The data obtained by MapBiomas Peru warn about the accelerated dynamics of changes that occurred between 1985 and 2021 in the natural coverage of Peruvian territory, resulting in a loss of 3.9% of its natural vegetation. This has affected the country's ecosystems, biodiversity, ecosystem services, functionality, and connectivity. With a loss of 49.9% of its extent over 37 years, the alarming retreat of glaciers stands out due to climate change and black carbon caused by burning in the Amazon. These glaciers feed the sources of the country's major rivers, providing water to millions of people.
Another ecosystem heavily impacted is the seasonally dry forests in the northern part of the country. "This coverage has changed drastically, and what concerns us the most is that we are irreversibly losing it," says Renzo Piana, executive director of IBC. "The losses have been enormous, practically irreversible, and with no prospects of reversing this trend." The data sound alarm bells and give a sense of urgency to the need for decisive and vigorous action for these natural coverages in Peru," says Piana, emphasizing the impact on the food security of local populations.
The MapBiomas Peru (http://peru.mapbiomas.org/) is a new initiative led by Instituto del Bien Común – IBC in coordination with the MapBiomas Network and the RAISG (Red Amazónica de Información Socioambiental Georreferenciada). The results of this study will be presented in Lima on March 3rd during the event Peru: 37 years of changes in a megadiverse country - Collection 1.0 of Annual Land Cover and Land Use Maps of Peru (1985 – 2021), with the participation of national and international experts. The event will take place at the Hotel Costa del Sol in this city and will be livestreamed on the IBC YouTube channel..
Piana emphasizes the pioneering and innovative nature of MapBiomas Peru: "This initiative provides invaluable information to understand the dynamics of natural resource use in the country, as it contains very comprehensive information for a very broad period of analysis covering the entire Peruvian territory."
For Sandra Ríos, a researcher at IBC and coordinator of MapBiomas Peru, "this first collection fills a significant information gap in regions outside the Amazon area of the country." New analysis categories have been added to those that IBC has been managing for mapping natural land cover in the Amazon basin. The initiative analyzes forest formations of all types, shrublands, mangroves, glaciers, agricultural areas, urban areas, and mining," explains Ríos.
Tasso Azevedo, coordenador Geral da Rede MapBiomas, destaca o valor estratégico desta ferramenta de mapeamento e análise: “MapBiomas Peru contribui para o monitoramento com uma visão ampla, ajudando a construir e propor estratégias de conservação mais precisas de acordo com os tipos de cobertura natural e atividades antrópicas que existem em cada bioma”. Azevedo explica que esta é a primeira, depois do Brasil, de uma série de iniciativas que contribuirão para mapear a mudança do uso do solo em toda a América do Sul: “Pretendemos replicar este ano o enorme trabalho realizado no Peru nos outros países amazônicos, com nossos parceiros locais, a fim de mapear a América do Sul e compreender a dinâmica de mudança neste período de tempo para os diferentes biomas, países, regiões”.
Peru: 37 years of change in a megadiverse country
According to the study, in 1985, 59% of Peru's territory was covered by forests, of which 3.1% corresponded to dry forests in the northern part of the country and in the inter-Andean zones, and 55.9% to Amazonian forests. In the same year, 7.2% (about 9.3 million hectares) were covered by anthropogenic areas such as pastures, crops, mining, or urban areas. The analysis of natural land cover change reveals that anthropogenic areas reached 10.4% of the territory in 2021 (about 13.5 million hectares). However, the magnitude of human intervention varies according to the studied biomes, being 7.8% for the Amazon biome, 11.4% for the Coastal Desert, 14% for the Equatorial Dry Forest, and 15.2% for the Andes biome. The departments with the lowest proportion of anthropogenic area within their territory in 2021 are Moquegua and Tacna (1.9% and 2.7% respectively).
It's also worth noting the expansion of mining and infrastructure during the study period. Mining expanded from 3,000 hectares to over 119,000 hectares (a growth of 3763%), while infrastructure expanded from 99,000 hectares to nearly 257,000 hectares (a growth of 160%).
Accelerated transformation of the forest
There has been a rapid transformation of the dry forests in northern Peru. This is a poorly studied forest cover, with many information gaps. According to IBC researcher Kathrin Hopfgartner, "the information generated by MapBiomas Peru shows through technical-scientific data the importance of biomes such as the Equatorial Dry Forest, which contribute significantly to local and national biodiversity. At the same time, the data alert us about changes in natural coverage caused by various anthropogenic activities carried out between 1985 and 2021." According to the researcher, these activities endanger the natural balance of ecosystems by making them more vulnerable to climate change, in addition to threatening the food security of the population.
In terms of forest cover analysis, Andrea Bravo, also a researcher at IBC, points out that the Amazon was the biome that showed the greatest changes in the last 37 years, with a total loss of 2.6 million hectares (3.6%) of its natural vegetation. And although the Equatorial Dry Forest biome has a much smaller area (4.6 million hectares), in relative terms, it has the highest loss (8.4%) of its natural vegetation.
ABOUT THE MAPBIOMAS PERU PLATFORM
The MapBiomas Peru platforma é uma ferramenta que permite a qualquer pessoa com acesso à Internet compreender as mudanças no uso da terra em todo o Peru e as pressões sobre a cobertura natural da terra e sobre os ecossistemas. A informação gerada é compatível para todos os biomas do país e permite o status de 16 categorias de análise, chamadas “classes”, que incluem áreas cobertas por florestas, pastagens naturais, manguezais, agricultura e rios. As informações são gratuitas e estão disponíveis para download.
Também permite explorar a coleção de mapas anuais, abrangendo o período de 1985 a 2021, e identificar mudanças na cobertura e uso do solo em um determinado local (nacional, departamental e distrital) e período (ano, período de cinco anos, décadas, etc.). A ferramenta também exibe estatísticas em tabelas e gráficos dinâmicos, com as mudanças no uso no período exigido pelo usuário, e permite compreender a dinâmica das mudanças dentro e fora de uma Território Indígena ou Área Protegida. A plataforma também permite a exploração de dados relacionados a vetores de pressão sobre a cobertura terrestre natural, tais como concessões de mineração, campos de petróleo, estradas e usinas hidrelétricas.