Twenty years of land cover change in the southeastern Peruvian Amazon: implications for biodiversity conservation

The Amazonian ecosystems of Madre de Dios (MDD) region, considered Peru's capital of biodiversity due to its impressive species richness, are threatened by the rapid expansion of infrastructure. The paving of the Interoceanic Highway in 2010 has brought rapid population growth and environmental degradation, threatening large-scale conservation efforts such as the Vilcabamba-Amboro Conservation Corridor (VACC). To quantify the impacts of development processes and to identify critical areas where further conservation efforts should be focused, we analyzed 20 years of land use and land cover (LULC) dynamics, drivers, and fragmentation patterns in MDD. We mapped LULC in 1993, 2003, and 2013 using Landsat imagery and modeled the proximate drivers of change related to deforestation, forest regrowth, gold mining, agriculture, and urban expansion in two time periods (1993-2003 and 2003-2013). We characterized habitat fragmentation patterns in four regional target areas. Our results show accelerated deforestation triggered by the road network spreading, mining and agriculture expansion, and population growth. LULC changes produced two contrasting spatial landscape patterns: numerous small forest fragments in the north due to agricultural expansion along the Interoceanic Highway and large continuous forest losses caused by gold mining expansion in the south. Current unplanned development in this region is threatening its outstanding biodiversity. We suggest that further conservation efforts should focus on strengthening the legal framework of the VACC, implementing a sustainable management plan for MDD, promoting agroforestry strategies along the Interoceanic Highway, and preserving smaller corridors for animal movement.