Planning Visit: The Human Ecology of Land-Use Land-Cover Change in the Toledo District Belize- A Remote Sensing Approach

Portland State University, Portland OR

Investigators

Abstract

0349512 Emch This Americas Program Planning Visit award will provide funds to Dr. Michael Emch and Dr. Martha Works of Portland State University to plan collaborative research with Dr. Robin Coleman and Mr. William Maheia of the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment in Punta Gorda, Belize. The researchers aim to investigate the reasons for land-use land-cover (LULC) changes in the Toledo District of Belize. Using a remote sensing approach, the investigators will randomly identify pixels that have changed (i.e., deforested or reforested) and visit those locations to determine why they changed; a questionnaire will be administered to the land users to obtain this information. Proposed activities include: (1) a ground-truth field survey of preliminary satellite image processing LULC change results, (2) the design and pretest of a questionnaire that will be used to determine why LULC changes occurred, and (3) meetings with the entire research team to discuss preliminary findings and design and plan a larger project. Understanding land-use land-cover (LULC) change in areas with tropical forests can contribute to sustainable conservation planning and management. Ultimately, the project will help to document LULC change in the Toledo District, Belize during the past three decades and provide an assessment of why these changes took place. The project has two primary objectives: one, to measure changes in forest cover that occurred since 1975, and two, to begin to understand why these changes took place. The human role in LULC change is important for environmental conservation and management. By investigating LULC change in southern Belize this project will build upon geographic human ecology theories. There is a growing understanding that environmental change and its causes are very different in different settings and thus understanding LULC change must be multifaceted, multiscalar, and multitemporal. The Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) and the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences are jointly supporting this planning visit.