Land use - Land cover conversion, regeneration and degradation in the high elevation Bolivian Andes

Regional land-cover change affects biodiversity, hydrology, and biogeochemical cycles at local, watershed, and landscape scales. Developing countries are experiencing rapid land cover change, but assessment is often restricted by limited financial resources, accessibility, and historical data. The assessment of regional land cover patterns is often the first step in developing conservation and management plans. This study used remotely sensed land cover and topographic data (Landsat and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission), supervised classification techniques, and spectral mixture analysis to characterize current landscape patterns and quantify land cover change from 1985 to 2003 in the Altiplano (2535-4671 m) and Intermediate Valley (Mountain) (1491-4623 m) physiographic zones in the Southeastern Bolivian Andes. Current land cover was mapped into six classes with an overall accuracy of 88% using traditional classification techniques and limited field data. The land cover change analysis showed that extensive deforestation, desertification, and agricultural expansion at a regional scale occurred in the last 20 years (17.3% of the Mountain Zone and 7.2% of the Altiplano). Spectral mixture analysis (SMA) indicated that communal rangeland degradation has also occurred, with increases in soil and non-photosynthetic vegetation fractions in most cover classes. SMA also identified local areas with intensive management activities that are changing differently from the overall region (e.g., localized areas of increased green vegetation). This indicates that actions of local communities, governments, and environmental managers can moderate the potentially severe future changes implied by the results of this study.