Urbano e rural: famílias multi-instaladas, mobilidade e manejo dos recursos de várzea na Amazônia

http://dx.doi.org/10.5801/ncn.v11i2.271 Populações rurais na Amazônia, especialmente os ribeirinhos ou caboclos que vivem na grande região de várzea, mudam-se frequentemente. Por causa da efemeridade das margens dos cursos de água, assim como das áreas agrícolas e agroflorestais, e em função de incertezas fundiárias e de oportunidades para trabalho e mercados, em algumas regiões, em particular na região de várzea da bacia amazônica, famílias estão sempre prontas para a possibilidade da mudança, desmontando casas, abandonando comunidades e recomeçando sua vida em novas localidades. Neste breve artigo, apresentamos uma série de complexidades na história recente dos fluxos demográficos e das relações econômicas entre as zonas rurais e urbanas que tem caracterizado diferentes partes da bacia onde temos trabalhado, em particular as áreas estuarinas de Macapá e a várzea da Amazônia peruana

Campus inteligente en una universidad peruana

Las ciudades tienen grandes desafíos como el uso adecuado de espacios públicos, el transporte, el uso óptimo de la energía, el uso adecuado del agua y la gestión de los residuos. Ante esto surge el modelo de Smart City que consiste en convertir el entorno totalmente eficiente, monitoreado y administrado, que sea capaz de sostener las necesidades de sus ciudadanos. El concepto de “Smart City” es la aplicación de la recolección automática de datos ambientales y su procesamiento para una gestión eficiente de las áreas urbanas, así como de sus recursos y activos (Schaffers et al., 2011) esto está respaldado por la aplicación de la tecnología de información y comunicación y el paradigma de Internet de las Cosas o Internet of Ting (IoT). Las bondades del IoT es que permite conectar muchos dispositivos a internet a través de sensores y actuadores que realizan una variedad de tareas (Villegas et al., 2020). En el caso de una universidad tienen los mismos desafíos que una ciudad, pero a una escala menor, entonces si un área de una universidad adopta los principios de un Smart City se le denomina Smart Campus, con los beneficios de mejora en la gestión, la sostenibilidad ambiental y en actividades de aprendizaje. En la actualidad es una tendencia mundial que las universidades adopten el modelo de Smart Campus como respuesta a los desafíos que afectan el desarrollo y la operación de un campus (Fortes et al., 2019). La mejora continua en las universidades es una realidad así, con el rápido desarrollo de la computación en la nube, big data y el internet de las cosas (IoT), el avance de la tecnología de información integra gradualmente la educación e industria, haciendo que el nivel de informatización de la universidad sea constantemente mejorado. Sin embargo, aún existe muchos problemas con la administración de un campus tradicional, en tal sentido es un imperativo constituir un Smart Campus (Yang et al., 2018). Respecto a las universidades de Perú con sus campus tradicionales, sin la adopción del modelo están en desventaja frente a las universidades que si adoptan el modelo. Ante esto se propone este trabajo, que será un estudio descriptivo y diseño no experimental, considerando como caso una Universidad Nacional de Perú. Asímismo, siguiendo las tendencias de las universidades a nivel mundial por adoptar los Smart Campus en Perú las universidades deberían adoptar este paradigma, pues dará posicionamiento competitivo. Ya se menciona que hay estudios y propuestas para implantar este modelo en Perú. Este estudio propone plantear la adopción del modelo Smart Campus para una universidad peruana, considerando los desafíos que esto llevará, asimismo se considera los beneficios de la adopción de este modelo

Fragmentation Increases Impact of Wind Disturbance on Forest Structure and Carbon Stocks in a Western Amazonian Landscape

Tropical second-growth forests could help mitigate climate change, but the degree to which their carbon potential is achieved will depend on exposure to disturbance. Wind disturbance is common in tropical forests, shaping structure, composition, and function, and influencing successional trajectories. However, little is known about the impacts of extreme winds in fragmented landscapes, though second-growth forests are often located in mosaics of forest, pasture, cropland, and other land cover types. Though indirect evidence suggests that fragmentation increases risk of wind damage, few studies have found such impacts following severe storms. In this study, we ask whether fragmentation and forest type (old vs. second growth) were associated with variation in wind damage after a severe convective storm in a fragmented production landscape in western Amazonia. We applied linear spectral unmixing to Landsat 8 imagery from before and after the storm, and combined it with field observations of damage to map wind effects on forest structure and biomass (Figure 4, 5). We also used Landsat 8 imagery to map land cover with the goals of identifying old- and second-growth forest and characterizing fragmentation. We used these data to assess variation in wind disturbance across 95,596 hectares of forest, distributed over 6,110 patches. We find that fragmentation is significantly associated with wind damage, with damage severity higher at forest edges and in edgier, more isolated patches (Figure 7). Damage was more severe in old-growth than in second-growth forests, but this effect was weaker than that of fragmentation (Figure 8). These results illustrate the importance of considering spatial configuration and landscape context in planning tropical forest restoration and predicting carbon sequestration in second-growth forests. Future research should address the mechanisms behind these results, to minimize wind damage risk in second-growth forests so their carbon potential can be maximally achieved

Heightened fire probability in Indonesia in non-drought conditions: the effect of increasing temperatures

In Indonesia, drought driven fires occur typically during the warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation. This was the case of the events of 1997 and 2015 that resulted in months- long hazardous atmospheric pollution levels in Equatorial Asia and record greenhouse gas emissions. Nonetheless, anomalously active fire seasons have also been observed in non-drought years. In this work, we investigated the impact of temperature on fires and found that when the July–October (JASO) period is anomalously dry, the sensitivity of fires to temperature is modest. In contrast, under normal-to-wet conditions, fire probability increases sharply when JASO is anomalously warm. This describes a regime in which an active fire season is not limited to drought years. Greater susceptibility to fires in response to a warmer environment finds support in the high evapotranspiration rates observed in normal-to-wet and warm conditions in Indonesia. We also find that fire probability in wet JASOs would be considerably less sensitive to temperature were not for the added effect of recent positive trends. Near-term regional climate projections reveal that, despite negligible changes in precipitation, a continuing warming trend will heighten fire probability over the next few decades especially in non-drought years. Mild fire seasons currently observed in association with wet conditions and cool temperatures will become rare events in Indonesia

Land-use dynamics influence estimates of carbon sequestration potential in tropical second-growth forest

Many countries have made major commitments to carbon sequestration through reforestation under the Paris Climate Agreement, and recent studies have illustrated the potential for large amounts of carbon sequestration in tropical second-growth forests. However, carbon gains in second-growth forests are threatened by non-permanence, i.e. release of carbon into the atmosphere from clearing or disturbance. The benefits of second-growth forests require long-term persistence on the landscape, but estimates of carbon potential rarely consider the spatio-temporal landscape dynamics of second-growth forests. In this study, we used remotely sensed imagery from a landscape in the Peruvian Amazon to examine patterns of second-growth forest regrowth and permanence over 28 years (1985–2013). By 2013, 44% of all forest cover in the study area was second growth and more than 50% of second-growth forest pixels were less than 5 years old. We modeled probabilities of forest regrowth and clearing as a function of landscape factors. The amount of neighboring forest and variables related to pixel position (i.e. distance to edge) were important for predicting both clearing and regrowth. Forest age was the strongest predictor of clearing probability and suggests a threshold response of clearing probability to age. Finally, we simulated future trajectories of carbon sequestration using the parameters from our models. We compared this with the amount of biomass that would accumulate under the assumption of second-growth permanence. Estimates differed by 900 000 tonnes, equivalent to over 80% of Peru's commitment to carbon sequestration through 'community reforestation' under the Paris Agreement. Though the study area has more than 40 000 hectares of second-growth forest, only a small proportion is likely to accumulate significant carbon. Instead, cycles between forest and non-forest are common. Our results illustrate the importance of considering landscape dynamics when assessing the carbon sequestration potential of second-growth forests

High-yield oil palm expansion spares land at the expense of forests in the Peruvian Amazon

High-yield agriculture potentially reduces pressure on forests by requiring less land to increase production. Using satellite and field data, we assessed the area deforested by industrial-scale high-yield oil palm expansion in the Peruvian Amazon from 2000 to 2010, finding that 72% of new plantations expanded into forested areas. In a focus area in the Ucayali region, we assessed deforestation for high- and smallholder low-yield oil palm plantations. Low-yield plantations accounted for most expansion overall (80%), but only 30% of their expansion involved forest conversion, contrasting with 75% for high-yield expansion. High-yield expansion minimized the total area required to achieve production but counter-intuitively at higher expense to forests than low-yield plantations. The results show that high-yield agriculture is an important but insufficient strategy to reduce pressure on forests. We suggest that high-yield agriculture can be effective in sparing forests only if coupled with incentives for agricultural expansion into already cleared lands

Land cover change interacts with drought severity to change fire regimes in Western Amazonia

Fire is becoming a pervasive driver of environmental change in Amazonia and is expected to intensify, given projected reductions in precipitation and forest cover. Understanding of the influence of post-deforestation land cover change on fires in Amazonia is limited, even though fires in cleared lands constitute a threat for ecosystems, agriculture, and human health. We used MODIS satellite data to map burned areas annually between 2001 and 2010. We then combined these maps with land cover and climate information to understand the influence of land cover change in cleared lands and dry-season severity on fire occurrence and spread in a focus area in the Peruvian Amazon. Fire occurrence, quantified as the probability of burning of individual 232-m spatial resolution MODIS pixels, was modeled as a function of the area of land cover types within each pixel, drought severity, and distance to roads. Fire spread, quantified as the number of pixels burned in 3 × 3 pixel windows around each focal burned pixel, was modeled as a function of land cover configuration and area, dry-season severity, and distance to roads. We found that vegetation regrowth and oil palm expansion are significantly correlated with fire occurrence, but that the magnitude and sign of the correlation depend on drought severity, successional stage of regrowing vegetation, and oil palm age. Burning probability increased with the area of nondegraded pastures, fallow, and young oil palm and decreased with larger extents of degraded pastures, secondary forests, and adult oil palm plantations. Drought severity had the strongest influence on fire occurrence, overriding the effectiveness of secondary forests, but not of adult plantations, to reduce fire occurrence in severely dry years. Overall, irregular and scattered land cover patches reduced fire spread but irregular and dispersed fallows and secondary forests increased fire spread during dry years. Results underscore the importance of land cover management for reducing fire proliferation in this landscape. Incentives for promoting natural regeneration and perennial crops in cleared lands might help to reduce fire risk if those areas are protected against burning in early stages of development and during severely dry years

North Tropical Atlantic influence on western Amazon fire season variability

The prevailing wet climate in the western Amazon is not favorable to the natural occurrence of fires. Nevertheless, the current process of clearing of humid forests for agriculture and cattle ranching has increased the vulnerability of the region to the spread of fires. Using meteorological stations precipitation and the Moderate Resolution Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Active-Fires (AF) during 2000-2009, we show that fire anomalies vary closely with July-August-September (JAS) precipitation variability as measured by the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). The precipitation variability is, in turn, greatly determined by sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the North Tropical Atlantic (NTA). We develop a linear regression model to relate local fire activity to an index of the NTA-SST. By using seasonal forecasts of SST from a coupled model, we are able to predict anomalous JAS fire activity as early as April. We applied the method to predict the severe 2010 JAS season, which indicated strongly positive seasonal fire anomalies within the 95% prediction confidence intervals in most western Amazon. The spatial distribution of predicted SPI was also in accordance with observed precipitation anomalies. This three months lead time precipitation and fire prediction product in the western Amazon could help local decision makers to establish an early warning systems or other appropriate course of action before the fire season begins

EVALUACION POBLACIONAL Y USO SOSTENIBLE DE ANIMALES DE CAZA POR COMUNIDADES INDÍGENAS EN EL ÁREA DE CONSERVACIÓN REGIONAL AMPIYACU APAYACU, NORESTE DE LA AMAZONÍA PERUANA

Este estudio presenta los resultados de la evaluación poblacional de fauna silvestre y el conocimiento de las especies sujetas a caza sostenible por comunidades pertenecientes a la Federación de Comunidades Nativas del Ampiyacu (FECONA) durante el 2016 en la zona de aprovechamiento directa del Área de Conservación Regional Ampiyacu Apayacu (ACRAA). Las comunidades locales participaron en la evaluación bajo el liderazgo de la Dirección Ejecutiva de Conservación y Diversidad Biológica del Gobierno Regional de Loreto. Aplicamos las metodologías de registros de caza, diálogos interactivos y censos de fauna silvestre. El método de cosecha unificado fue empleado para realizar el análisis de sostenibilidad de la caza. En total, fueron seis las especies más preferidas por la población local, que soportan la presión de caza y se encuentran por debajo del límite de cosecha sostenible. Estas especies fueron: Pecari tajacu “sajino”, Tayassu pecari “huangana”, Mazama americana “venado colorado”, M. nemorivaga “venado gris”, Cuniculus paca “majás” y Dasyprocta fuliginosa “añuje”. La información proporcionada en este artículo, está siendo utilizada por el Gobierno Regional de Loreto para definir las tasas de aprovechamiento comercial a pequeña escala de las especies que soportan la presión de caza, hasta que se elabore un plan de manejo. Esta experiencia piloto es única dada para las áreas de conservación regional en la amazonía de Loreto, cuyas lecciones aprendidas indudablemente serán aplicadas con las adaptaciones del caso a otras áreas de conservación regional

Decadal covariability of Atlantic SSTs and western Amazon dry-season hydroclimate in observations and CMIP5 simulations

The unusual severity and return time of the 2005 and 2010 dry-season droughts in western Amazon is attributed partly to decadal climate fluctuations and a modest drying trend. Decadal variability of western Amazon hydroclimate is highly correlated to the Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) north-south gradient (NSG). Shifts of dry and wet events frequencies are also related to the NSG phase, with a 66% chance of 3+ years of dry events per decade when NSG > 0 and 19% when NSG < 0. The western Amazon and NSG decadal covariability is well reproduced in general circulation models (GCMs) historical (HIST) and preindustrial control (PIC) experiments of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). The HIST and PIC also reproduce the shifts in dry and wet events probabilities, indicating potential for decadal predictability based on GCMs. Persistence of the current NSG positive phase favors above normal frequency of western Amazon dry events in coming decades