Deforestation in the municipality of Bacalar, Quintana Roo, Mexico during the period 1993-2017

Abstract

Deforestation due to land use change has been considered one of the leading causes of biological diversity loss, increasing carbon emissions, and other greenhouse gases. In recent decades there have been drastic changes in the forest cover of the municipality of Bacalar, Quintana Roo. To contribute to the sustainable management of the forests of Bacalar, forest cover change dynamics during the period 1993-2017 were studied through the analysis of satellite images and GIS; in addition, the main drivers of deforestation were identified with the integration of georeferenced ecological, socioeconomic, and institutional information at the community level, using ANOVA statistics. Results show that a total of 75 263 ha of forest cover was lost during the study period, representing an annual deforestation rate of 0.7%. Most deforestation occurred in the southwestern region of Bacalar. Deforestation in ejido communities was associated with urbanization, parcellation of communal lands, the number of parcels under production, as well as the age and total population. Communities with larger proportions of secondary and mature forests, and the number of ejido members (ejidatarios) or non-member residents (avecindados), tended to have lower deforestation. The results of this study are useful to guide public policies related to land use planning in the region.