Agriculture-Related Threat: Cattle pasture

MAAP #224: Illegal Deforestation in the Colombian Amazon – Chiribiquete National Park & Llanos del Yarí – Yaguará II Indigenous Reserve

Posted on by Matt Finer
Graph 1. Deforestation in the Colombian Amazon, 2013-2024. Data: IDEAM, UMD/GFW

The Colombian Environment Ministry recently announced that, after the country experienced its lowest deforestation in over 20 years in 2023, forest clearing rose 35% in 2024 (Graph 1). In addition, the Ministry reported an increase in medium-sized clearing, indicating relatively organized and funded operations (Note 1).

Over the past 10 years, 60% of the national deforestation has occurred in the Colombian Amazon. As Graph 1 indicates, there was a large increase in 2017 following the peace accords with the guerrilla group FARC, and a subsequent decrease in 2022 and 2023 (Note 2). Initial estimates indicate an increase for 2024 (Note 3). Overall, there have been nearly 1,200,000 hectares of deforestation across the Colombian Amazon over the past 10 years.

Much of the clearing in the Colombian Amazon is likely illegal (Law of 2021), occurring in national protected areas and Indigenous reserves.

Base Map: Focal area of the report. Data: ACA/MAAP, FCDS.

Here, we highlight recent 2024-25 deforestation in two key areas in the core of the Colombian Amazon: Chiribiquete National Park (Parque Nacional Natural Serranía de Chiribiquete) and the adjacent Llanos del Yarí – Yaguará II Indigenous Reserve (Resguardo Indígena Llanos del Yarí – Yaguará II). See the Base Map for additional context.

These areas are affected by several deforestation pressures, such as the expansion of road infrastructure, extensive livestock farming, pasture expansion, land grabbing, and illicit crops (coca). These pressures often interact, with access roads facilitating livestock farming and pasture expansion, which then facilitates land grabbing.

These drivers have led to the deforestation of over 7,100 hectares in Chiribiquete National Park since its most recent expansion in 2018 (see Annex 1).

Most recently, we estimate the deforestation of 525 hectares in Chiribiquete National Park (concentrated in the northern sector) during 2024-25, plus an additional 856 hectares in Llanos del Yarí – Yaguará II Indigenous Reserve. Note that most of the deforestation follows access roads.

Below, we illustrate the key cases of recent deforestation in both areas, highlighting the role of access roads as facilitators of illegal clearing. These case studies feature satellite images and overflight photos.

Any deforestation in these areas is noteworthy not only due to its impacts on primary forests, biodiversity, and Indigenous groups, but also on carbon reserves. In an upcoming report, we reveal that Chiribiquete National Park is one of the Amazon’s most important and significant carbon sinks.

This report was conducted in collaboration with our Colombian partner Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (Fundación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo Sostenible – FCDS), and with financial support from the Overbrook Foundation.

Illegal Deforestation Cases

Zoom 1. Chiribiquete National Park. Data: ACA/MAAP, FCDS.

Chiribiquete National Park: Sector el Camuya

Zoom 1 shows the deforestation of 198 hectares during 2024 and early 2025 (indicated by red circles), along the Tunia-Ajaju road in the northwest sector of Chiribiquete National Park.

This road extends 45.3 kilometers into the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo 1A. Data: FCDS.

In January 2025, FCDS conducted a low-altitude overflight over this sector (see Photos 1A-C).

These photos bring an added level of spatial resolution and perspective, providing greater insight into the cause of the recent deforestation.

Photo 1A highlights deforestation associated with the opening of access roads in the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo 1B. Data: FCDS.

Photos 1B-C illustrate more clearly the fresh deforestation for expansion of the agricultural frontier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo 1C. Data: FCDS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zoom 2. Chiribiquete National Park. Data: ACA/MAAP, FCDS.

Chiribiquete National Park: Sector El Palmar

Zoom 2 shows the deforestation of 179 hectares during 2024 and early 2025 (indicated by red circles), along the Cachicamo-Tunia road in the northern sector of Chiribiquete National Park.

This road extends 21 kilometers inside the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zoom 3. Chiribiquete National Park. Data: ACA/MAAP, FCDS.

Chiribiquete National Park: Sector Norte

Zoom 3 shows the deforestation of 148 hectares during 2024 and early 2025 (indicated by red circles) along or near new access roads in the northeast sector of Chiribiquete National Park.

We estimate the construction of 15.2 kilometers inside the park during this period (also indicated by red circles).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zoom 4. Yarí – Yaguará II Indigenous Reserve. Data: ACA/MAAP, FCDS.

Yarí – Yaguará II Indigenous Reserve 

Zoom 4 shows the major deforestation of 1,070 hectares during 2024 and early 2025 along or near a new illegal road in the northern part of Yarí – Yaguará II Indigenous Reserve.

This road extends 22 kilometers inside the reserve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo 4D. Data: FCDS.

In January 2025, FCDS conducted a low-altitude overflight over this area, confirming and documenting the new patches of deforestation (see Photos 4D-E).

As noted above, these photos bring an added level of spatial resolution and perspective, providing greater insight into the cause of the recent deforestation.

Both Photos 4D-E indicate the expansion of livestock agricultural activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo 4E. Data: FCDS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Policy Implications

The recent deforestation in protected areas and Indigenous territories described above highlights the shortcomings of several current policies of the State of Colombia, which have failed to stem the expansion of cattle ranching and illicit crops as a first step towards land grabbing and permanent deforestation. Several steps could be taken to overcome that failure:

  • Improved coordination between public entities concerned with law enforcement against drivers of deforestation, shortening investigation processes and leading to more effective and comprehensive responses.
  • The inclusion of targets for the reduction of deforestation and the mitigation of impacts on natural forests in agreements for the cessation of hostilities and the de-escalation of the conflict between the national government and armed groups.
  • Monitoring and regulation of public investments for the expansion of livestock farming by local and national governments, to reduce public incentives for deforestation.

Annex 1.

Annex 1. Data: FCDS

Notes

1 Griffin, O (2025) Colombia deforestation rose 35% in 2024, minister says

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/colombia-deforestation-rose-35-2024-minister-says-2025-02-20/

2 Based on data from Colombia’s Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales – IDEAM), a government agency of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development.

3 Based on data from the University of Maryland/Global Forest Watch.

Acknowledgments

This report was conducted in collaboration with our Colombian partner Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (Fundación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo Sostenible – FCDS), and with financial support from the Overbrook Foundation.

MAAP #214: Agriculture in the Amazon: New data reveals key patterns of crops & cattle pasture

Posted on by dcadmin
Figure 1. Agricultural and pasture data in a section of the Brazilian Amazon.

A burst of new data and online visualization tools are revealing key land use patterns across the Amazon, particularly regarding the critical topic of agriculture. This type of data is particularly important because agriculture is the leading cause of overall Amazonian deforestation.

These new datasets include:

  • Crops. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a leading agriculture and food systems research authority, recently launched the latest version of their innovative crop monitoring product, the Spatial Production Allocation Model (SPAM).1 This latest version, developed with support from WRI’s Land & Carbon Lab, features spatial data for 46 crops, including soybean, oil palm, coffee, and cocoa. This data is mapped at 10-kilometer resolution across the Amazon and updated through 2020.2
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  • Cattle pasture. The Atlas of Pastures,3 developed by the Federal University of Goiás, facilitates access to data regarding Brazilian cattle pastures generated by MapBiomas. This data is mapped at 30-kilometer resolution and updated through 2022. We use Collection 5 from Mapbiomas for the rest of the Amazonian countries.4
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  • Gold mining. New mining data is included for additional context. Amazon Mining Watch uses machine learning to map open-pit gold mining.5 This data is mapped at 10-kilometer resolution across the Amazon and updated through 2023.

We merged and analyzed these new datasets to provide our first overall estimate of Amazonian land use, the most detailed effort to date across all nine countries of the biome. Figure 1 shows an example of this merged data in a section of the Brazilian Amazon.

Below, we present and illustrate the following major findings across the Amazon, and then zoom in on several regions across the Amazon to show the data in greater detail.

Major Findings

The Base Map illustrates several major findings detailed below.

Base Map. Overview of the merged datasets noted above for crops, pasture, and gold mining. Double-click to enlarge. Data: IFRI/SPAM, Lapig/UFG, Mapbiomas, AMW, ACA/MAAP.

1) Crops
We found that 40 crops in the SPAM dataset overlap with the Amazon, covering over 106 million hectares (13% of the Amazon biome).

Soybean covers over 67.5 million hectares, mostly in southern Brazil and Bolivia. Maize covers slightly more area (70 million hectares) but we consider this a secondary rotational crop with soy (thus, there is considerable overlap between these two crops).

Oil palm covers nearly 8 million hectares, concentrated in eastern Brazil, central Peru, northern Ecuador, and northern Colombia.

In the Andean Amazon zones of Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, cocoa covers over 8 million hectares and the two types of coffee (Arabica and Robusta) cover 6.7 million hectares.

Other major crops across the Amazon include rice (13.8 million hectares), sorghum (10.9 million hectares), cassava (9.8 million hectares), sugarcane (9.6 million hectares), and wheat (5.8 million hectares).

2) Cattle Pasture
Cattle Pasture covers 76.3 million hectares (9% of the Amazon biome). The vast majority (92%) of the pasture is in Brazil, followed by Colombia and Bolivia.

3) Crops & Cattle Pasture
Overall, accounting for overlaps between the data, we estimate that crops and pasture combined cover 115.8 million hectares. This total is the equivalent of 19% of the Amazon biome.

In comparison, open-pit gold mining covered 1.9 million hectares (0.23% of the Amazon biome).

Zooms across the Amazon

Eastern Brazilian Amazon

Figure 2 shows the transition from the soy frontier to the cattle pasture frontier in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. Also note a mix of other crops, such as oil palm, sugarcane, and cassava, and some gold mining.

Figure 2. Eastern Brazilian Amazon. Data: IFRI/SPAM, Lapig/UFG, Mapbiomas, AMW, ACA/MAAP.

Andean Amazon (Peru and Ecuador)

Figure 3. Andean Amazon. Data: IFRI/SPAM, Lapig/UFG, Mapbiomas, AMW, ACA/MAAP.

The land use patterns are quite different in the Andean Amazon regions of Peru and Ecuador.

Figure 3 shows, that instead of soy and cattle pasture, there is instead oil palm, rice, coffee, and cocoa.

Also note the extension of the cattle pasture frontier in the western Brazilian Amazon, towards Peru and Bolivia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Northeast Amazon (Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana)

Figure 4 shows the general lack of crops in the core Amazon regions Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, which is surely a major factor they are all considered High Forest cover, Low Deforestation countries (HFLD). In contrast, note there is abundant gold mining activity throughout this region.

Figure 4. Northeastern Amazon. Data: IFRI/SPAM, Lapig/UFG, Mapbiomas, AMW, ACA/MAAP.

Methods

For the SPAM data, we used the physical area, which is measured in a hectare and represents the actual area where a crop is grown (not counting how often production was harvested from it). We only considered values ​​greater than or equal to 100 ha per pixel.

For the Base Map, due to their importance as primary economic crops, we layered soybean and oil palm as the top two layers, respectively. From there, crops were layered in order of their total physical area across the Amazon. Thus, the full extensions of some crops are not shown if they overlap pixels with other crops that have greater physical area. For overlaps with crops and pasture, we favored the crops.

Notes & Data Sources

1 International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), 2024, “Global Spatially-Disaggregated Crop Production Statistics Data for 2020 Version 1.0” https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/SWPENT, Harvard Dataverse, V1

Spatial Production Allocation Model (SPAM)
SPAM 2020 v1.0 Global data (Updated 2024-04-16)

2 Note that the spatial resolution is rather low (10-kilometers) so all crop coverage data above should be interpreted as referential only.

3 The Atlas of Pastures (Atlas das Pastagens), open to the public, was developed by the Image Processing and Geoprocessing Laboratory of the Federal University of Goiás (Lapig/UFG), to facilitate access to results and products generated within the MapBiomas initiative, regarding Brazilian pastures.

https://atlasdaspastagens.ufg.br/

4 MapBiomas Collection 5;  https://amazonia.mapbiomas.org/en/

5 See MAAP #212 for more information on Amazon Mining Watch.

Citation

Finer M, Ariñez A (2024) Agriculture in the Amazon: New data reveals key patterns of crops & cattle pasture. MAAP: 214.

MAAP #211: Illegal roads and Deforestation in Indigenous Reserves & National Parks of the Colombian Amazon

Posted on by dcadmin

Illegal roads are a major threat to the Colombian Amazon, often opening remote primary forests to the main drivers of deforestation: cattle pastures, land grabbing and coca production.

Base Map. Illegal roads causing recent deforestation. Data: MAAP/ACA, FCDS.

These illegal roads threaten protected areas (including national parks) and indigenous territories (known as Resguardos in Colombia).

In 2024, in collaboration with our Colombian partner FCDS, we have documented these impacts in two important areas in the heart of the Colombian Amazon: the Llanos del Yari-Yaguara II Indigenous Reserve and the adjacent Chiribiquete National Park (see Base Map).

Most notably, in the Llanos del Yari-Yaguara II Indigenous Reserve, we see the construction of a new road, causing massive deforestation of primary forests, both within and adjacent to the territory (856 hectares, or 2,115 acres, in total).

In Chiribiquete National Park, we see the expansion of deforestation of 64 hectares (158 acres) along an illegal road penetrating the northwest sector of this important protected area.

Below, we show satellite images for both cases.

Llanos del Yari- Yaguara II Indigenous Reserve

Since March 2023, a new 14-kilometer illegal road has been built in this area, of which 5.3 km is within the northeastern sector of the Llanos del Yari- Yaguara II Indigenous Reserve, located in the department of Guaviare. Figures 1 and 2 show that this construction has caused massive deforestation: 856 hectares (2,115 acres), of which 394 hectares are within the Reserve, between February 2023 (left panel) and March 2024 (right panel). This deforestation is presumably for new cattle pasture, facilitated by the new road. Note that Figure 1 shows the satellite images without markings, while Figure 2 adds markings for the illegal road construction and associated deforestation.

Figure 1. Deforestation along the new illegal road in the Llanos del Yari- Yaguara II Indigenous Reserve, without markings. Data: Planet, NICFI.
Figure 2. Deforestation along the new illegal road in the Llanos del Yari- Yaguara II Indigenous Reserve, with markings. Data: Planet, NICFI.

Chiribiquete National Park

In the adjacent northwest sector of Chiribiquete National Park, deforestation continues to expand along an existing illegal road, known as the Tunia-Ajaju road, located in the department of Caquetá. Figures 3-6 show the deforestation of 64 hectares (56 hectares in zone B and 8 hectares in zone C) along this road inside the national park, between March 2023 (left panel) and March 2024 (panel right). This deforestation is presumably for new cattle pastures, facilitated by the road. Note that Figures 3 and 5 show the satellite images without markings, while Figures 4 and 6 add markings for the illegal road construction and associated deforestation.

Figure 3. Deforestation along the new illegal road in Chiribiquete National Park (zone B), without markings. Data: Planet, NICFI.
Figure 4. Deforestation along the new illegal road in Chiribiquete National Park (zone B), with markings. Data: Planet, NICFI.
Figure 5. Deforestation along the new illegal road in Chiribiquete National Park (zone C), without markings. Data: Planet, NICFI.
Figure 6. Deforestation along the new illegal road in Chiribiquete National Park (zone C), with markings. Data: Planet, NICFI.

Citation

Finer M, Ariñez A (2024) Illegal roads and Deforestation in Indigenous Reserves & National Parks of the Colombian Amazon. MAAP: 211.

 

MAAP #136: Amazon Deforestation 2020 (Final)

Posted on by dcadmin
Base Map. Forest loss hotspots across the Amazon in 2020. Data: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, RAISG, MAAP. The letters A-E correspond to the zoom examples below.

*To download the report, click “Print” instead of “Download PDF” at the top of the page.

In January, we presented the first look at 2020 Amazon deforestation based on early warning alert data (MAAP #132).

Here, we update this analysis based on the newly released, and more definitive, annual data.*

The Base Map illustrates the final results and indicates the major hotspots of primary forest loss across the Amazon in 2020.

We highlight several key findings:

  • The Amazon lost nearly 2.3 million hectares (5.6 million acres) of primary forest loss in 2020 across the nine countries it spans.
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  • This represents a 17% increase in Amazon primary forest loss from the previous year (2019), and the third-highest annual total on record since 2000 (see graph below).
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  • The countries with the highest 2020 Amazon primary forest loss are 1) Brazil, 2) Bolivia, 3) Peru, 4) Colombia, 5) Venezuela, and 6) Ecuador.
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  • 65% occurred in Brazil (which surpassed 1.5 million hectares lost), followed by 10% in Bolivia, 8% in Peru, and 6% in Colombia (remaining countries all under 2%).
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  • For Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru, 2020 recorded historical high Amazon primary forest loss. For Colombia, it was the second highest on record.

In all of the data graphs, orange indicates the 2020 primary forest loss and red indicates all years with higher totals than 2020.

For example, the Amazon lost nearly 2.3 million hectares in 2020 (orange), the third highest on record behind only 2016 and 2017 (red).

Note that the three highest years (2016, 2017, and 2020) had one major thing in common: uncontrolled forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon.

See below for country-specific graphs, key findings, and satellite images for the top four 2020 Amazon deforestation countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia).

 

 

 

Brazilian Amazon

2020 had the sixth-highest primary forest loss on record (1.5 million hectares) and a 13% increase from 2019.

Many of the 2020 hotspots occurred in the Brazilian Amazon, where massive deforestation stretched across nearly the entire southern region.

A common phenomenon observed in the satellite imagery through August was that rainforest areas were first deforested and then later burned, causing major fires due to the abundant recently-cut biomass (Image A). This was also the pattern observed in the high-profile 2019 Amazon fire season. Much of the deforestation in these areas appears to associated with expanding cattle pasture areas.

In September 2020 (and unlike 2019), there was a shift to actual Amazon forest fires (Image B). See MAAP #129 for more information on the link between deforestation and fire in 2020.

Note that the three highest years (2016, 2017, and 2020) had one major thing in common: uncontrolled forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon.

Image A. Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon (Amazonas state) of 2,540 hectares between January (left panel) and November (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.
Image B. Forest fire in Brazilian Amazon (Para state) that burned 9,000 hectares between March (left panel) and October (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.

Bolivian Amazon

2020 had the highest primary forest loss on record in the Bolivian Amazon, surpassing 240,000 hectares.

Indeed, the most intense hotspots across the entire Amazon ocurred in southeast Bolivia, where fires raged through the drier Amazon forests (known as the Chiquitano and Chaco ecosystems).

Image C shows the burning of a massive area (over 260,000 hectares) in the Chiquitano dry forests (Santa Cruz department).

 

 

 

 

Image C. Forest fire in Bolivian Amazon (Santa Cruz) that burned over 260,000 hectares between April (left panel) and November (right panel) 2020. Data: ESA.

Peruvian Amazon

2020 also had the highest primary forest loss on record in the Peruvian Amazon, surpassing 190,000 hectares.

This deforestation is concentrated in the central region. On the positive, the illegal gold mining that plagued the southern region has decreased thanks to effective government action (see MAAP #130).

Image D shows expanding deforestation (over 110 hectares), and logging road construction (3.6 km), in an indigenous territory south of Sierra del Divisor National Park in the central Peruvian Amazon (Ucayali region). The deforestation appears to be associated with an expanding small-scale agriculture or cattle pasture frontier.

 

 

Image D. Deforestation and logging road construction in Peruvian Amazon (Ucayali region) between March (left panel) and November (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.

Colombian Amazon

2020 had the second-highest primary forest loss on record in the Colombian Amazon, nearly 140,000 hectares.

As described in previous reports (see MAAP #120), there is an “arc of deforestation” concentrated in the northwest Colombian Amazon. This arc impacts numerous protected areas (including national parks) and Indigenous Reserves.

For example, Image E shows the recent deforestation of over 500 hectares in Chiribiquete National Park. Similar deforestation in that sector of the park appears to be conversion to cattle pasture.

 

 

 

Image E. Deforestation in Colombian Amazon of over 500 hectares in Chiribiqete National Park between January (left panel) and December (right panel) 2020. Data: ESA, Planet.

*Notes and Methodology

To download the report, click “Print” instead of “Download PDF” at the top of the page.

The analysis was based on 30-meter resolution annual data produced by the University of Maryland (Hansen et al 2013), obtained from the “Global Forest Change 2000–2020” data download page. It is also possible to visualize and interact with the data on the main Global Forest Change portal.

Importantly, this data detects and classifies burned areas as forest loss. Nearly all Amazon fires are human-caused. Also, this data does include some forest loss caused by natural forces (landslides, wind storms, etc…).

Note that when comparing 2020 to early years, there are several methodological differences from the University of Maryland introduced to data after 2011. For more details, see “User Notes for Version 1.8 Update.”

It is worth noting that we found the early warning (GLAD) alerts to be a good (and often conservative) indicator of the final annual data.

Our geographic range includes nine countries and consists of a combintion of the Amazon watershed limit (most notably in Bolivia) and Amazon biogeographic limit (most notably in Colombia) as defined by RAISG. See Base Map above for delineation of this hybrid Amazon limit, designed for maximum inclusion. Inclusion of the watershed limit in Bolivia is a recent change incorporated to better include impact to the Amazon dry forests of the Chaco.

We applied a filter to calculate only primary forest loss. For our estimate of primary forest loss, we intersected the forest cover loss data with the additional dataset “primary humid tropical forests” as of 2001 (Turubanova et al 2018). For more details on this part of the methodology, see the Technical Blog from Global Forest Watch (Goldman and Weisse 2019).

To identify the deforestation hotspots, we conducted a kernel density estimate. This type of analysis calculates the magnitude per unit area of a particular phenomenon, in this case forest cover loss. We conducted this analysis using the Kernel Density tool from Spatial Analyst Tool Box of ArcGIS. We used the following parameters:

Search Radius: 15000 layer units (meters)
Kernel Density Function: Quartic kernel function
Cell Size in the map: 200 x 200 meters (4 hectares)
Everything else was left to the default setting.

For the Base Map, we used the following concentration percentages: Medium: 7-10%; High: 11-20%; Very High: >20%.

 

Hansen, M. C., P. V. Potapov, R. Moore, M. Hancher, S. A. Turubanova, A. Tyukavina, D. Thau, S. V. Stehman, S. J. Goetz, T. R. Loveland, A. Kommareddy, A. Egorov, L. Chini, C. O. Justice, and J. R. G. Townshend. 2013. “High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change.” Science 342 (15 November): 850–53.

Acknowledgements

We thank E. Ortiz (AAF), M. Silman (WFU), M. Weisse (WRI/GFW) for their helpful comments on this report.

This work was supported by NORAD (Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) and ICFC (International Conservation Fund of Canada).

Citation

Finer M, Mamani N (2020) Amazon Deforestation Hotspots 2020 (Final). MAAP: 136.

MAAP #133: Deforestation Continues in National Parks of Colombian Amazon

Posted on by dcadmin
Base Map. Deforestation 2020-21 in the National Parks of the Colombian Amazon. Data: MAAP.

As we have indicated in previous reports (MAAP #120), there is an “arc of deforestation” in the northwest Colombian Amazon, impacting numerous protected areas and indigenous reserves.

Here, we emphasize that this deforestation currently impacts four National Parks: Tinigua, Macarena, Chiribiquete and La Paya.

In the Base Map, the red circles indicate the areas most impacted by recent deforestation within these parks.

The letters (A-D) indicate the location of the high-resolution satellite images (Planet) below.

While Tinigua and Macarena continue as the most impacted National Parks, below we focus on the new deforestation fronts in Chiribiquete and La Paya.

Specifically, we show the most recent and urgent deforestation, since September 2020 to the present (February 2021).

 

 

 

 

Chiribiquete National Park

Chiribiquete National Natural Park lost more than 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) in the last six months, in six different areas of the park (see Base Map above). Much of this deforestation appears to be associated with the conversion of primary forest to illegal cattle pasture. The following satellite images show deforestation in three of these areas (A-C) between September 2020 (left panel) and February 2021 (right panel). *It is important to note that immediately prior to this publication authorities carried out a major intervention to crack down on the illegal activity within the park (see news here).

Image A. Deforestation in Chiribiquete National Park, western sector 1. Reference coordinate: 1.05497 ° N, 74.26465 ° W. Data: Planet, MAAP.
Image B. Deforestation in Chiribiquete National Park, western sector 2. Reference coordinate: 1.57990 ° N, 73.78689 ° W. Data: Planet, MAAP.
Image C. Deforestation in Chiribiquete National Park, northern sector 1. Reference coordinate: 2.00975, -73.45541. Data: Planet, MAAP.

La Paya National Park

La Paya National Park lost more than 150 hectares (370 acres) in the last six months, in the northwest sector of the park (see Base Map above).
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The following image shows an example of deforestation in this sector of the park between September 2020 (left panel) and January 2021 (right panel).

Image D. Deforestation in La Paya National Park, northern sector. Reference coordinate: 0.39677 ° N, 75.48505 ° W. Data: Planet, MAAP.

Fire Season

In addition, the fire season has started in the Colombian Amazon. Interestingly, now (February to March) is typically Colombia’s peak deforestation and fire season, in contrast with Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru, whose seasons peak between June and October.
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The following very high-resolution images (Skyat) reveal the burning of recently deforested areas within Chiribiquete National Park.
Fire inside Chiribuete National Park (February 11, 2021) burning recently deforested areas. Data: Planet (Skysat).
Zoom of fire inside Chiribuete National Park (February 11, 2021) burning recently deforested areas. Data: Planet (Skysat).

Acknowledgmens

We thank R. Botero (FCDS) and G. Palacios for their helpful comments on this report.

This work was supported by NORAD (Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) and ICFC (International Conservation Fund of Canada).

Citation

Finer M, Mamani N (2021) Deforestation Continues in National Parks of Colombian Amazon. MAAP: 133.

MAAP #132: Amazon Deforestation Hotspots 2020

Posted on by dcadmin
Base Map. Forest loss hotspots across the Amazon in 2020. Data: UMD/GLAD, RAISG, MAAP. The letters A-G correspond to the zoom examples below.

We present a first look at the major hotspots of primary forest loss across the Amazon in 2020 (see Base Map).*

There are several major headlines:

  • We estimate over 2 million hectares (5 million acres) of primary forest loss across the nine countries of the Amazon in 2020.*
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  • The countries with the highest 2020 primary forest loss are 1) Brazil, 2) Bolivia, 3) Peru, 4) Colombia, 5) Venezuela, and 6) Ecuador.
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  • The majority of the hotspots occurred in the Brazilian Amazon, where massive deforestation stretched across nearly the entire southern region. Many of these areas were cleared in the first half of the year and then burned in July and August. In September, there was a shift to actual forest fires (see MAAP #129).
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  • Several of the most intense hotspots were in the Bolivian Amazon, where fires raged through the dry forests (known as the Chiquitano) in the southeast region.
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  • There continues to be an arc of deforestation in the northwestern Colombian Amazon, impacting numerous protected areas.
    p
  • In the Peruvian Amazon, deforestation continues to impact the central region. On the positive, the illegal gold mining that plagued the southern region has decreased thanks to effective government action (see MAAP #130).

Below, we show a striking series of high-resolution satellite images that illustrate some of the major deforestation events across the Amazon in 2020 (indicated A-G on the Base Map).

Widespread Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

Zooms A-C show examples of a troublingly common phenomenon in the Brazilian Amazon: large-scale deforestation events in the first half of the year that are later burned in July and August, causing major fires due to the abundant recently-cut biomass. Much of the deforestation in these areas appears to associated with clearing rainforests for cattle pastures. The three examples below show the striking loss of over 21,000 hectares of primary forest in 2020.

Zoom A. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon (Amazonas state) of 3,400 hectares between April (left panel) and November (right panel) 2020. Data: ESA, Planet.
Zoom B. Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon (Amazonas state) of 2,540 hectares between January (left panel) and November (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.
Zoom C. Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon (Para state) of 15,250 hectares between January (left panel) and October (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.

Forest Fires in the Brazilian Amazon

In September, there was a shift to actual forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon (see MAAP #129). Zoom D and E show examples of these major forest fires, which burned over 50,000 hectares in the states of Pará and Mato Grosso. Note both fires impacted indigenous territories (Kayapo and Xingu, respectively).

Zoom D. Forest fire in Brazilian Amazon (Para state) that burned 9,000 hectares between March (left panel) and October (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.
Zoom E. Forest fire in Brazilian Amazon (Mato Grosso state) that burned over 44,000 hectares between May (left panel) and October (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.

Forest Fires in the Bolivian Amazon

The Bolivian Amazon also experienced another intense fire season in 2020. Zoom F shows the burning of a massive area (over 260,000 hectares) in the Chiquitano dry forests (Santa Cruz department).

Zoom F. Forest fire in Bolivian Amazon (Santa Cruz) that burned over 260,000 hectares between April (left panel) and November (right panel) 2020. Data: ESA.

Arc of Deforestation in the Colombian Amazon

As described in previous reports (see MAAP #120), there is an “arc of deforestation” concentrated in the northwest Colombian Amazon. This arc impacts numerous protected areas (including national parks) and Indigenous Reserves. For example, Zoom G shows the recent deforestation of over 500 hectares in Chiribiquete National Park. Similar deforestation in that sector of the park appears to be conversion to cattle pasture.

Zoom G. Deforestation in Colombian Amazon of over 500 hectares in Chiribiqete National Park between January (left panel) and December (right panel) 2020. Data: ESA, Planet.

Deforestation in the central Peruvian Amazon

Finally, Zoom H shows expanding deforestation (over 110 hectares), and logging road construction (3.6 km), in an indigenous territory south of Sierra del Divisor National Park in the central Peruvian Amazon (Ucayali region). The deforestation appears to be associated with an expanding small-scale agriculture or cattle pasture frontier.

Zoom H. Deforestation and logging road construction in Peruvian Amazon (Ucayali region) between March (left panel) and November (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.

*Notes and Methodology

The analysis was based on early warning forest loss alerts known as GLAD alerts (30-meter resolution) produced by the University of Maryland and also presented by Global Forest Watch. It is critical to highlight that this data represents a preliminary estimate and more definitive data will come later in the year. For example, our estimate does include some forest loss caused by natural forces. Note that this data detects and classifies burned areas as forest loss. Our estimate includes both confirmed (1,355,671 million hectares) and unconfirmed (751,533 ha) alerts.

Our geographic range is the biogeographic boundary of the Amazon as defined by RAISG (see Base Map above). This range includes nine countries.

We applied a filter to calculate only primary forest loss. For our estimate of primary forest loss, we intersected the forest cover loss data with the additional dataset “primary humid tropical forests” as of 2001 (Turubanova et al 2018). For more details on this part of the methodology, see the Technical Blog from Global Forest Watch (Goldman and Weisse 2019).

To identify the deforestation hotspots, we conducted a kernel density estimate. This type of analysis calculates the magnitude per unit area of a particular phenomenon, in this case forest cover loss. We conducted this analysis using the Kernel Density tool from Spatial Analyst Tool Box of ArcGIS. We used the following parameters:

Search Radius: 15000 layer units (meters)
Kernel Density Function: Quartic kernel function
Cell Size in the map: 200 x 200 meters (4 hectares)
Everything else was left to the default setting.

For the Base Map, we used the following concentration percentages: Medium: 7-10%; High: 11-20%; Very High: >20%.

Acknowledgements

We thank E. Ortiz (AAF), M.E. Gutierrez (ACCA), and S. Novoa for their helpful comments on this report.

This work was supported by NORAD (Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) and ICFC (International Conservation Fund of Canada).

Citation

Finer M, Mamani N (2020) Amazon Deforestation Hotspots 2020. MAAP: 132.

MAAP #131: Power of Free High-resolution Satellite Imagery from Norway Agreement

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Image 1. Monthly Planet basemap for October 2020 across the Amazon, as seen on Global Forest Watch.

This report demonstrates the powerful application of freely available, high-resolution satellite imagery recently made possible thanks to an agreement between the Government of Norway and several satellite companies.*

This unprecedented agreement will bring commercial satellite technology, previously out of reach to many, to all working in tropical forest conservation around the world.

Here we show how MAAP (an initiative of Amazon Conservation) will use this information to enhance our real-time monitoring program and quickly share timely findings to partners in the field.

Specifically, we highlight the importance of the monthly basemaps (4.7-meter Planet imagery) available under the Norway agreement.* For example, Image 1 shows the stunning, nearly cloud-free October 2020 basemap across the Amazon.

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Moreover, we show the power of this imagery visualized on Global Forest Watch, where it can be combined with early warning forest loss alerts.
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Below, we highlight three examples where we combined this data to quickly detect and confirm deforestation in the Colombian, Ecuadorian, and Peruvian Amazon, respectively.

Colombian Amazon

First, we detected recent forest loss alerts (known as GLAD alerts), in the northwestern sector of Chiribiquete National Park. Image 2 is a screen shot of our monitoring search in Global Forest Watch (link here).

Second, we investigated the alerts with the freely available monthly Planet basemaps. Images 3-5 show the basemaps from October to December 2020. These images confirm that the area was covered in intact (likely primary) Amazon rainforest in October, and then experienced a major deforestation event (225 hectares) in November and December. Similar deforestation in the area appears to be conversion to cattle pasture. Note the crosshairs (+) represent the same point in all four images.

Image 2. Forest loss alerts in Chiribiquete National Park
Image 3. Monthly Planet basemap for October 2020 in Chiribiquete National Park.
Image 4. Monthly Planet basemap for November 2020 in Chiribiquete National Park.
Image 5. Monthly Planet basemap for December 2020 in Chiribiquete National Park.

Peruvian Amazon

Similarly, we detected recent forest loss alerts in an illegal gold mining area in the southern Peruvian Amazon known as Pariamanu (Image 6). Images 7 & 8 show the monthly basemaps confirming the expansion of illegal mining deforestation between October and December (see yellow arrows). Global Forest Watch link here.

Image 6. Forest loss alerts in illegal gold mining zone (Pariamanu).
Image 7. Monthly Planet basemap for October 2020 in Pariamanu.
Image 8. Monthly Planet basemap for October 2020 in Pariamanu.

Ecuadorian Amazon

Finally, we detected recent forest loss alerts of 100 hectares in an indigenous territory (Kichwa) surrounding an oil palm plantation in the Ecuadorian Amazon (Image 9). Images 10 & 11 show the monthly basemaps confirming large-scale deforestation between September and December, likely for the expansion of the plantation. Note the crosshairs (+) represents the same point in all three images. Global Forest Watch link here.
Image 9. Forest loss alerts in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Image 10. Monthly Planet basemap for September 2020 in Ecuadorian Amazon.
Image 11. Monthly Planet basemap for December 2020 in Ecuadorian Amazon.

Summary

In summary, we show a major advance for free and real-time deforestation monitoring thanks to an agreement between the Government of Norway and satellite companies.* A key aspect of this agreement is making publically available (such as on Global Forest Watch) monthly basemaps created by the innovative satellite company Planet. Thus, users can now freely visualize recent forest loss alerts and then investigate them with high-resolution monthly basemaps on On Global Forest Watch. MAAP illustrated this process with three examples in the Colombian, Peruvian, Ecuadorian Amazon, respectively.

*Notes 

In September 2020, Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment entered into a contract with Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) and its partners Planet and Airbus, to provide universal access to high-resolution satellite monitoring of the tropics in order to support efforts to stop the destruction of the world’s rainforests. This effort is led by Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI). The basemaps are mosaics of the best cloud-free pixels each month. In addition to viewing the monthly basemaps on Global Forest Watch, users can sign up with Planet directly at this link: https://www.planet.com/nicfi/

Acknowledgements

We thank M. Cohen (ACA), M. Weisse (WRI/GFW), E. Ortiz (AAF) and G. Palacios for their helpful comments on this report.

This work was supported by NORAD (Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation).

Citation

Finer M, Mamani N (2020) Power of Freely Available, High-resolution Satellite Imagery from Norway Agreement. MAAP: 131.

MAAP #122: Amazon Deforestation 2019

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Table 1. Amazon 2019 primary forest loss for 2019 (red) compared to 2018 (orange). Data: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, MAAP.

Newly released data for 2019 reveals the loss of over 1.7 million hectares (4.3 million acres) of primary Amazon forest in our 5 country study area (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru).* That is twice the size of Yellowstone National Park.

Table 1 shows 2019 deforestation (red) in relation to 2018 (orange).

Primary forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon (1.29 million hectares) was over 3.5 times higher than the other four countries combined, with a slight increase in 2019 relative to 2018. Many of these areas were cleared in the first half of the year and then burned in August, generating international attention.

Primary forest loss rose sharply in the Bolivian Amazon (222,834 hectares), largely due to uncontrolled fires escaping into the dry forests of the southern Amazon.

Primary forest loss rose slightly in the Peruvian Amazon (161,625 hectares) despite a relatively successful crackdown on illegal gold mining, pointing to small-scale agriculture (and cattle) as the main driver.

On the positive side, primary forest loss decreased in the Colombian Amazon (91,400 hectares) following a major spike following the 2016 peace accords (between the government and FARC). It is worth noting, however, that we have now documented the loss of 444,000 hectares (over a million acres) of primary forest in the Colombian Amazon in the past four years since the peace agreement (see Annex).

*Two important points about the data. First, we use annual forest loss from the University of Maryland to have a consistent source across all five countries. Second, we applied a filter to only include loss of primary forest (see Methodology).

2019 Deforestation Hotspots Map

The Base Map below shows the major 2019 deforestation hotspots across the Amazon.

2019 deforestation hotspots across the Amazon. Data: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, MAAP.

Many of the major deforestation hotspots were in Brazil. Early in the year, in March, there were uncontrolled fires up north in the state of Roraima. Further south, along the Trans-Amazonian Highway, much of the deforestation occurred in the first half of the year, followed by the high profile fires starting in late July. Note that many of these fires were burning recently deforested areas, and were not uncontrolled forest fires (MAAP #113).

The Brazilian Amazon also experienced escalating gold mining deforestation in indigenous territories (MAAP #116).

Bolivia also had an intense 2019 fire season. Unlike Brazil, many were uncontrolled fires, particularly in the Beni grasslands and Chiquitano dry forests of the southern Bolivian Amazon (MAAP #108).

In Peru, although illegal gold mining deforestation decreased (MAAP #121), small-scale agriculture (including cattle) continues to be a major driver in the central Amazon (MAAP #112) and an emerging driver in the south.

In Colombia, there is an “arc of deforestation” in the northwestern Amazon. This arc includes four protected areas (Tinigua, Chiribiquete and Macarena National Parks, and Nukak National Reserve) and two Indigenous Reserves (Resguardos Indígenas Nukak-Maku and Llanos del Yari-Yaguara II) experiencing substantial deforestation (MAAP #120). One of the main deforestation drivers in the region is conversion to pasture for land grabbing or cattle ranching.

Annex – Colombia peace accord trend

Annex 1. Deforestation of primary forest in the Colombian Amazon, 2015-20. Data: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, UMD/GLAD. *Until May 2020

Methodology

The baseline forest loss data presented in this report were generated by the Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) laboratory at the University of Maryland (Hansen et al 2013) and presented by Global Forest Watch. Our study area is strictly what is highlighted in the Base Map.

For our estimate of primary forest loss, we used the annual “forest cover loss” data with density >30% of the “tree cover” from the year 2001. Then we intersected the forest cover loss data with the additional dataset “primary humid tropical forests” as of 2001 (Turubanova et al 2018). For more details on this part of the methodology, see the Technical Blog from Global Forest Watch (Goldman and Weisse 2019).

For boundaries, we used the biogeographical limit (as defined by RAISG) for all countries except Bolivia, where we used the Amazon watershed limit (see Base Map).

All data were processed under the geographical coordinate system WGS 1984. To calculate the areas in metric units, the projection was: Peru and Ecuador UTM 18 South, Bolivia UTM 20 South, Colombia MAGNA-Bogotá, and Brazil Eckert IV.

Lastly, to identify the deforestation hotspots, we conducted a kernel density estimate. This type of analysis calculates the magnitude per unit area of a particular phenomenon, in this case forest cover loss. We conducted this analysis using the Kernel Density tool from Spatial Analyst Tool Box of ArcGIS. We used the following parameters:

Search Radius: 15000 layer units (meters)
Kernel Density Function: Quartic kernel function
Cell Size in the map: 200 x 200 meters (4 hectares)
Everything else was left to the default setting.

For the Base Map, we used the following concentration percentages: Medium: 7%-10%; High: 11%-20%; Very High: >20%.

References

Goldman L, Weisse M (2019) Explicación de la Actualización de Datos de 2018 de Global Forest Watch. https://blog.globalforestwatch.org/data-and-research/blog-tecnico-explicacion-de-la-actualizacion-de-datos-de-2018-de-global-forest-watch

Hansen, M. C., P. V. Potapov, R. Moore, M. Hancher, S. A. Turubanova, A. Tyukavina, D. Thau, S. V. Stehman, S. J. Goetz, T. R. Loveland, A. Kommareddy, A. Egorov, L. Chini, C. O. Justice, and J. R. G. Townshend. 2013. “High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change.” Science 342 (15 November): 850–53. Data available on-line from: http://earthenginepartners.appspot.com/science-2013-global-forest.

Turubanova S., Potapov P., Tyukavina, A., and Hansen M. (2018) Ongoing primary forest loss in Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia. Environmental Research Letters  https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aacd1c 

Acknowledgements

We thank G. Palacios for helpful comments to earlier versions of this report.

This work was supported by the following major funders: Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, International Conservation Fund of Canada (ICFC), Metabolic Studio, Erol Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and Global Forest Watch Small Grants Fund (WRI).

Citation

Finer M, Mamani N (2020) 2019 Amazon Deforestation. MAAP: 122.

MAAP #113: Satellites Reveal what Fueled Brazilian Amazon Fires

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Base Map. Brazilian Amazon 2019. Data: UMD/GLAD, NASA (MODIS), DETER, Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA.

As part of our ongoing coverage, we present two key new findings about the Brazilian Amazon fires that captured the world’s attention in August (see our novel satellite-based methodology below).

First, we found that many of the fires, covering over 450,000 hectares, burned areas recently deforested since 2017 (orange in Base Map). That is a massive area equivalent to over a million acres (or 830,000 American football fields), mostly in the states Amazonas, Rondônia, and Pará.

Importantly, 65% (298,000 hectares) of this area was both deforested and burned this year, 2019.

Second, we found 160,400 hectares of primary forest burned in 2019 (purple in Base Map).* Most of these areas surround deforested lands in the states of Mato Grosso and Pará, and were likely pasture or agricultural fires that escaped into the forest.

As far as we know, these are the first precise estimates based on detailed analysis of satellite imagery. Other estimates based solely on fire alerts tend to greatly overestimate burned areas due to their large spatial resolution.

Below we present a series of satellite time-lapse videos showing examples of the different types of fires we documented.

Policy Implications

The policy implications of these findings are critically important: national and international focus needs to be on minimizing new deforestation, in addition to fire prevention and management.

That is, we need to recognize that many of the fires are in fact a lagging indicator of previous deforestation, thus to minimize fires we need to minimize deforestation.

For example, one of the leading deforestation drivers in the Brazilian Amazon is cattle ranching (1, 2, 3). What measures can be taken to prevent the further expansion of the ranching frontier?

Satellite Time-lapse Videos

Deforestation Followed by Fire

Video A shows the deforestation of 1,760 hectares (4,350 acres) in Mato Grosso state in 2019 (May to July), followed by fires in August. Planet link.

Video B shows the deforestation of 650 hectares (1,600 acres) in Rondônia state in 2019 (April to July), followed by fire in August. Planet link.

Deforestation Caused by Fire

Videos C-D show 2019 fires burning primary or secondary forest surrounding recently or previously cleared areas.

*Notes

In addition to the finding of 160,400 hectares of primary forest burned in 2019, we also found: 25,800 hectares of secondary forest burned in 2019;
35,640 hectares of primary forest burned in the northern state of Roraima in March 2019 (plus an additional 16,500 hectares of secondary forest.

Methodology

Deforestation Fires

We created two “hotspots” layers, one for deforestation and the other for fires, by conducting a kernel density analysis. This type of analysis calculates the magnitude per unit area of a particular phenomenon, in this case forest loss alerts (proxy for deforestation) and temperature anomaly alerts (proxy for fires)

Specifically, we used the following data three sets:

2019 GLAD alert forest loss data (30 meter resolution) from the University of Maryland and available on Global Forest Watch.

2017 and 2018 forest loss data (30 meter resolution) from the University of Maryland and available on Global Forest Watch (4).

NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) MODIS-based fire alert data (1 km resolution).

We conducted the analysis using the Kernel Density tool from Spatial Analyst Tool Box of ArcGIS, using the following parameters:

Search Radius: 15000 layer units (meters)
Kernel Density Function: Quartic kernel function
Cell Size in the map: 200 x 200 meters (4 hectares)
Everything else was left to the default setting.

For the Base Map, we used the following concentration percentages: Medium: 10%-25%; High: 26%-50%; Very High: >50%. We then combined all three categories into one color (yellow for deforestation and red for fire). Orange indicates areas where both layers overlap. As background layer, we also included pre-2019 deforestation data from Brazil’s PRODES system.

We prioritized the orange overalp areas for further analysis. For the major orange areas in Rondônia, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Acre, and Pará, we conducted a visual analysis using the satellite company Planet’s online portal, which includes an extensive archive of Planet, RapidEye, Sentinel-2, and Landsat data. Using the archive, we identified areas that we visually confirmed a) were deforested in 2017-19 and b) were later burned in 2019 between July and September. We then used the area measure tool to estimate the size of these areas, which ranged from large plantations ( ~1,000 hectares) to many smaller areas scattered across the focal landscape.

Forest Fires:

To estimate forests burned in 2019 we combined analysis of several datasets. First, we started with 30 meter resolution ‘burn scar’ data produced by INPE (National Institute for Space Research) DETER alerts, updated through October 2019. In order to avoid overlapping areas, we eliminated alerts previously reported from 2016 to 2018, and alerts from other land use categories (selective logging, deforestation, degradation and mining, and other). Second, we eliminated previously reported 2001-18 forest loss from University of Maryland and INPE (PRODES). Third, to distinguish burning of primary and secondary forest, we incorporated primary forest data from the University of Maryland (5).

References

  1. Krauss C, Yaffe-Bellany D, Simões M (2019) Why Amazon Fires Keep Raging 10 Years After a Deal to End Them. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/world/americas/amazon-fires-brazil-cattle.html
  2. Kelly M, Cahlan S (2019) The Brazilian Amazon is still burning. Who is responsible? Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/07/brazilian-amazon-is-still-burning-who-is-responsible/#click=https://t.co/q2XkSQWQ77
  3. Al Jazeera (2019) See How Beef Is Destroying The Amazon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o2M_KL8X6g&feature=youtu.be
  4. Hansen, M. C., P. V. Potapov, R. Moore, M. Hancher, S. A. Turubanova, A. Tyukavina, D. Thau, S. V. Stehman, S. J. Goetz, T. R. Loveland, A. Kommareddy, A. Egorov, L. Chini, C. O. Justice, and J. R. G. Townshend. 2013. “High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change.” Science 342 (15 November): 850–53.
  5. Turubanova S., Potapov P., Tyukavina, A., and Hansen M. (2018) Ongoing primary forest loss in Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia. Environmental Research Letters https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aacd1c 

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the following major funders: MacArthur Foundation, International Conservation Fund of Canada (ICFC), Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), Metabolic Studio, and Global Forest Watch Small Grants Fund (WRI).

Citation

Finer M, Mamani N (2019) Satellites Reveal what Fueled Brazilian Amazon Fires. MAAP: 113.

MAAP #101: Deforestation Continues in Colombian Amazon (2019)

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Overflight photo of recent deforestation in Chiribiquete National Park. Credit: FCDS/RFN/AAF.

A major deforestation surge continues in the northwest Colombian Amazon (MAAP #97).

In 2018, it resulted in the loss of 199,000 hectares (491,700 acres)*, making it the most concentrated deforestation hotspot in the entire western Amazon (MAAP #100).

Here, we provide a real-time update for 2019 based on early warning GLAD alerts.** The alerts indicate the loss of 56,300 hectares (139,100 acres) in the first five months of 2019 (January to May) in the Colombian Amazon.

The Base Map (see below) shows the deforestation hotspots are again concentrated in the northwest Colombian Amazon.

We focus on Chiribiquete National Park, showing satellite imagery and overflight photos for two sections of the park experiencing recent deforestation.***

We estimate the deforestation of 2,200 hectares (5,400 acres) inside the Park since its expansion in July 2018.

As described below, one of the main deforestation drivers in the region is conversion to pasture for land grabbing or cattle ranching.

 

 

 

Base Map. 2019 deforestation hotspots in the Colombian Amazon. Data: UMD/GLAD, RUNAP, RAISG.

Zoom 1: Western Chiribiquete (Llanos de Yari)

Zoom 1 shows the deforestation in the recently expanded western section of Chiribiquete National Park between February 2018 (left panel) and May 2019 (right panel). The white inset boxes indicate the areas of the overflight photos shown below.

We estimate the deforestation of 555 hectares (1,300 acres) in this section of the park since July 2018, the date of the expansion of Chiribiquete National Park in this area.

Zoom 1. Western Chiribiquete National Park (Llanos de Yari). Data: Planet.
Inset A1. Overflight photo over Chiribiquete National Park, courtesy of FCDS/RFN/AAF.
Inset A2. Overflight photo over Chiribiquete National Park, courtesy of FCDS/RFN/AAF.

A recent report by the Colombian government agency charged with monitoring deforestation (IDEAM 2019) characterizes the situation as follows:

“In this area, the process of colonization is accelerated, causing a growing demand for resources and new lands, which is encouraged by the reconfiguration of organized armed groups and the absence of state control at the local level. The main conversion of the forest is to pasture, destined for cattle ranching or land grabbing. This transformation is advanced by the area’s tertiary road network, which allows access to new areas of forest and burning as a method of rapid removal of coverage. This area is also used for illicit crops.”

Zoom 2: Northern Chiribiquete

Zoom 2 shows the deforestation in the recently expanded northern section of Chiribiquete National Park between February 2018 (left panel) and April 2019 (right panel). The white inset boxes indicate the areas of the overflight photos shown below.

We estimate the deforestation of 1,650 hectares (4,100 acres) in this section of the park since 2018, the date of the expansion of Chiribiquete National Park in this area.

Zoom 2. Northern Chiribiquete National Park. Data: ESA.
Inset B1. Overflight photo over Chiribiquete National Park, courtesy of FCDS/RFN/AAF.
Inset B2. Overflight photo over Chiribiquete National Park, courtesy of FCDS/RFN/AAF.
Inset B3. Overflight photo over Chiribiquete National Park, courtesy of FCDS/RFN/AAF.
Inset B4. Overflight photo over Chiribiquete National Park, courtesy of FCDS/RFN/AAF.

 

A recent report by the Colombian government agency charged with monitoring deforestation (IDEAM 2019) characterizes the situation as follows:

“As is common in the Amazon region, the main activity driving the transformation of forests in this area is the establishment of pastures, with the purpose of land grabbing or cattle ranching. This transformation is generally financed by external actors, whose primary motivation is speculation and income generation. The armed actors present in the area promote the development of illicit agricultural activities, as well as the expansion of informal road infrastructure, which affects forests by facilitating access.”

Notes

*Including 154,000 hectares (380,5000 acres) of primary forests. The surge started in 2016.

**GLAD alerts, produced by the University of Maryland and presented by Global Forest Watch, are based on Landsat imagery. To generate the deforestation hotspots map, we conducted a kernel density analysis on GLAD alert data from January 1 to May 31, 2019.

***Overflight was March 22, 2019, carried out by Fundación Conservación y Desarrollo, with funding from Rain Forest Norway and Andean Amazon Fund.

References

IDAEM-SMBYC (2019) BOLETÍN DE DETECCIÓN TEMPRANA DE DEFORESTACIÓN #17. Link: http://documentacion.ideam.gov.co/openbiblio/bvirtual/023856/17_BoletinAT-D.pdf

Planet Team (2017). Planet Application Program Interface: In Space for Life on Earth. San Francisco, CA. https://api.planet.com

Acknowledgments

We thank A. Rojas (FCDS) and R. Botero (FCDS) for helpful comments to this report.