Space-Time Dynamics of Land Use in the Municipality of Goianésia Do Pará, Brazil

Andrés Velastegui-Montoya,Aline De Lima,Marcos Adami

doi:10.3390/ijgi11020146

Abstract

Hydroelectric energy generates more than 50% of all renewable electricity in the world. The Amazon is home to a large part of these ventures, promoted as a strategy of energy independence in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the countries of the region. However, these hydroelectric plants lead to changes in land cover, fragmentation, degradation, and loss of tropical forests. This article analyzes the spatial pattern of alterations in the land cover of the municipality of Goianésia do Pará, one of the seven municipalities affected by the artificial lake of the Tucuruí hydroelectric plant. This case study integrates remote sensing and landscape metrics to identify, quantify, and spatialize the loss of tropical forest within the municipality by using satellite images of the TM-Landsat 5, ETM+-Landsat 7 and OLI-Landsat 8 sensors. The results show that the average deforestation rates were high in the first two periods: 1984–1988 (23,101.2 ha per year) and 1988–1999 (13,428.6 ha per year). However, this rate drastically fell in the last period because, by 2010, more than 60% of the territory was already deforested, which shows the consolidation of the municipality’s deforestation process.

Highlights

A total of 160 countries worldwide use electric energy, provided in part by hydroelectric plants [1]
It was necessary to dam the lower Tocantins River, within the Tocantins-Araguaia River Basin, adjacent to the Amazon Basin, which flooded an area of 2430 km2 [11,14]
Concerning the anthropized class, they went from 98,840 ha to 152,623 ha in 1988, to 300,264 ha in 1999, to 379,844 ha in 2010, and to 409,797 ha in 2017, which led to a fall in the predominance of tropical forest in the municipality (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

A total of 160 countries worldwide use electric energy, provided in part by hydroelectric plants [1]. Hydroelectric energy is the world’s largest renewable energy source; it generates more than 50% of all renewable electricity in the world [1]. Hydroelectric reservoirs improve agricultural productivity and enable timely supply in irrigation systems via multiple water uses [2,3]. In the Amazon region, there are 100 dams in operation and 137 planned [4,5]. The high level of precipitation and the mountainous topography of the Andean Amazon make it a region with great potential for hydroelectric energy generation [6]. The Brazilian Amazon is relatively flat and requires large shallow reservoirs as it is prone to sedimentation and flooding of large areas which significantly change the landscape and impact ecosystem services and biodiversity [7,8]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion