Nineteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Evaluation and monitoring of forest biomass are important to help combat global warming and conserve biodiversity. Above ground biomass (AGB) mapping has been effectively used assess forest loss, degradation, and recovery in the tropics. In this study, temporal (2007, 2010 and 2015) AGB maps were developed for the Mayan Zone of the Yucatan Peninsula, México integrating vegetation data from the National Forest Inventory (NFI) with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image data (ALOS PALSAR 2) to assess degradation processes associated with regional forest and agricultural land uses: mature conserved forest, selectively logged forest, shifting agriculture, and permanent commercial cultivation. Spatial autoregressive models are applied to determine differences in AGB dynamics between land use categories, compared to baselines of mature conserved forest. We find that forest biomass remains stable in the study area. AGB does not differ in selectively logged areas compared to conserved mature forest. Biomass losses are observed due to deforestation for commercial cropping and pasture. However, AGB in shifting agriculture areas fluctuates and shows a slight gain from 2007 to 2015. AGB mapping using NFI data and SAR imagery show potential for monitoring forest loss and degradation.