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f the work being
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or is thankful to
S. Parihar, Deputy
nd support for this
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acknowledges the
team of GEER
Centre, ISRO.
International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XXXIX-B8, 2012
XXII ISPRS Congress, 25 August — 01 September 2012, Melbourne, Australia
MODIS TIME SERIES FOR LAND USE CHANGE DETECTION IN FIELDS OF THE
AMAZON SOY MORATORIUM
J. Risso ® *, B. F. T. Rudorff^, M. Adami? A. P. D. Aguiar? R. M. Freitas *
* National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Av. dos Astronautas, 1.758 Sáo José dos Campos, SP, Brazil - (risso,
bernardo, adami, ramon)@dsr.inpe.br; ana.aguiar@inpe.br
Commission VIII, WG VIII/6
KEY WORDS: Land Use, Land Cover, Multitemporal, Forestry, Crop
ABSTRACT:
À virtual globe to visualize time series of pixels from the MODIS sensor over the South American continent is available in the
Internet and was developed at the Brazilian Institute for Space Research. The MODIS images acquired since the year 2000 were
transformed to a vegetation index (EVI2, two-band Enhanced Vegetation Index) with pixel size of 250 m. This study aims to use
these time series to identify land use changes (LUC) based on the temporal profile of EVI2 values of deforested polygons between
2007 and 2011 within the context of the Soy Moratorium. Deforested polygons were divided in two strata: with and without soy in
crop year 2010/11. From the MODIS/EVD time series the following classes were identified: forest, degraded forest, total clearing of
the area, regrowth of forest, regrowth with pasture, pasture, agriculture, and soy. For stratum 1, the dominant LUC trajectory was:
forest — degradation — regrowth / regrowth with pasture. In the second stratum it was observed two main LUC trajectories: 1) forest —
degraded forest — total clearing of the area — annual crop (rice) — soy; and 2) forest — total clearing of the area — annual crop (rice) —
soy. For most samples of stratum 2 the LUC trajectory was agriculture (e.g., rice) between total clearing and soy cultivation. These
patterns occurred on average over two harvests, which may be considered the necessary time for soil correction and total removal of
above ground stumps and roots to enable mechanized soy harvesting. The fast evaluation of one hundred polygons during 11 years
was only possible due to the virtual globe to visualize the MODIS time series that proved to be an important tool to improve the
understanding of LUC dynamics in the Amazon region.
1. INTRODUCTION
The majority of the net carbon emissions in Brazil is estimated
to come from land use change (LUC), in particular due to the
conversion of forest to agricultural land (BRASIL, 2008).
During the past few decades the main hotspots of this
conversion have been concentrated in the southern and
southeastern Amazon regions where most of the expansion of
the agricultural frontier takes place (Alves, 2002; Fearnside,
2005; Skole and Tucker, 1993).
Large scale agricultural activity in the Amazon began in the
1970s. During this period and throughout the following decades
several governmental programs such as National Integration
Program (PIN), Program for Land Redistribution and
Stimulation of Agribusiness in the North and Northeast
(PROTERRA), and Advance Brazil and were promoted to
incentivize colonization, development and integration of the
Amazon into the national economy. In addition to these
programs the easy credit, the construction of highways, and the
vast offering of land at irresistible prices attracted many farmers
from southern Brazil (Laurance et al, 2001; Nepstad et al.,
2002). The opportunity to guarantee ownership through land
tenure or by proof of productive use of the land also attracted
farmers and speculators to the Amazon (Hecht et al., 1988,
Alston et al., 2000).
Among the government investments for the viability of the
agricultural production in this region, programs for genetic
improvement and adaptation of soy to low latitude regions were
developed by EMBRAPA (Sousa, 1990) With new
technologies and seeds adapted to tropical conditions, the
cultivated crop area increased rapidly, and soy cultivation
became one of the main economic activities, particularly in the
state of Mato Grosso. Beginning in the 1990s, the expansion of
the agricultural frontier in the Amazon started to be driven by
market forces. For example, the demand for meat in the Middle
East and Russia, and for soy in China (Fearnside, 2001; Macedo
et al., 2012; Nepstad et al., 2006; Morton et al., 2006).
With the increase in global demand for food, which was not
entirely met by increases in agricultural productivity, the
conversion of forest to agriculture became a market solution
and, at the same time, a major environmental problem. This
insight is reason of the increase on environmental awareness
since the conservation of forest land became critical in order to
minimize the effects of global climate change. In this way,
deforestation in the Amazon that was initially fomented by
public policies started to be severely combated by government
and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Even the market
has adopted some measures to contain deforestation. Some of
these actions are: 1) the establishment in 2003 of the Action
Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the
Legal Amazon (P/ano de Acáo para Prevencáo e Controle do
Desmatamento na Amazónia Legal - PPCDAM) (BRASIL,
2008); 2) the Soy Moratorium in 2006 (Rudorff et al., 2011)
and; 3) the Beef Moratorium in 2009 (Boucher et al., 2011).
Slowing down the advance of soy production in recent
deforested land in the Amazon has also been the goal of several
NGOs since the beginning of the 2000s. Greenpeace stood out
by advertising the negative impact of soy produced in
deforested land in the Amazon, in front of McDonald's
restaurants in Europe. In addition to the protests, Greenpeace
