I intend to utilize remote sensing imagery to analyze the impacts on land use cover of the road development around the Podocarpus National Park (PNP) in Ecuador. Models have been applied in the Andean Amazon basin of Peru to predict the effect of the opening of roads in deforestation and land conversion. Combining results from these models in Peru with spatial imagery for the PNP can be a tool to predict scenarios of risk associated to road opening in the surroundings of the Park.
This information can assist in generating zoning plans and incorporating land use planning in the work of the Park’s managers. This study forms part of a rapid assessment at PNP being conducted by a group of FES students in coordination with the Ecuadorian office of The Nature Conservancy and Arcoiris, a regional NGO long active in park creation and management.