Premium
Deforestation Rates (1938–1988) of Tropical Lowland Forests on the Andean Foothills of Colombia 1
Author(s) -
Viña Andrés,
Cavelier Jaime
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
biotropica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.813
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1744-7429
pISSN - 0006-3606
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7429.1999.tb00114.x
Subject(s) - deforestation (computer science) , foothills , pasture , tropics , geography , forestry , agroforestry , rainforest , secondary forest , tropical forest , ecology , environmental science , biology , cartography , computer science , programming language
Deforestation rates were estimated in 270 km 2 of lowland moist forest on the eastern slope of the Colombian Andes (300–800 m). Deforestation was quantified by determining areas of pasture, secondary growth, and forest in aerial photographs (1:19,000–1:60,000) taken in the 1930s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Mean annual deforestation rate for the 1938–1988 period was 1.5 percent, and ranged from <0.1 percent (1938–1955) to 4.4 percent (1970s–1980s). Between the 1930s and the 1980s, areas covered by pasture and young secondary forest increased from 26–53 percent and from 2–14 percent, respectively. This suggests that, although there are areas with clear signs of forest regeneration, the overall trend is the conversion of mature tropical forests to pastures for cattle ranching.