Abstract
ABSTRACT Sierra Nevada, 153,437 ha, has the second and third highest mountains in Mexico and the most conserved coniferous forests of central Mexico. It comprises the Los Volcanes Biosphere Reserve, designated by UNESCO in 2010. A map was produced at 1:100,000 scale. Recent changes in forest cover were identified by visual interpretation of orthophotographs from 1994 and Spot 7 images from 2015. Changes were detected in forest cover density (closed, semi-closed, semi-open, open or deforested), together with a non-forest category that includes other land uses. Over the 21 years, 25% of the forest had undergone change: 14% recovery and 11% disturbance. Recovery outweighed disturbance in the Protected Areas, with possible factors being payment for environmental services, periodic reforestation and fire control. Outside this protected area, improvement outweighed degradation, mainly because of forestry programs. Overall in the Sierra Nevada, the trend appears to be forest recovery.
Highlights
The Sierra Nevada (153,437 ha) includes the Iztaccíhuatl (5280 m), Popocatépetl (5452 m), Tláloc (4151 m) and Telapón (4080 m) volcanoes
From 1994 to 2015, changes had occurred in 25.18% of the Sierra Nevada: 15.46% outside the IPZA-NP, 7.32% within the IPZA-NP, and 2.4% in the State Protected Areas (SPAs) (Table 1 and Figure 1); 61.41% of the changes occurred in the non-protected area, 29.08% in the IPZA-NP and 9.51% in the SPAs (Table 1)
Between 1994 and 2015, the recovery of forests in Sierra Nevada has been greater than the general forest disturbance, with a tendency towards the improvement of the environmental services that these forests provide to the most populated region of the country
Summary
The Sierra Nevada (153,437 ha) includes the Iztaccíhuatl (5280 m), Popocatépetl (5452 m), Tláloc (4151 m) and Telapón (4080 m) volcanoes. It lies east of Mexico City, and is an area of great scenic beauty, and enormous hydrological and biogeographical importance; it offers environmental services that benefit more than 18,000,000 inhabitants. This region is part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) and has a broad altitudinal gradient (2200-5450 m), a wide range of temperatures, and high mountain ecosystems with a great wealth of species, some of which are endemic. In 1992 the Unit was closed down (DOF, 1992), but it was not specified whether the National Park should return to its original surface area
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