Abstract
Regional trends of land use/land cover transformation in Brazil during 2001—2012 were analyzed in the following order: 1) identification of the types of transitions for different land use and land cover categories and aggregated groups of transformation processes based on the Global Land Cover Facility datasets, 2) analysis of national agricultural and forestry statistics to find out the principal socioeconomic drivers, 3) land cover and land use data merging to elaborate comprehensive typology of land use/land cover changes on a regional level. The study evealed 96 types of transitions between land cover categories, aggregated into 10 groups corresponding to driving processes. It was found that the main processes of land cover transformations is related to both natural and anthropogenic origins. Cropping and deforestation are anthropogenic processes, flooding and draining are the principal natural ones. Transformation of cultivated lands and reforestation are combined natural and anthropogenic. The contribution of natural factors is higher in the states of the North (Amazonia) and the Northeast macroregions; in the Center-West and the South anthropogenic factors make larger contribution. We have also detected considerable land use/land cover changes caused by agricultural development in densely populated states of the Southeast and the South. In both macroregions planted area expands due to increase of soybeans and sugar cane production, while area of pastures is shrinking. The trends of transformations of agricultural land use revealed as a result of statistical data analysis, match with transitions of land cover categories belonging to the aggregated group of cropping processes. Transformations of land cover types with predominance of shrub vegetation were the most problematic to interpret because of lack of comparable statistical data on pastures.
Highlights
Conversion of virgin lands for agriculture followed by soil degradation, indiscriminate use of fertilizers and water pollution, loss of biodiversity, along with climate change has exerted strong pressure on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, compromising their sustainability
The methodological scheme of the study includes three main stages: 1) identification of the types of transition between the land use and land cover categories and of aggregated groups of transformation processes on the basis of the Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF) data, 2) analysis of national agricultural and forestry statistics aiming to find out the principal socioeconomic LULC drivers, 3) integration of both kinds of above mentioned data and elaboration of a complex typology of LULC changes
AND DISCUSSION Structure and main process related to the LULC dynamics The comparison of data for 2001—2012 made it possible to identify the types of land cover changes; each of them was assigned a two-digit index according to the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) classification (Table 1)
Summary
Conversion of virgin lands for agriculture followed by soil degradation, indiscriminate use of fertilizers and water pollution, loss of biodiversity, along with climate change has exerted strong pressure on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, compromising their sustainability. Over the past 50 years, humans were changing ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time before. This has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of nature on Earth (MEA 2005). Modern studies of land use and land cover (LULC) transformation processes and specific features of land resources utilization are based on the analysis of remote sensing data of various spatial resolutions. The interpretation of obtained results and the discovery of reasons of LULC changes, especially at the regional level, are possible only through the complex analysis of natural and socio-economic features of the territories
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