Deforestation and Land-Use Change in Veracruz, Mexico: a Remote Sensing Analysis
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University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations Dissertations and Theses 8-9-2006 Deforestation and Land-Use Change in Veracruz, Mexico: A Remote Sensing Analysis Mark Dalrymple University of New Orleans Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td Recommended Citation Dalrymple, Mark, "Deforestation and Land-Use Change in Veracruz, Mexico: A Remote Sensing Analysis" (2006). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 395. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/395 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Deforestation and Land-Use Change in Veracruz, Mexico: A Remote Sensing Analysis A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Geography by Mark Dalrymple University of New Orleans August, 2006 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Merrill Johnson and my committee for their patience and guidance. I would like to give acknowledgment to NASA’s Graduate Student Research Program for their financial support and assistance. I would like to express special gratitude to all the faculty members and students of the Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa for their valuable help, with special thanks to Dr. Agustin Munoz and Dr. Noberto Chavez. I would also like to acknowledge various friends and colleagues who provided technical support and assistance, including: Jay Cho, Pierre Abide, Felix Cretini, and Claudia Vallejo. I want to express my love and deep appreciation to my fiancé Aleyda Rodriguez Lopez and her family. This thesis would not have been possible without their love and support. And of course a special thanks to my family, especially my parents, who always believed in me. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................v LIST OF FIGURES ...........................................................................................................v ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................1 Deforestation in Mexico................................................................................................3 Purpose and Objectives ................................................................................................5 CHAPTER 2. DEFORESTATION AND LAND-USE CHANGE IN MEXICO, AND ITS MEASUREMENT..................................................7 A Historical Perspective: Mexican Land-Use Change and Forest Management, Nineteenth Century to the Present ...................................8 Early Nineteenth Century to 1940: Land Redistribution and the Ejido. ..................................................................8 1940-1960: The beginnings of Mexican Protectionism..................................10 1960-1980: Rural Development and Credits to Campesinos ..................................................................................................11 1980-1992: Federal Forestry and Ejido Privatization ...................................13 The 1990s: Neoliberalism and NAFTA...........................................................14 Recent Trends of Deforestation in Mexico ...............................................................16 Remote Sensing: A Tool for Analyzing Forest and Land-Use Change ................................................................................................17 CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH DESIGN: STUDY AREA, DATA AND METHODS .....................................................................22 Study Area ...................................................................................................................22 Deforestation Study Area......................................................................................22 iii Climate..............................................................................................................23 Forest Ecology ..................................................................................................25 Geology..............................................................................................................28 Land-Use Study Area ............................................................................................28 Ecological Problems.........................................................................................29 Historical Land Dynamics in the Land-Use Study Area..............................30 Data ..............................................................................................................................36 Methods........................................................................................................................36 Preprocessing..........................................................................................................36 Image Processing....................................................................................................37 Image Processing Methods for the Land-Use Study Area .................................39 Land-Use Classifications .......................................................................................40 CHAPTER 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: DEFORESTATION AND LAND-USE PATTERNS ...................................................43 Deforestation Study Area...........................................................................................43 Seasonal Variation in Both Study Areas...................................................................46 Deforestation in the Land-Use Study Area...............................................................48 Reforestation in the Land-Use Study Area...............................................................60 CHAPTER 5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.......................................................61 Deforestation and Land-Use Change ........................................................................61 Remote Sensing and Image Processing for the Study Areas...................................67 LITERATURE CITED ...................................................................................................69 VITA..................................................................................................................................72 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Deforestation by Land-Use..............................................................................51 Table 2. Land-Use Expansion into Forests from 1979 to 2002.............................................................................................................56 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Study Area and Map of Mexico.....................................................................23 Figure 2. Deforestation Study Area...............................................................................24 Figure 3. Study Areas and Climate Zones of Central Veracruz and Puebla.....................................................................................27 Figure 4. Land-Use Study Area .....................................................................................29 Figure 5. Forest Change Between 1979 and 2002 ........................................................44 Figure 6. Humid Evergreen Forests and Dry/Deciduous Forests in the Deforestation Study Area for Each Year...............................................47 Figure 7. Humid/Evergreen Forests and Dry/Deciduous Forests in the Land-Use Study Area ..............................................................................48 Figure 8. Land-Use Classification Map ........................................................................49 Figure 9. Land-Use and Forest Change Map ...............................................................50 v ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to analyze deforestation using multi spectral satellite imagery in a region of Veracruz and Puebla Mexico. A smaller study area in a subtropical region in Veracruz was used to relate changes in forest cover to changes in land-uses within the smaller region. A land-use classification was created for this study that includes fallow/barren, subsistence agriculture, sugar cane, urban/settlement, grazing lands and other vegetation. A change detection was performed to analyze the extent of each land-use encroaching into forests between 1979 and 2002. Another objective of the study is to examine the seasonal variation of forest growth in the study area and how this variation may affect the utility of remote-sensing technology in tracking deforestation. The study area experienced considerable forest change between 1979 and 2002. It appears that land-use change in the region is being driven by socio- economic factors that relate to forest