Análisis de cobertura de uso de suelo mediante los datos satelitales de imágenes Landsat 7 y 8 para la región amazónica del Ecuador entre los años 2000 al 2022

Abstract

This work was based on the multi-temporal analysis of land cover and land use in the Amazon region of Ecuador. This region is part of one of the most biodiverse areas in Latin America and should be of utmost priority, given that these provinces possess vast hectares of biodiversity in flora and fauna, covering an area of 12,000,000 hectares. The objective was to conduct an analysis of vegetation cover in the Amazon region of Ecuador from 2000 to 2022 to identify the impacts of hydrocarbon and mining activities. Regarding the methodology, the processing of satellite images in Google Earth Engine was initiated. For the classification of land use cover as proposed in our study, its validity was verified using the confusion matrix and the Kappa index, yielding a high coefficient in the year 2000 with a result of 0.945, and a lower Kappa index in the year 2016 with a result of 0.915. Based on the data resulting from the multi-temporal analysis, the deforestation rate was calculated. The results showed a rate of change of -0.099 for the period from 2000 to 2005, a value of -0.001 for the period from 2005 to 2010, a value of 15.36 for the period from 2010 to 2016, and finally, a value of -15.48 for the period from 2016 to 2022.According to the information gathered, the growth of crops, urban expansion, mining, and oil-related activities were confirmed as the main sources of vegetation cover decrease.