately 3000 m, including humid forest, inundated forest, seasonally dry forest, and cloud forest, as well as scrublands and grasslands. Deforestation in the eastern Bolivia in 2004 covered 45,735 km2, representing ~9% of the original forest cover, with an additional conversion of 9,050 km2 of scrub and savanna habitats representing 17% of total historical land cover change. Annual rates of land cover change increased from 450 km2 yr-1 in the 1960s to ~2,900 km2 yr-1 in the last epoch spanning 2001 to 2004. This study provides Bolivia with a spatially explicit information resource to monitoring future land cover change, prerequisite for proposed mechanisms to compensate countries for reducing carbon emissions as a result of deforestation. It also shows that policies to limit deforestation had no observable impact on reducing defor...
Este estudio incorpora el análisis del cambio de uso de suelo entre dos épocas (entre 1987-1993 y... more Este estudio incorpora el análisis del cambio de uso de suelo entre dos épocas (entre 1987-1993 y entre 1999-2002), que muestra una deforestación de 69.714 hectáreas. La mayor parte de la deforestación fue ubicada en áreas previamente colonizadas en la zona montañosa, especialmente en los municipios de Caranavi (28%), Guanay (20%) y Palo Blancos (11%), con el 57% de la deforestación en las planicies de Rurrenabaque, San Buenaventura y Yucumo. Los mapas de cobertura vegetal fueron realizados utilizando imágenes Landsat TM y ETM de múltiples fechas para documentar toda el área que, a menudo se encuentra nublada; también se aprovechó información de satélites radar de JERS y SRTM DTEM. Se identificaron unidades como puna, páramo yungueno, zonas periglaciales, glaciales, ceja de monte, bosque montano, bosque de tierras bajas, bosques estacionalmente inundados, sabanas inundadas y pantanos de diversos tipos. Para el bosque húmedo montano fue estratificado para mostrar la distribución de diferentes gradientes naturales, como pendiente, elevación, aspecto o nubosidad.
Pragmatic methods to assess the status of biodiversity at multiple scales are required to support... more Pragmatic methods to assess the status of biodiversity at multiple scales are required to support conservation decision-making. At the intersection of several major biogeographic zones, Bolivia has extraordinary potential to develop a monitoring strategy aligned with the objectives of the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON). Bolivia, a GEO Observer since 2005, is already working on the adequacy of national earth observations towards the objectives of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). However, biodiversity is still an underrepresented component in this initiative. The integration of biodiversity into Bolivia's GEO framework would confirm the need for a country level biodiversity monitoring strategy, fundamental to assess the progress towards the 2020 Aichi targets. Here we analyse and discuss two aspects of the process of developing such a strategy: (1) identification of taxonomic, temporal and spatial coverage of biodiversity data to detect both availability and gaps; and (2) evaluation of issues related to the acquisition, integration and analyses of multi-scale and multi-temporal biodiversity datasets. Our efforts resulted in the most comprehensive biodiversity database for the country of Bolivia, containing 648,534 records for 27,534 species referenced in time and space that account for 92.5% of the species previously reported for the country. We capitalise this information into recommendations for the implementation of the Bolivian Biodiversity Observation Network that will help ensure that biodiversity is sustained as the country continues on its path of development.
Abstract Protecting biodiversity in RAMSAR sites through conservation activities, like ecotourism... more Abstract Protecting biodiversity in RAMSAR sites through conservation activities, like ecotourism, can be very useful to maintain ecological function. There are very few studies in Bolivia that incorporate landscape ecology as a strategic vision for ecotourism in general, and even less that focus on wetlands systems. The aim of this research was to assess the degree of fragmentation and structural connectivity in the landscape in order to understand the anthropogenic processes that have influenced Bañados de Isoso (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) in the last 30 years. To achieve this we used land use change coverage for the Bolivian lowlands (1976-2005) and we quantified changes in vegetation patterns and connectivity through moving windows and spatial sampling based on the scale of a typical ecotourism circuit. The most significant changes occurred after the 1990s with more than 40% natural habitat loss in the northwest and 10-20% in the south. Mean patch areas decreased by more than 75% and ...
ABSTRACT Palabras Claves: Imágenes LANDSAT, Deforestación, Detección de cambios, Escenarios Futur... more ABSTRACT Palabras Claves: Imágenes LANDSAT, Deforestación, Detección de cambios, Escenarios Futuros. RESUMEN Esta investigación es parte de un proyecto a gran escala, denominado "Escenarios para la Amazonía", que involucra a los países de la cuenca amazónica. El objetivo fundamental es pronosticar la deforestación 25 años a futuro, mediante la creación de modelos predictores, basados en los 25 años anteriores. El proyecto trabaja en tres escalas: la Macro es la cuenca Amazónica y su área de influencia o de riesgo; en Bolivia y Brasil incluye también otra formación boscosa como es la formación Chiquitana y el Escudo Brasileño. El nivel Meso considera zonas de envergadura dentro de la cuenca, como corredores viales. El nivel Micro es el nivel de detalle, que permitirá informar a los modeladores las variables determinantes y su comportamiento, se trabaja con cartografía en escala 1:100,000, y en las variables socioeconómicas se trabaja a nivel de propiedad o asentamiento. El estudio de la tendencia del cambio de uso de suelos de micro escala en Bolivia se realizó en los municipios de San Javier y Concepción, a través de un estudio multitemporal de la deforestación utilizando imágenes de satélite LANDSAT para el área en cuestión, generación de la información cartográfica digital, así como la recopilación y análisis de información social y económica, corroborada por trabajo de campo y el respectivo análisis en un sistema de Información geográfico, todo esto con el fin de modelar las tendencias. ABSTRACT This investigation is part of a large scale project denominated Amazonian Scenarios, involving countries along Amazonian river basin. The main objective is to foretell deforestation 25 years into the future, by creating predicting models based on the 25 previous years. The project works in three levels: The Macro level considers the Amazonian river basin and its area of influence or risk, in Bolivia and Brazil it also includes other forest formations such as the Chiquitana and the Escudo Brasileño. The Meso level considers wide range areas within the river basin, such as road corridors. The Micro level, is the detail level, which will inform the modelers of the determining variables and their behavior. At this level works is done with cartography on a 1:100,000 scale, and with socio-economics variables work is developed at property or settlement levels. Investigations of changes in trends regarding land use at a micro scale in Bolivia, were carried out in the municipalities of San Javier and Concepción, through a multitemporal study of deforestation using LANDSAT satellite images for the area under investigation, generation of digital cartographic information, as well as the compilation and analysis of social and economic information, corroborated by field work and the respective GIS analysis, all this with the purpose of modeling tendencies.
Este estudio incorpora el análisis del cambio de uso de suelo entre dos épocas (entre 1987-1993 y... more Este estudio incorpora el análisis del cambio de uso de suelo entre dos épocas (entre 1987-1993 y entre 1999-2002), que muestra una deforestación de 69.714 hectáreas. La mayor parte de la deforestación fue ubicada en áreas previamente colonizadas en la zona montañosa, especialmente en los municipios de Caranavi (28%), Guanay (20%) y Palo Blancos (11%), con el 57% de la deforestación en las planicies de Rurrenabaque, San Buenaventura y Yucumo. Los mapas de cobertura vegetal fueron realizados utilizando imágenes Landsat TM y ETM de múltiples fechas para documentar toda el área que, a menudo se encuentra nublada; también se aprovechó información de satélites radar de JERS y SRTM DTEM. Se identificaron unidades como puna, páramo yungueno, zonas periglaciales, glaciales, ceja de monte, bosque montano, bosque de tierras bajas, bosques estacionalmente inundados, sabanas inundadas y pantanos de diversos tipos. Para el bosque húmedo montano fue estratificado para mostrar la distribución de diferentes gradientes naturales, como pendiente, elevación, aspecto o nubosidad.
We included all landcover types located below the natural montane tree line (~3000 m), including ... more We included all landcover types located below the natural montane tree line (~3000 m), including forest, savanna, scrubland, seasonal wetland, second-growth forest, pasture, and cropland. The rate of land-use change has increased from approximately 4.7 × 10 4 ha/yr in the 1960s to > 2.9 × 10 5 ha/yr in the most recent period. Land-use change was quantified for 10 groups within which cultural traditions and production systems are shared, including three nonmechanized indigenous groups, four mechanized farming groups, two cattle ranching groups, and the forest products sector. Mechanized Cruceño farmers and Andean indigenous colonists were responsible for most land-use change in the 1960s and 1970s; deforestation by the latter group increased to twice that by all other groups during 1986-1991, declined in the 1990s, and then increased again in the most recent period. In the last 15 years, land-use change by agro-industrialists specializing in soybean has become important, and cattle ranching based on cultivated pastures has surpassed land use by all other groups. When the rates of change increased for the three indigenous nonmechanized groups, they tended to decrease for the four nonindigenous mechanized groups, and vice versa.
A 40-year history of land-use change in two municipalities in Santa Cruz (Bolivia) shows how defo... more A 40-year history of land-use change in two municipalities in Santa Cruz (Bolivia) shows how deforestation and savanna conversion has increased as the region has become incorporated into the national economy. Deforestation was greater than savanna conversion in both relative and absolute terms; land-use change was more prevalent in areas with greater road access and which closer to urban markets and local population centers. Private landholders converted more than 125,500 ha compared to only 4,800 ha by indigenous communities; deforestation was minimal in both forest concessions and indigenous forest reserves. Regulatory and legal reforms enacted in the mid 1990s had no impact on slowing deforestation on lands zoned for forest management or protected as ecological easements. A spike in the rates of land-use change coincided with a governmental program to resolve overlapping land titles; evidence that such programs constitute a perverse incentive to deforest land so as to establish evidence ownership. Forest royalties resulting from land-use change went largely uncollected, representing annual losses in excess of $250,000 to local government and regulatory authorities. National economic growth was shown to impact land-use change and the only periods were the rate of land-use change actually decreased coincided with severe economic recession in Bolivia.
... An electronic version of this map can be obtained from the Museo Noel Kempff web site (http:/... more ... An electronic version of this map can be obtained from the Museo Noel Kempff web site (http://www. museonoelkempff. org). ... There are also Chiquitano species present in these plots, and a comparison of the floristic composition of the plots from the south-central Amazon ...
Land-cover change in eastern lowland Bolivia was documented using Landsat images from five epochs... more Land-cover change in eastern lowland Bolivia was documented using Landsat images from five epochs for all landscapes situated below the montane tree line at approximately 3000 m, including humid forest, inundated forest, seasonally dry forest, and cloud forest, as well as scrublands and grasslands. Deforestation in eastern Bolivia in 2004 covered 45 411 km 2 , representing ;9% of the original forest cover, with an additional conversion of 9042 km 2 of scrub and savanna habitats representing 17% of total historical land-cover change. Annual rates of land-cover change increased from ;400 km 2 y À1 in the 1960s to ;2900 km 2 y À1 in the last epoch spanning 2001 to 2004. This study provides Bolivia with a spatially explicit information resource to monitor future land-cover change, a prerequisite for proposed mechanisms to compensate countries for reducing carbon emissions as a result of deforestation. A comparison of the most recent epoch with previous periods shows that policies enacted in the late 1990s to promote forest conservation had no observable impact on reducing deforestation and that deforestation actually increased in some protected areas. The rate of land-cover change continues to increase linearly nationwide, but is growing faster in the Santa Cruz department because of the expansion of mechanized agriculture and cattle farms.
Pragmatic methods to assess the status of biodiversity at multiple scales are required to support... more Pragmatic methods to assess the status of biodiversity at multiple scales are required to support conservation decision-making. At the intersection of several major biogeographic zones, Bolivia has extraordinary potential to develop a monitoring strategy aligned with the objectives of the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON). Bolivia, a GEO Observer since 2005, is already working on the adequacy of national earth observations towards the objectives of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). However, biodiversity is still an underrepresented component in this initiative. The integration of biodiversity into Bolivia’s GEO framework would confirm the need for a country level biodiversity monitoring strategy, fundamental to assess the progress towards the 2020 Aichi targets. Here we analyse and discuss two aspects of the process of developing such a strategy: (1) identification of taxonomic, temporal and spatial coverage of biodiversity data to detect both availability and gaps; and (2) evaluation of issues related to the acquisition, integration and analyses of multi-scale and multi-temporal biodiversity datasets. Our efforts resulted in the most comprehensive biodiversity database for the country of Bolivia, containing 648,534 records for 27,534 species referenced in time and space that account for 92.5% of the species previously reported for the country. We capitalise this information into recommendations for the implementation of the Bolivian Biodiversity Observation Network that will help ensure that biodiversity is sustained as the country continues on its path of development.
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Papers by Liliana Soria
decision-making. At the intersection of several major biogeographic zones, Bolivia has extraordinary potential to develop
a monitoring strategy aligned with the objectives of the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network
(GEO BON). Bolivia, a GEO Observer since 2005, is already working on the adequacy of national earth observations
towards the objectives of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). However, biodiversity is still an
underrepresented component in this initiative. The integration of biodiversity into Bolivia’s GEO framework would confirm
the need for a country level biodiversity monitoring strategy, fundamental to assess the progress towards the 2020
Aichi targets. Here we analyse and discuss two aspects of the process of developing such a strategy: (1) identification of
taxonomic, temporal and spatial coverage of biodiversity data to detect both availability and gaps; and (2) evaluation of
issues related to the acquisition, integration and analyses of multi-scale and multi-temporal biodiversity datasets. Our
efforts resulted in the most comprehensive biodiversity database for the country of Bolivia, containing 648,534 records for 27,534 species referenced in time and space that account for 92.5% of the species previously reported for the country.
We capitalise this information into recommendations for the implementation of the Bolivian Biodiversity Observation
Network that will help ensure that biodiversity is sustained as the country continues on its path of development.
decision-making. At the intersection of several major biogeographic zones, Bolivia has extraordinary potential to develop
a monitoring strategy aligned with the objectives of the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network
(GEO BON). Bolivia, a GEO Observer since 2005, is already working on the adequacy of national earth observations
towards the objectives of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). However, biodiversity is still an
underrepresented component in this initiative. The integration of biodiversity into Bolivia’s GEO framework would confirm
the need for a country level biodiversity monitoring strategy, fundamental to assess the progress towards the 2020
Aichi targets. Here we analyse and discuss two aspects of the process of developing such a strategy: (1) identification of
taxonomic, temporal and spatial coverage of biodiversity data to detect both availability and gaps; and (2) evaluation of
issues related to the acquisition, integration and analyses of multi-scale and multi-temporal biodiversity datasets. Our
efforts resulted in the most comprehensive biodiversity database for the country of Bolivia, containing 648,534 records for 27,534 species referenced in time and space that account for 92.5% of the species previously reported for the country.
We capitalise this information into recommendations for the implementation of the Bolivian Biodiversity Observation
Network that will help ensure that biodiversity is sustained as the country continues on its path of development.