Analysis of Land-Use/Land-Cover Changes in a Livestock Landscape Dominated by Silvopastoral Systems

Abstract

Livestock landscapes are a fragmented matrix, involving many different land uses with different tree cover and ecological benefits. The present study gives an in-depth introduction in silvopastoral systems and their variations and provides a remote sensing process chain for monitoring land-use/land-cover changes in traditional silvopastoral systems (TSPS), based on free open source software and data components and the state of the art in monitoring land-use/land-cover changes. In the last two decades, before Landsat images were available as open data, developing countries could not afford monitoring through remote sensing, because of the high cost of acquiring satellite imagery and commercial image processing software. Landsat time series, nowadays, allow the characterization of changes in the vegetation across large areas over time. Landsat was at the forefront of open data for earth observation and the program consequently continues its open data policy; a newer program with an open data policy, the Sentinel program of the European Union, follows in Landsat’s footsteps and makes remote sensing feasible for institutions in developing countries. Often starting points for researchers to analyze silvopastoral systems lack; a secondary goal of this chapter is to fill this gap and offering recommendations on which remote sensing techniques and methods could be applied successfully.