Assessing Landscape Change in Highland Peru with an Emphasis on Tree Cover Change, 1948-2012
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The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Master's Theses Spring 5-2014 Assessing Landscape Change in Highland Peru with an Emphasis on Tree Cover Change, 1948-2012 Timothy Guy Sutherlin University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses Part of the Nature and Society Relations Commons Recommended Citation Sutherlin, Timothy Guy, "Assessing Landscape Change in Highland Peru with an Emphasis on Tree Cover Change, 1948-2012" (2014). Master's Theses. 21. https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/21 This Masters Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The University of Southern Mississippi ASSESSING LANDSCAPE CHANGE IN HIGHLAND PERU WITH AN EMPHASIS ON TREE COVER CHANGE, 1948–2012 by Timothy Guy Sutherlin A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate School of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science Approved: _Jerry O. Bass_______________________ Director _David M. Cochran____________________ _Grant Harley________________________ _Maureen A. Ryan____________________ Dean of the Graduate School May 2014 ABSTRACT ASSESSING LANDSCAPE CHANGE IN HIGHLAND PERU WITH AN EMPHASIS ON TREE COVER CHANGE, 1948–2012 by Timothy Guy Sutherlin May 2014 Tree cover change was examined around three cities in the central Andes of Peru, 1948-2012, using repeat photography, remote sensing, and ethnographic methods. Forest transition theory provided a framework to study the causes of the changes observed. The repeat photography results show that there were more trees on the landscape in 2012 than there were in 1948. There were increases in smaller groupings of trees visible in the photography that were associated with smallholder intensification in the form of new woodlots, field borders and dooryard trees. The remote sensing results show there was a significant increase in larger patches of trees beyond the view of the photographs. Many of these new large patches were associated with government sponsored afforestation programs. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I first and foremost want to thank my advisor, Dr. Joby Bass, for his patience and insight during the process of creating this thesis. Thanks Dr. David Cochran for insightful and entertaining lectures about Latin America during class and the many great conversations that followed. Thanks Dr. Grant Harley for the feedback and enthusiasm about this thesis. Thank you Dr. David Holt for banning “skittles” maps in Cartography. I want to thank the rest of faculty and staff of the USM Department of Geography and Geology. To all those that gave me encouragement, especially my family and friends, I want to thank you for your support – this could not have been done without you. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................ iii LIST OF TABLES...............................................................................................................v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS..............................................................................................vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS..........................................................................................viii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................1 II. RESEARCH CONTEXT….........................................................................4 Human-Environment Interactions Forest Transition Theory III. STUDY AREA ...........................................................................................9 IV. METHODS ...............................................................................................14 Repeat Photography Remote Sensing Ethnography Other Data Sources V. RESULTS .................................................................................................19 Repeat Photography Remote Sensing Ethnography VI. DISCUSSION ...........................................................................................44 Forest Transition VII. CONCLUSION..........................................................................................60 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................62 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Forest Transition Pathways and Repeat Photos of Highland Peru........................47 2. Use of Firewood as a Fuel for Cooking for Select Cities in Highland Peru..........50 v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Study area, Peru.......................................................................................................9 2. Sheep among eucalyptus planted on slope above Huancavelica, Peru..................12 3. Eucalyptus on hillside above Huancavelica...........................................................13 4. Jauja, Peru..............................................................................................................21 5. Jauja, Peru..............................................................................................................22 6. Jauja, Peru..............................................................................................................23 7. Jauja, Peru..............................................................................................................24 8. Jauja, Peru..............................................................................................................25 9. Cusco, Peru............................................................................................................26 10. Cusco, Peru............................................................................................................27 11. Cusco, Peru............................................................................................................28 12. Huancavelica, Peru................................................................................................29 13. Huancavelica, Peru................................................................................................30 14. Huancavelica, Peru................................................................................................31 15. Huancavelica, Peru................................................................................................32 16. Map of tree cover for Jauja, 1984..........................................................................36 17. Map of tree cover for Jauja, 2004..........................................................................36 18. Map of tree cover change for Jauja 1984-2004.....................................................37 19. Map of tree cover for area around Cusco, Peru, 1984...........................................39 20. Map of tree cover for area around Cusco, Peru, 2004...........................................39 21. Map of tree cover change for Cusco, Peru, 1984–2004........................................40 22. Map of tree cover for Huancavelica, Peru, 1984...................................................41 vi 23. Map of tree cover for Huancavelica, Peru, 2004...................................................41 24. Map of tree cover change for Huancavelica, Peru, 1984–2004.............................42 25. Wood-fired water heater at hotel in Huancavelica, Peru.......................................45 26. Eucalyptus firewood to be used in wood-fired water heater..................................45 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CAPS……………………………………………...……Agrarian Production Cooperatives FAO……………….……..…....Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations INEI……………….…………….Peruvian National Institute of Information and Statistics NGO…………………………………………………..…Non-Governmental Organization ONEC…………………………………………….National Office of Statistics and Census PRONOMACH............................Peruvian National Soil and Water Conservation Agency SAIS……………………………………………..…..Social Interest Agricultural Societies TOF…………………………………………………….……………Trees Outside Forests viii 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Despite significant and widely publicized deforestation in developing countries, particularly in the lowland topical forests in Central America and South America, observations of local and regional tree cover increases are becoming increasingly commonplace (Aide et al. 2013, Hecht 2010, Sanchez-Cuervo et al. 2012). Recent research of contemporary landscape change using repeat photography suggests several outcomes for the proposed project. In Honduras (Bass 2004, Bass 2006, McGregor 2011), Argentina (Veblen and Lorenz 1988), and Pakistan (Nusser 2000, Nusser 2001), areas of stable or increasing vegetation and tree cover were found. Using Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) data, Rudel et al. (2005) found that during the 1990s, 38% of countries in the world experienced increases in forest cover. The highland Andes of Peru, which form the focus area of this project, are not as extensively forested as they once were. Natural patches of native species such as queñual (Polylepis) are relics of once much more extensive forests. The noted Andeanist geographer Daniel Gade believes that the sierra below 4,000 meters