Caracterización del cambio de cobertura terrestre por factores antrópicos, usando lenguaje de programación y con enfoque REDD+: estudio de caso de Yavaraté, Vaupés

Abstract

The present work consisted of determining the incidence of land cover changes in a study area of the Yavaraté territory (in Vaupés, Colombia) caused by the activities of the indigenous communities residing there. For this purpose, and based on Verra's methodology, the study area was delimited and characterized, data from optical and radar images were collected for the years 2016 and 2021, these data were analyzed through a series of procedures for further processing in the Google Earth Engine platform and several software such as ArcGIS and PCI Geomatica. After that, the change in land cover for that period of time was established, where the agents that caused the land transformation and its causes (direct and underlying) were identified. Finally, the carbon dioxide emissions generated by the change in land cover were estimated. The cartographic information obtained allows us to determine the land cover found in the study area and to establish the change in land cover for the selected time period: the decrease in forest cover was greater than the increase (5.69% and 2.50%, respectively). Likewise, carbon dioxide emissions were greater than those absorbed, which is equivalent to a total of 341,866.23 tons released; a situation that leaves the panorama open for REDD+ projects to be formulated and implemented in this area. Similarly, this case study identifies that the indigenous communities are agents of change in their own territory and have a direct impact on certain land covers where they have established their settlements and their subsistence agriculture chagras with a rotational system, which generates a dynamic of release (7.05% of total emissions) but also of capture (18.10% of total absorption) of carbon dioxide equivalent.