Landscapes Forest and Global Change - ESA - Escola Superior ...

Akbarzadeh et al. 2010. Ecotourism and controlling forest stand damages
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structured interviews were carried out in 29 of the 30 households inside the NPA, and were
focused on household activity implementation. Special emphasis was placed on gathering data
on plots (distance to house, surface area, crops, activities implemented and labor allocation). An
additional 23 semi-structured interviews were carried out to gather data on household home
gardens (variety of species and uses). Informal interviews and semi-closed questions were used
to evaluate their views on ecotourism activities in the area. Emphasis was placed on informant
perceptions of the possibility of allocating more time to new economic activities (ecotourism)
instead of traditional ones.
Finally, a semi-structured interview was held with a tourist agency executive interested in
working in VARZEGAN. Future LUCC scenarios were projected using socioeconomic analysis
data, and the factor of possible land tenure changes in VARZEGAN.
To build these scenarios, we classified study area into 2 groups: (a) forest ecosystems and
biodiversity implemented at the same rate; (b) forest ecosystem and bio diversity decreases due
to the growing demand of ecotourism.
Characteristic vegetation in the VARZEGAN NPA is medium deciduous forest in different
successional stages, although small patches of seasonal grassland are also present. Vegetation
maps were generated using various tools and Spot 5 data, to validate the different described land
use and vegetation succession categories in VARZEGAN. Initially, a 2002 Etm+ panchromatic
image was interpreted and digi- talized. The visual interpretation of land use categories and
vegetation successional stages, as well as the mapping of the different trails in the NPA were
aided by performing ground verifications and by conducting participatory mapping exercises
with local inhabitants. They have a vast knowledge of plant species, forest successional stages
and land-use history which could be translated into spatial references given the scale at which
we were working at. By these processes were defined the following land use and vegetation
successional stages categories: agricultural units ( 0–1 year); four forest successional stages (2–
7; 8–15; 16–29; and 30–50 years); old-growth forest(>50years); Later, a 2005 SPOT image (5m
ground resolution) was interpreted using the same categories for land use and vegetation
successional stages defined for the 2002 map. Additionally, for thisimageweusedbands2,
3and4todigitalize, anddifferentiate among textures, forms and color patterns (IDRISI15,
Ilwis3.0). The successional stage category was assigned correctly in 90% of the sites.
3. Result
1. Tourism in the NPA will increase mainly because of agreements between local inhabitants
and one or more tourists.
2. Protection of area is seen more strongly, because degradation rate in these areas is lower
than the others.
In the first projection scenario (Scenario 1), land use cover maps for 1999 and 2003 were
projected to 2007 and then to2010under the assumption that the change observed between1999
and 2003 would occur at the same pace from 2003 to2007.
The second scenario (Scenario 2) was run in which the probabilities of observed change were
altered according to socioeconomic analysis results and current land tenure policy in the NPA.
In Scenario 2 we decreased by 8% the future probability that all succession categories would
change to a new agriculture.
Forest Landscapes and Global Change-New Frontiers in Management, Conservation and Restoration. Proceedings of the IUFRO Landscape Ecology
Working Group International Conference, September 21-27, 2010, Bragança, Portugal. J.C. Azevedo, M. Feliciano, J. Castro & M.A. Pinto (eds.)
2010, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança, Portugal.