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Assessing Management of Nicaragua’s Caribbean Region Protected Areas Using Remote Sensing: The Indio Maíz Biological Reserve

Muñoz Gamboa, Paola Sofía
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9336-3422
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1628265519609002

Abstract Details

2021, Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, Environmental Studies (Voinovich).
In the tropics, deforestation is the most significant contributor to biodiversity loss, land degradation, habitat fragmentation, and climate variation. In the Neotropics, the main driver of deforestation is the expansion of the agricultural frontier. The forests of Nicaragua are home to 2% of the world's species, passages of Central American wildlife, and most of the indigenous communities in the Caribbean. The autocratic government of Nicaragua has endangered the preservation of its forests due to negligence in its protection and in the search for the well-being of the people who live around it, even if the forests are within a protected area. In collaboration with Centro Humboldt in Nicaragua, I created an Indio Maíz Biological Reserve map with a 10 km buffer zone for 2020. I compared it with two maps made by the Ministry of the Environmental and Centro Humboldt from 2010 and 2015, respectively. I mapped land-use changes in Indio Maíz Biological Reserve in Nicaragua between 2010 and 2020 in five-year increments. The creation of this set of maps of land-cover changes over time enabled the calculation of deforestation and forest fragmentation rates and the comparison of data inside and outside protected areas. This mapping included identifying main economic activities, including cattle ranching, perennial plantations, annual crops, and gold mining. The creation of this 2020 map made it possible to calculate deforestation rates inside and outside protected areas, with a special focus on the Indio Maíz Biological Reserve (IM). The maps showed a higher deforestation rate per year outside (-3.2%) than inside (-2.5%) Indio Maíz Biological Reserve between 2010 and 2020. However, the deforestation rate increased nine times inside the protected area between 2010 and 2020, while it decreased by half outside the biological reserve in the same period. Deforestation is scattered in IM, gradually thinning the forests to pasture and reducing its core zone. The land-use change map between 2010 and 2020 can be used as a basis for decision-makers to optimize the protection in IM and to involve the indigenous communities in its protection. The authoritarian regime established by Daniel Ortega in 2007 makes this resource especially critical.
Geoffrey D. Dabelko (Advisor)
Geoffrey D. Dabelko (Committee Chair)
Geoffrey L. Buckley (Committee Member)
Brad D. Jokisch (Committee Member)
174 p.
Biology; Conservation; Environmental Studies; Geography; Remote Sensing
Remote Sensing; GIS; Nicaragua; Indio Maíz Biological Reserve; Deforestation; Land-Cover Change; Out-Migration; Agricultural Frontier

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Muñoz Gamboa, P. S. (2021). Assessing Management of Nicaragua’s Caribbean Region Protected Areas Using Remote Sensing: The Indio Maíz Biological Reserve [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1628265519609002

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Muñoz Gamboa, Paola. Assessing Management of Nicaragua’s Caribbean Region Protected Areas Using Remote Sensing: The Indio Maíz Biological Reserve. 2021. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1628265519609002.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Muñoz Gamboa, Paola. "Assessing Management of Nicaragua’s Caribbean Region Protected Areas Using Remote Sensing: The Indio Maíz Biological Reserve." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1628265519609002

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1628265519609002
487
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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.