Exploring land use/land cover change and drivers in Andean mountains in Colombia: A case in rural Quindío

Abstract

Given that Land Use and Cover Changes (LUCC) and deforestation are activities with the highest anthropic intervention on ecosystems and increase the loss of biodiversity, this paper explores the LUCC and the main drivers of change in Andean mountains, taking a rural area located between the municipalities of Montenegro and Quimbaya (Quindío, Colombia) (1954–2009), as a case of study. Aerial photographs and geographic information systems (GIS) are used to create maps of LUCC, as well as a systemized search of information on LUCC and main drivers. The results showed that pastureland presented the largest area during all periods, occupying >60% of studied area, while the secondary and mixed forests had a contraction from 23% in 1954 to 9% in 2009. The change rates evidenced a greater affectation for the secondary forest that lost 86% of its initial area through deforestation and transformation processes, while crops gained 410% with respect to their initial area. As for the transition matrix, about 27.8% of the study area presented transformation from land use and cover into other land covers, 14.7% presented deforestation and loss of land cover in their initial area, and 57.5% remained unchanged. It is concluded that socio-economic factors such as livestock farming, agriculture and market prices have been an important driver in the modification of the landscape.