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Deforestation and forest degradation as measures of Popa Mountain Park (Myanmar) effectiveness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2010

NAING ZAW HTUN ,
NOBUYA MIZOUE ,
TSUYOSHI KAJISA  and
SHIGEJIRO YOSHIDA
NAING ZAW HTUN*
Affiliation:
Nature and Wildlife Conservation Division, Forest Department, Myanmar Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Laboratory of Forest Management, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
NOBUYA MIZOUE
Affiliation:
Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
TSUYOSHI KAJISA
Affiliation:
Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
SHIGEJIRO YOSHIDA
Affiliation:
Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
*
*Correspondence: Naing Zaw Htun Tel: +81 92 642 2867 Fax: +81 92 642 2867 e-mail: nzhtun@yahoo.com
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Summary

The effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) has often been measured by comparing deforestation or land cover loss before and after PA establishment or within and outside the PA. Such evaluations ignore forest degradation or the decline in quality of the ecological values of the forest. Landsat image processing and geographical information systems were used to study forest cover changes in and around Popa Mountain Park (central Myanmar). Deforestation inside the Park was lower than outside the Park, but forest degradation, namely the net area that changed from dense forest to open forest, within the Park had grown at rates exceeding those outside the Park. The effectiveness of the PA was overestimated by adopting deforestation as the only indicator of conservation effectiveness. Forest degradation studies can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of PAs.

Keywords

deforestationforest degradationlocal peopleprotected arearemote sensing
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , September 2009 , pp. 218 - 224
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2010

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