Priorities for Governing Large-scale Infrastructure in the Tropics

National governments, International Financial Institutions, and the G-20 have intensified investments of infrastructure to boost economic growth in the wake of economic recessions and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This infrastructure enables investments in large-scale agriculture, ranching, mining, and oil and gas extraction which tend to intensify the current inequalities. These activities is slated to occur in tropical forests and on lands historically occupied by Indigenous, Afro-Descendant, Traditional and other rural peoples. This has unprecedented negative impact on the ecosystem, the biodiversity as well as on the peoples. This article calls for a \u27three-leg\u27 agenda to align infrastructure, development, and sustainability. The first one deals for the stakeholders and society at large to rethink our understanding of the relationships between infrastructure and development. The second one involves with infrastructure planning and decision-making which must be based on territorially-based planning that includes all voices that are affected by these changes. Lastly, approaches to infrastructure planning must greatly expand the scope for public debate and oversight of what infrastructure is needed

Remittances and land change: A systematic review

Remittances—funds sent by migrants to family and friends back home—are an important source of global monetary flows, and they have implications for the maintenance and transformation of land systems. A number of published reviews have synthesized work on a variety of aspects of remittances (e.g., rural livelihoods, disasters, and economic development). To our knowledge, there are no reviews of work investigating the linkages between remittances and land change, broadly understood. This knowledge gap is important to address because researchers have recognized that remittances flows are a mechanism that helps to explain how migration can affect land change. Thus, understanding the specific roles remittances play in land system changes should help to clarify the multiple processes associated with migration and their independent and interactive effects. To address the state of knowledge about the connection between remittances and land systems, this paper conducts a systematic review. Our review of 51 journal articles finds that the linkages uncovered were commonly subtle and/or indirect. Very few studies looked at the direct connections between receipt of remittances and quantitative changes in land. Most commonly, the relationship between remittances and land change was found to occur through pathways from labor migration to household income to agricultural development and productivity. We find four non-exclusive pathways through which households spend remittances with consequent changes to land systems: (1) agricultural crops and livestock, (2) agricultural labor and technologies, (3) land purchases, and (4) non-agricultural purchases and consumables. In the papers reviewed, these expenditures are linked to various land system change outcomes, including land use change, soil degradation, pasture degradation, afforestation/deforestation/degradation, agricultural intensification/extensification/diversification, and no impact. These findings suggest four avenues for future research. One avenue is the use of the theoretical lens of telecoupling to understand how remittances may produce wider-scale changes in land systems. A second avenue is further examination of the impacts of shocks and disturbances to remittance flows on land change both in migrant sending and in remittance receiving areas. A third avenue is scholarship that examines the extent that household uses of remittances have a “ripple effect” on land uses in nearby interlinked systems. A fourth avenue for future work is the use of spatially explicit modeling that leverages land cover and land use data based on imagery and other geospatial information

Modelling tropical dry forest deciduousness using spatially downscaled TRMM data

Increases in the intensity and spatial extent of dry season deciduousness in the tropical dry forests of the Mexican Yucatán may impact biosphere-atmosphere interactions. Issues of data scale affect characterization of the relationship between precipitation and vegetation leaf canopy condition using remotely sensed measurements of precipitation. This paper examines the use of a set of spatial and topographical methods to downscale rainfall data to account for observed differences in total monthly rainfall measurements at weather stations (N=22) and measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission. Each is evaluated by the resulting increase in spatially-averaged coefficient of determination from a per-pixel (0.01 deg.) linear regression model of MODIS EVI and contemporaneous and 1-month-lagged precipitation image time series (2000-2001). Increases in model explanatory power are observed for all downscaling techniques, with ΔR2ranging from 0.024 to 0.046. Results suggest spatial variability of sensitivity to water-scarce conditions within semi-deciduous forests in the area

Cross-Scale Correlation between In Situ Measurements of Canopy Gap Fraction and Landsat-Derived Vegetation Indices with Implications for Monitoring the Seasonal Phenology in Tropical Forests Using MODIS Data

Deciduousness in dry tropical forests results in substantial seasonal changes to canopy gap fractions. The characterization of such structural properties over large areas is necessary for understanding energy and nutrient distribution within forest ecosystems. However, a spatial extrapolation of measurements from relatively few, spatially-concentrated field observations can yield estimated values that have questionable accuracy and precision at regional scales. This paper uses linear regression models to compare measurements of canopy gap fraction from in situ digital cover photography in the dry tropical forest of the Southern Yucatán, Mexico, to measurements of seasonal vegetation change based on three vegetation indices—the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), two-band Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI2), and the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI)—derived from Landsat-7 ETM+ and Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data to gauge the ability of standardized combinations of multispectral reflectance data to accurately describe the intensity of deciduousness that occurs during the dry season. Discrete observations are compared, as well as spatially summarized values at coarser spatial scales. Model R2 values are greater at coarse spatial scales for all vegetation indices. Models of in situ measurements of gap fraction and Landsat NDWI normalized seasonal change exhibit stronger correlation than do models that feature NDVI or EVI2 (R² = 0.751 and Mean Absolute Error = 0.04 after aggregation, R² = 0.552 and MAE = 0.07 for observation-level data). Based on its comparatively strong correlation with field observations, NDWI is adapted to a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) time series and used for spatial extrapolation and the monitoring of canopy conditions. NDWI values derived from MODIS data are regressed against Tropical Rainforest Measuring Misson (TRMM) rainfall data over the period 2000–2011, and the regression results are compared to those of a prior study that used regression to explain the variation of a MODIS EVI using TRMM rainfall data. A MODIS NDWI time series reveals stronger correlation (R² = 0.48 in deciduous forests) with TRMM accumulated (three-month) rainfall data than a MODIS EVI time series. The results indicate that an NDWI time series can accurately describe a variability of canopy leaf abundance during the dry season and could be an alternative basis of long-term monitoring of season phenology in a dry tropical forest

Local variability in the timing and intensity of tropical dry forest deciduousness is explained by differences in forest stand age

Tropical Dry Forest deciduousness is a behavioral response to climate conditions that determines ecosystem-level carbon uptake, energy flux, and habitat conditions. It is regulated by factors related to stand age, and landscape scale variability in deciduous phenology may affect ecosystem functioning in forests throughout the tropics. This study determines whether observed phenological differences are explainable by forest age in the southern Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, where forest clearing for shifting cultivation has created a mosaic of forest stands of varying age. Matched-pair statistical tests compare neighboring forest pixels of different age class (12–22 years versus 22+ years) and detect significant differences in Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)-derived metrics related to the timing and intensity of deciduousness during three dry seasons (2008–2011). In all seasons, young forests exhibit significantly more intense deciduousness, measured as total seasonal change of EVI normalized by annual maximum EVI (p \u3c 0.001), and larger normalized EVI change during successive dry season months relative to start-of-dry-season EVI (p \u3c 0.001), than neighboring older forests subject to similar environmental conditions

The Impact of Tree Cover Loss on Land Surface Temperature: A Case Study of Central Massachusetts Using Landsat Thematic Mapper Thermal Data

Land surface temperature (LST) variability results from diversity in urban surface materials over space and time such that locations with impervious urban cover experience higher temperature and larger temperature variation compared to non-impervious cover. There is growing awareness that warmer temperatures in urban locations negatively impact city residents by increasing heat related death and energy usage during heat waves. However, little previous work investigates the linkages between urban tree cover loss events related to invasive species eradication and urban heat trends. This paper examines the variation in LST using Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) thermal imagery in Worcester County, Massachusetts where over 30,000 trees were removed since 2008 to eradicate the invasive Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB), most of which existed in urban residential areas. Throughout the study area a 10% loss in tree canopy cover caused a0.7°C increase in LST whereas a 10% increase in sub-canopy impervious surface area exposed due to tree loss caused 1.66°C increase in LST. The Burncoat and Greendale neighborhoods in northern Worcester experienced a combined 48% tree cover loss from 2008 to 2010 due to ALB eradication and an average relative LST increase of 2.4°C (range 0.6-4.1°C). Given that areas with an increase in exposed impervious surface produce greater temperature increases than areas of tree loss, future tree replanting efforts may focus on locations that reduce exposed impervious surfaces. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

Modelling dry season deciduousness in Mexican Yucatán forest using MODIS EVI data (2000-2011)

This study maps interannual variation in the spatial extent of deciduousness in the dry tropical forests of the southern Yucatán (Mexico) from 2000 to 2011 using seasonal variability thresholds based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) data and relates deciduousness to precipitation-and temperature-derived climate variables using linear regressions. The annual occurrence of deciduousness is most frequently observed in forests located in a regional rain shadow at moderate elevations. Regression results suggest that deciduousness is more strongly associated with atypically hot conditions (-2°C; R 2 = 0.44) than with atypically dry conditions (R 2 = 0.19), in contrast to other phenological processes (e.g. leaf growth, peak productivity) driven primarily by precipitation. © 2013 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Measuring and categorizing the water-related downstream risks associated with mineral extraction in Honduras: How severe, and how distributed?

Predictions about the spatial distribution of environmental impacts related to extractive industries have commonly assumed an inverse relationship between the severity of impact and distance from the site of extraction. However, because of the salience of water to both extractive industries and other livelihood strategies, many severe externalities of extractive development are experienced in areas hydrologically linked to the site of extraction, though these areas may not be those closest to mines themselves. This paper uses cadastral and remotely sensed data to model the spatial distribution of water, and extractive industries in Honduras and identify hydrological links between mines and downstream areas. Based on water availability, and the amount of upstream extractive development, it describes vulnerability to water-related risks from extractive industries in terms of severity as well as its concentration, measuring how local or spatially distributed are potential sources of impact. A consideration of risks experienced by agricultural producers indicates that small-scale farmers and large, commercial growers face distinctly different types of risk, and suggests that each group may pursue different strategies for mitigation. These strategies differ with respect to the spatial and administrative scales at which they would be pursued, as well as the degree to which they push for governance approaches focusing on spatially-defined, cadastral units of regulation or on broader regional and landscape impacts

‘Tradescapes’ in the Forest: Framing Infrastructure\u27s Relation to Territory, Commodities, and Flows

Pressure to facilitate the flow of commodities and capital across global and national markets has translated into narratives and programs prioritizing integration and development of forested regions. The 2009 World Bank Development Report argues that to reduce distance, infrastructure development is crucial. The infrastructure imperative, however, reworks a broader array of investment flows, property regimes, forest cover, and socio-political rights across scales as it drives increases in the speed of commodity extraction, production, mobility, and consumption. With illustrations from Amazonia and Selva Maya, the paper proposes ‘tradescapes’ as a useful framework to analyze infrastructure projects as part of multi-scalar mega-corridor networks and financial flows. Tradescapes transform relations between society, territory, and environment, with implications for infrastructure governance, resilience, and sustainability