Mapping land use of tropical regions from space

Mapping land use of tropical regions from space.

A n alarming annual average deforestation rate of 22,500 km2 in the Brazilian Amazon (1) from 2000 to 2005 has focused international attention on Brazil because of the destruction of this high-biodiversity biome (2) and its globally significant contribution to carbon emissions (3). Deforestation has already converted 680,000 km2 of pristine forests to other land covers, accounting for 75% of Br...

Dynamics of Land-use and Land-cover Change in Tropical Regions

■ Abstract We highlight the complexity of land-use/cover change and propose a framework for a more general understanding of the issue, with emphasis on tropical regions. The review summarizes recent estimates on changes in cropland, agricultural intensification, tropical deforestation, pasture expansion, and urbanization and identifies the still unmeasured land-cover changes. Climate-driven lan...

Infective Causes of Stroke in Tropical Regions

Vascular diseases of the brain are the second reason of the death and the first cause of morbidity and disability worldwide. In tropical areas stroke has some particular features related to the nature of torrid zones. There are some special causes of the stroke, mainly infectious, although some of them are non-infectious. The most important etiologies are malaria, tuberculosis, cysticercosis, s...

Land-cover and Land-use Mapping

Drivers of Households’ Land-Use Decisions: A Critical Review of Micro-Level Studies in Tropical Regions

This paper reviews 91 recent empirical and theoretical studies that analyzed land-use change at the farm-household level. The review builds on a conceptual framework of land-use change drivers and conducts a meta-analysis. Results show that the conversion of forests into cultivated land or grassland, mainly used for agriculture or ranching, are most frequently analyzed. Only a small number of s...