Forest degradation patterns and Sembrando Vida in the Calakmul—Sian Ka'an Biological Corridor, Mexico

Keywords: Forest Degradation, Tropical Forest, Mexico, Sembrando Vida, Land System Science,
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Sembrando Vida [Sowing Life] is a Mexican agroforestry policy focused on halting deforestation and alleviating poverty with an important presence in the Yucatan. Recent studies have raised criticism regarding unintended consequences, such as the intentional degradation to access these incentives. Unlike deforestation, forest degradation is difficult to characterize and involves changes in vegetation structure and composition without land-cover change. We monitored the patterns of forest degradation in the Calakmul-Sian Ka'an Biological Corridor in Yucatan from 2000 to 2022. We subsequently assessed the potential impact of Sembrando Vida in the regions where the program has been implemented from 2019 to date. We used a spatially explicit approach for monitoring degradation in two steps: First, a time-series analysis of Landsat data to detect disturbances. Second, we calculated biomass estimates using 28 forest plot stands. The year with the highest occurrence of disturbances was 2005 (16.8%). Since the application of Sembrando Vida, 6.2% of the disturbance events have been recorded, highlighting a regional increase in disturbance events in 2019. Half of the disturbance events were of low magnitude and lasted between 3 and 5 years. On the other hand, the analyzed forest stands showed a reduction in biomass estimates in 2011 and 2022. Our results suggest continuous cycles between crop expansion and fallow. This territorial dynamic translates into a close relationship between the spatial configuration of the forest, degradation events, and changes in biomass. This approach offers long-term vegetation monitoring to understand how Sembrando Vida and other policies can impact forest degradation.