Abstract

UYUNI, Gerson et al. Identification of priority areas for assisted restoration in forests affected by wildfires in the department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Ecología en Bolivia [online]. 2023, vol.58, n.2, pp.64-77.  Epub Sep 31, 2023. ISSN 1605-2528.

Ecological restoration is a group of actions aimed at reestablishing ecosystem functionality, contributing to human wellbeing, biodiversity conservation and to regulating the planet's climate. The restoration of degraded ecosystems in Bolivia is a priority strategy to reverse the loss of biodiversity and carbon storage, especially in areas impacted by wildfires. The objective of this study was to establish a methodology with a holistic approach for the identification of potential areas for the application of assisted restoration actions in areas impacted by fires in the department of Santa Cruz between 2019 and 2021. The method was based on multi-criteria decision analysis in which geographic variables were categorized based on three criteria: impact, biophysical and socioeconomic. The impact criterion included the level of severity and recurrence of wildfires, the biophysical criterion identified the forest cover affected by wildfires, while the socioeconomic criterion considered accessibility to population centers, productive areas and access roads. As a result, three priority categories were identified: medium, high and very high, which were analyzed at the departmental, municipal and protected area levels. The area categorized as very high priority covers 81,670 ha, representing 0.3% of the department's forests. The municipalities with the largest areas with a high priority for restoration are San Matías, San Ignacio de Velasco, San José de Chiquitos, San Rafael de Velasco and Charagua; and the protected areas of San Matías and Ñembi Guasu have the largest potential areas for restoration. We conclude that the applied model can serve as a support for decision making in any restoration program and recommend the inclusion of very high priority sites in the departmental restoration plan.

Keywords : Chiquitania; Multi-criteria analysis; Protected areas; Remote sensing; Territorial planning.

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