Ecuadorian Amazon: Black or Green Gold?
Ecuador is recognized as one of the biodiverse hotspots on earth, underneath the Amazon rainforest lies the country’s oil reservoir. With the oil companies and cleared routes come settlers, therefore more and more of this diverse rainforest is being cut down. Since the oil concerns entered the Ecuadorian Amazon 45 years ago, they keep exploring and exploiting the area. The Terra-i detections reveal a total habitat loss of 87,525 Ha, 16,943 Ha (19%) is part of protected areas, between January 2004 and February 2015.
Figure 1: Map of forest cover loss detections by the Terra-i system from January 2004 to February 2015. The main hotspots of deforestation are located near the city Coca and in proximity to oil drilling platforms, presented in the white rectangles.
Oil vs Biodiversity in Ecuador
After extensive banana exportation the main economic gain of Ecuador shifted towards oil in the 1970s. While the oil prices are fluctuating, the demand for black gold remains high. The exploration and detection beneath the Amazonas of new oil fields leads to the exploitation of the resource and natural and cultural variety can be put in danger. The biodiversity is enormous, there are 2500 registered tree and shrub species, but the estimation goes up to 3100. Although there are protected areas, the government does not restrict the oil companies entering these areas (GREENBERG et al., 2005).
Oil companies construct access roads and drilling platforms to exploit the region for almost 50 years now. Attracted by these cleared routes people settle nearby, cut and burn more forest for agriculture or domestic animals (BUTLER, 2012). An example would be an oil pipeline which is 420 km long, traversing the Amazon and the Andean mountain range clearing forest in each habitat (YASUNI GREEN GOLD 2008). Another example of destruction is a 150 km long road right through the Yasuní National Park, which was built in the mid-1990s (GREENBERG et al., 2005). By means of those examples, it has been proven that the construction of roads and subsequent settlers has the biggest impact on the exploitation of the Amazon rainforest and its related deforestation.
Terra-i detects the impact of oil drilling
93.9 % of the Ecuadorian Amazon is covered with forest, almost 11 million hectares (Ha), from which 2.7 million Ha (24.5%) are part of Protected Areas. Furthermore the region is considered as one of the most biodiverse places on earth (BUTLER, 2012). The consequences of the exploration and exploitation for oil can be observed in the natural vegetation loss. The Terra-i system detected a total forest cover loss of 87 525 Ha in the last ten years, 8,142 Ha (approximately 8,000 football fields) per year. Oil companies built several drilling platforms in the northern provinces of the Ecuadorian Amazon that now see the highest deforestation rate. Therefore Orellana has the highest habitat loss with an accumulated deforestation of 25,606 Ha in the past decade, followed by Pastaza (28,368 Ha), Sucumbíos (16,187 Ha) and Napo (3,893 Ha). This is equivalent to a deforestation rate of 0.96% of the total forested area in these four departments. This is 2.28 times higher than in the remaining forested areas of the ecuatorian Amazon where the rate of change was of 0.42%.
Figure 2: Infographic showing the natural vegetation loss in the provinces of the Ecuadorian Amazon based on the Terra-i system in the period of January 2004 to February 2015.
Density Analysis of Deforestation
The deforestation in the Amazon forests of Ecuador happens on a small scale. The best way to visualize the most affected areas a density analysis is used. The concentration of deforestation is calculated as the percentage of forest loss per 100 Ha. The results show clearly a trend of vegetation loss in the proximity of drilling platforms, especially near the city Coca. Furthermore the map reveals a deforestation of 19% (16,943 Ha) of the Protected Areas. Several access roads to the platforms were built, which are followed by colonization, deforestation and illegal logging (BASS et al., 2010).
Figure 3: Density Analysis of natural vegetation loss in the Amazonas of Ecuador, based on the Terra-i system, in the period from January 2004 to February 2015.
Reduce the impact of oil drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazonas
As mentioned above the construction of access roads and the following settlers with their activities are the main drivers of deforestation in conjunction with oil drilling. FINER et al. (2015) propose among others the method of extended reach drilling (Figure 4). Instead of several platforms drilling vertical, one platform can drill almost horizontal and with various pipes. Therefore larger areas can be reached and the impact on the vegetation cover is reduced.
Figure 4: Extended reach drilling to reduce the impact on the vegetation cover.
Source: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) - http://www.canadasnaturalgas.ca/environment/
References
BASS, M.S., FINER, M., JENKINS, C.N., KREFT, H., CISNEROS-HEREDIA, D.F., MCCRACKEN, S.F. (2010): “Global Conservation Significance of Ecuador's Yasuní National Park.” In: PLOS ONE 5(1).
BUTLER, R. (2012): “Oil Extraction: The Impact Oil Production in the Rainforest.” In: Mongabay.
FINER, M., BABBITT, B., NOVOA, S., FERRARESE, F., PAPPALARDO, S. E., MARCHI, DE M., SAUCEDO M., KUMAR, A. (2015): “Future of oil and gas development in the western Amazon.” In: Environmental Research Letters 10. IOP Publishing.
GREENBERG, J. A., KEFAUVER, S. C., STIMSON, H. C., YEATON, C. J., USTIN, S. L. (2005): “Survival analysis of a neotropical rainforest using multitemporal satellite imagery.” In: Remote Sensing of Environment 96. P. 202-211.
YASUNI GREEN GOLD (2008): Sobre el Yasuni. URL: http://www.yasunigreengold.org/
Blog post by Bernadette Menzinger. Revision of English version by Paul Peters (CIAT).
IDENTIFICACIÓN DE CAUSAS DE PÉRDIDA DE COBERTURA VEGETAL EN LAS ÁREAS DE INTERVENCIÓN DE LA ACTIVIDAD GOBERNANZA EN ECOSISTEMAS, MEDIOS DE VIDA Y AGUA (USAID/GEMA) EN EL OCCIDENTE DE HONDURAS
MAPEO DE COBERTURAS DE LA TIERRA PARA EL 2017, EN EL OCCIDENTE HONDUREÑO SOBRE ÁREAS DE INTERVENCIÓN DE LA ACTIVIDAD GOBERNANZA EN ECOSISTEMAS, MEDIOS DE VIDA Y AGUA (USAID/GEMA)
CUANTIFICACIÓN DE LA DEFORESTACIÓN EN LAS ÁREAS DE INTERVENCIÓN DE LA ACTIVIDAD GOBERNANZA EN ECOSISTEMAS, MEDIOS DE VIDA Y AGUA (USAID/GEMA) EN EL OCCIDENTE DE HONDURAS
An international team of scientists*, involving entomologists, conservation biologists, agro-ecologists and geographers, has just revealed how on-farm insect biological control can slow the pace of tropical deforestation and avert biodiversity loss on a macro-scale. The case study concerns biological control of the invasive mealybug Phenacoccus manihoti with the introduced host-specific parasitic wasp Anagyrus lopezi in Southeast Asia. The results of this study have just been published in Communications Biology – Nature.
CIAT and the Terra-i team are pleased to announce the publication of a new study in Paraquaria Natural, the most prestigious journal in Paraguay dedicated to biodiversity and the conservation of nature.
New deforestation hotspots point the finger at my favourite fruit I love Terra-i, but today I hate it. A lot. The system uses satellite images to track deforestation in the Amazon in near-realtime. It’s extremely accurate: if a bunch of trees come down somewhere – no matter how remote – Terra-i picks it up. Cool, right? Not today. CIAT’s Louis Reymondin, the system’s chief architect, dropped the bombshell over coffee: it looks as though hundreds of hectares of rainforest in Peru are being trashed by… papaya.
The production of geospatial data related to land-use and land cover changes by governments and civil society organizations has vastly increased during the last decade. Going beyond the valuable information (location, rates and absolute values of changes) provided by these datasets, it is important to have a better understanding of the spatial configurations and composition of the detected change areas at multiple spatial resolutions and time periods. Alejandro Coca-Castro’s research is aiming to map types of spatial deforestation patterns in the Amazon rainforest through the integration of landscape fragmentation metrics and data mining techniques. The research will contribute to the understanding of two deforestation datasets (Terra-i and GFC) and is part of his master dissertation at King’s College London. This blog post highlights Alejandro’s research methodology, preliminary findings and challenges.
The Terra-i team together with CRS El Salvador under the Raices project carried out a virtual workshop through the teams platform to technicians from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, CARITAS, Universidad El Salvador, CENTA, about the Mapping of land cover using remote sensors and open source tools such as GEE, SEPAL and QGIS- Plugin Semi Automatic Classification.
Near real-time vegetation loss detection in Southwestern Ethiopia: calibration, validation, and implementation of the Terra-i system
The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) (the Alliance) conducted a training for local stakeholders on the use of Terra-i as part of the collaboration with the Netherlands Development Organisation – SNV in the Coffee Agroforestry and Forest Enhancement for REDD+ (CAFÉ-REDD) Project.
IDENTIFICACIÓN DE CAUSAS DE PÉRDIDA DE COBERTURA VEGETAL EN LAS ÁREAS DE INTERVENCIÓN DE LA ACTIVIDAD GOBERNANZA EN ECOSISTEMAS, MEDIOS DE VIDA Y AGUA (USAID/GEMA) EN EL OCCIDENTE DE HONDURAS
MAPEO DE COBERTURAS DE LA TIERRA PARA EL 2017, EN EL OCCIDENTE HONDUREÑO SOBRE ÁREAS DE INTERVENCIÓN DE LA ACTIVIDAD GOBERNANZA EN ECOSISTEMAS, MEDIOS DE VIDA Y AGUA (USAID/GEMA)
CUANTIFICACIÓN DE LA DEFORESTACIÓN EN LAS ÁREAS DE INTERVENCIÓN DE LA ACTIVIDAD GOBERNANZA EN ECOSISTEMAS, MEDIOS DE VIDA Y AGUA (USAID/GEMA) EN EL OCCIDENTE DE HONDURAS
An international team of scientists*, involving entomologists, conservation biologists, agro-ecologists and geographers, has just revealed how on-farm insect biological control can slow the pace of tropical deforestation and avert biodiversity loss on a macro-scale. The case study concerns biological control of the invasive mealybug Phenacoccus manihoti with the introduced host-specific parasitic wasp Anagyrus lopezi in Southeast Asia. The results of this study have just been published in Communications Biology – Nature.
BioTerra is an innovative biodiversity monitoring system developed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Natural Wealth Program in collaboration with its partners – the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the Alexander von Humboldt Institute (IAvH) – to support the Government of Colombia monitor biodiversity. This new system seeks to complement existing biodiversity monitoring activities in Colombia and strengthen ecosystem’s threats response, at the national and regional levels.
From May 8-12, 2017, the Terra-i team, together with staff from the DGOTA of Peru's Ministry of Environment, carried out the first field validation of vegetative land cover changes detected during Terra-i monitoring for 2016 and 2017, using the technology UAV. This work was carried out under the framework of the project “Sustainable Amazonian Landscapes”. The team carried out over-flights with a Phantom 3 advanced rotor drone and a fixed-wing Ebee drone in seven townships of Yurimaguas. The objective of this work was to recognize the dynamics of land cover and land use changes in the region while at the same time to validate the accuracy of the detections of forest loss being monitored by Terra-i in Yurimaguas.
CIAT and the Terra-i team are pleased to announce the publication of a new study in Paraquaria Natural, the most prestigious journal in Paraguay dedicated to biodiversity and the conservation of nature.
The Terra-i team has worked hard on renovating Terra-i’s website since early this year. A set of new features on the website provides interactive contents and facilitates adaptation to the mobile devices of our users. The fresh website was developed using the latest update of an open-source, Java-based web system, Magnolia CMS 5.4.4. This update was customized to add different categories of interaction such as news, vegetation cover changes, and information, among others.
Globally more than 1 billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods. Forests play a crucial role in climate regulation, ecosystem services provision and regulation, water supply, carbon storage and many other functions that support biodiversity. Currently the global rate of deforestation is substantial, and there is a growing need for timely, spatially explicit data that flag natural vegetation changes due to human activities.
New deforestation hotspots point the finger at my favourite fruit I love Terra-i, but today I hate it. A lot. The system uses satellite images to track deforestation in the Amazon in near-realtime. It’s extremely accurate: if a bunch of trees come down somewhere – no matter how remote – Terra-i picks it up. Cool, right? Not today. CIAT’s Louis Reymondin, the system’s chief architect, dropped the bombshell over coffee: it looks as though hundreds of hectares of rainforest in Peru are being trashed by… papaya.
The latest update of Terra-i has been used with the Co$ting Nature ecosystem services assessment tool to understand the impacts of recent forest loss in Colombia on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The production of geospatial data related to land-use and land cover changes by governments and civil society organizations has vastly increased during the last decade. Going beyond the valuable information (location, rates and absolute values of changes) provided by these datasets, it is important to have a better understanding of the spatial configurations and composition of the detected change areas at multiple spatial resolutions and time periods. Alejandro Coca-Castro’s research is aiming to map types of spatial deforestation patterns in the Amazon rainforest through the integration of landscape fragmentation metrics and data mining techniques. The research will contribute to the understanding of two deforestation datasets (Terra-i and GFC) and is part of his master dissertation at King’s College London. This blog post highlights Alejandro’s research methodology, preliminary findings and challenges.