New Insights on Water Quality and Land Use Dynamics in the Napo Region of Western Amazonia

Abstract

Environmental degradation including water quality decline, soil loss, biodiversity loss, and forest reduction are at the center of current socio-environmental concerns in the Amazon region. This chapter re-examines the factors that contribute to the likelihood of forest loss and provides a baseline characterization of water quality in the Napo Region in the Ecuadorian Amazon – a megadiverse area threatened by increased human pressure. We focus primarily on issues of land use/land cover transformations and water quality since changes in the lithosphere and hydrosphere currently affect ecosystem services critical to sustain biodiversity and human populations. We rely on a land change science approach, combining remotely sensed data and multinomial regression analysis, and borrow elements of watershed science to evaluate land cover and water quality changes in the past decade. Our results indicate that although deforestation rates have remained relatively unchanged the reduction of secondary and successional forests due to the expansion of African palm cultivation, pastures, and other forms of agriculture is problematic. The likelihood of deforestation is associated with the socio-spatial conditions of production areas. Our water quality analysis results show that dissolved oxygen, pH, and conductivity measurements are outside the optimal ranges suggested by national and international guidelines for drinking water, with direct consequences on public health. By focusing on LULC change and water quality, this study sheds new light into the complexity of human-environmental dynamics and resource use systems along the Andean foothills of Western Amazonia.