TITLE:
The Role of Physical and Political Factors on the Conservation of Native Vegetation in the Brazilian Forest-Savanna Ecotone
AUTHORS:
Henrique O. Sawakuchi, Maria Victoria R. Ballester, Manuel Eduardo Ferreira
KEYWORDS:
Amazon-Cerrado Transition; Pristine Vegetation; Driving Factors; Deforestation; Araguaia River Basin; Regional Planning
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Forestry,
Vol.3 No.1,
January
29,
2013
ABSTRACT: The AraguaiaRiver Basincovers a considerable extent of Brazilian Savanna (locally called Cerrado) and part of Amazon Tropical Rainforest, embracing high biodiversity and a vast flooding area. This region has been converted to agricultural lands since 1970s, for the past four decades, leading to a fragmented landscape that holds one of the few large remaining blocks of Cerrado primary vegetation. Therefore, to assess the degree of preservation of this area a 2007 primary vegetation map was derived through Boolean operations using land use and land cover maps from 1975, 1985, 1996 and 2007, from digital classification of Landsat MSS and TM images. To evaluate the role of driving factors on the presence of pristine vegetation, a logistic regression analyses was performed. Tested factors were: distance from roads and cities, terrain slope, land tenure, soil fertility and flooding. We found statistical significant values (p nous lands, wetlands and areas with low fertility have positive influence on the presence and maintenance of these pristine areas. The occurrence of original vegetation in many cases is associated with environmental constraints that difficult or do not allow agricultural use. Analysis of physical and political factors, which may have direct or indirect influence on the conservation and degradation of native vegetation are very important for the comprehension of the dynamics of regional land use, and provide supporting information for a more efficient and sustainable regional landscape planning.