Mais de 500.000 hectares de floresta nativa, entre Valparaíso e Los Lagos, foram perdidos no Centro-Sul do país nos últimos 20 anos. Esse resultado, parte do lançamento da Coleção 1 de mapas anuais de cobertura e uso da terra (2000-2022), foi obtido a partir da análise destes mapas gratuitos e públicos neste período na plataforma MapBiomas Chile (chile.mapbiomas.org).

The platform offers an unprecedented view of the evolution of Chilean territory in a context of climate change and extreme drought, as it brings together information on wetlands and grasslands, ice and glaciers, forest cover, forest plantations, farming activities, urban areas, among others.

The initiative is a collaboration with experts from the University of Chile, the University of Concepción, the University of Magallanes, the University of La Frontera and WWF Chile. The project used images from the Landsat satellite, cloud processing and artificial intelligence classifiers operated from the Google Earth Engine platform.

The data, taken from Collection 1, "MapBiomas Chile: Revealing the dynamics of a changing landscape - Launch of Collection 1 of annual land cover and land use maps (2000-2022)", reveal a portrait of Chile in which: 

• Forest accounts for around 22% of the country's total area, while exposed soil and desert account for 24%. 
• Nationwide, there has been a net loss of 120,000 hectares of native forest in the last two decades.
• The extent of Chile's forest plantations is 3.1 million hectares, equivalent to 39% expansion.
• Agricultural and livestock uses occupy 4.8 Mha, equivalent to the size of Chile's Los Lagos region.
• Between 2000 and 2022, urban expansion increased by 33%, equivalent to 127,000 hectares.
• Patagonia is home to 80% of the country's glaciers and, in the last two decades, it has shrunk by 10% or approximately 410,000 hectares.

Important changes

In the case of the Center-South, the most significant change is the decline of species native to the Mediterranean climate. Since 2000, around 8% of forest territory (500,000 hectares) has been lost, despite the fact that at national level forest cover is over 16.7 million hectares. However, this contrasts with the situation in Patagonia, in the regions of Aysén and Magallanes, where the results indicate an increase of 450,000 hectares, which compensates for the loss in the south-central part of the country.

The areas of exposed soil and desert represent 24% of the country and are concentrated in the north, equivalent to more than half of this territory (56%). Another result that stands out is the situation of ice and glaciers, with a net loss of around 10% from 2000 to 2022 - around 410,000 hectares. Approximately 80% of glaciers are concentrated in the Patagonia region.

The following changes were also recorded: expansion of forest plantations by 39%, covering around 3.1 Mha; agricultural and livestock uses occupying 4.8 Mha of the country; and an increase in urban expansion by 33%, equivalent to 127,000 hectares, between 2000 and 2022.

Professor Jaime Hernández, general coordinator of MapBiomas Chile, highlights the amount of data that has been generated that was previously unavailable to people. "The annual maps of land occupation and use make it possible to assess the evolution of human use of the territory. It's a very important input for decision-makers to have robust technical support on the consequences of the management policies for our natural resources and urban settlements or, moreover, the lack of them," he says.

For her part, the researcher of the MapBiomas Chile initiative, Valentina González, highlights the advantage of the information being easily accessible, free of charge and open to anyone interested. In addition, González points out that "the information can be used by everyone, as access is simple through the website and it can be used for multiple purposes, to assess changes in the landscape, to monitor land occupation and to make decisions about the territory, among others."

"MapBiomas has a logic of continuous improvement. This means that each collection improves the precision and accuracy of the data. In future collections, we will increase the number of classes to be included in the maps and add modules for specific topics relevant to the country, such as monitoring forest fires and water bodies, on an annual and monthly basis," concludes Professor Hernández.

About MapBiomas Chile - MapBiomas Chile is made up of experts from the University of Chile, the University of Concepción, the University of La Frontera, the University of Magallanes and WWF Chile. The MapBiomas collaborative network was created in 2015 in Brazil with local institutions and has expanded to South American countries and Indonesia. Both the data generated and the codes adapted for its processing and methodology are free and open access, offering an independent tool and contributing to nature conservation, territorial planning, monitoring of water resources and agriculture, among other sectors (chile.mapbiomas.org).