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Scientific Article details

Title Historical Changes and Future Trajectories of Deforestation in the Ituri-Epulu-Aru Landscape (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
ID_Doc 66465
Authors Kabuanga, JM; Kankonda, OM; Saqalli, M; Maestripieri, N; Bilintoh, TM; Mweru, JPM; Liama, AB; Nishuli, R; Mané, L
Title Historical Changes and Future Trajectories of Deforestation in the Ituri-Epulu-Aru Landscape (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Year 2021
Published Land, 10, 10
DOI 10.3390/land10101042
Abstract The Ituri-Epulu-Aru landscape (IEAL) is experiencing deforestation and forest degradation. This deforestation is at the root of many environmental disturbances in a region characterized by endemism in biodiversity. The importance of this article is to provide useful information for those who wish to discuss a model that can be replicated for other territories affected by deforestation and changes in natural and anthropogenic forest structure. This article focuses on the triangulation of spatialized prospective scenarios in order to identify future trajectories based on the knowledge of historical dynamics through the diachronic analysis of three satellite images (2003-2010-2014-2016). The scenarios were designed in a supervised model implemented in the DINAMICA EGO platform. The three scenarios: business as-usual (BAU), rapid economic growth (REG) and sustainable management of the environment (SME), extrapolating current trends, show that by 2061 this landscape will always be dominated forests (+84%). Old-growth forests occupy 74.2% of the landscape area in the BAU scenario, 81.4% in the SEM scenario and 61.2% in the REG scenario. The SEM scenario gives hope that restoration and preservation of biodiversity priority habitats is still possible if policy makers become aware of it.

Author Keywords land use change; modeling; scenario; deforestation; DINAMICA EGO; PFBC landscapes; Democratic Republic of the Congo
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)
EID WOS:000711518600001
WoS Category Environmental Studies
Research Area Environmental Sciences & Ecology
PDF https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/10/1042/pdf?version=1634881076
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