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Rapid deforestation has occurred in northern Thailand over the last few decades and it is expected to continue. The government has implemented conservation policies aimed at maintaining forest cover of 50% or more and promoting agribusiness, forestry, and tourism development in the region. The goal of this paper was to analyze the likely effects of...
Citations
... Thailand lies within the Indo-Burmese biodiversity hotspot and contains a wealth of endemic species, many of them still awaiting description (Myers et al. 2000). This diversity is imperiled by a suite of factors, chief among them deforestation (Trisurat et al. 2010). While 23% of the country's land lies within a network of protected areas, these are highly fragmented and remain subject to both human exploitation and climate change (Pomoim et al. 2022;Singh et al. 2021). ...
Thailand hosts a very rich but underexplored giant pill-millipede (Sphaerotheriida) fauna, with 11 of its 13 species described in the last three years. Currently, all known Thai giant pill-millipedes belong to the genera Zephronia Gray, 1832 (nine species) and Sphaerobelum Verhoeff, 1924 (four species). Here we describe the first two species of the genus Prionobelum Verhoeff, 1924 (previously restricted to Vietnam and China), Prionobelum inthanonense n. sp. and P. naevium n. sp. from Thailand. The species occur at Thailand’s highest mountain (2500 m) Doi Inthanon and the lowland rainforests at Bang Lang National Park touching the border with Malaysia. Both species are described integratively, utilizing light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy as well as DNA barcoding. Both new species of Prionobelum differ from other Zephroniidae species, as well as from one another, by more than 20% p-distance in the COI barcoding gene suggesting that potential closer related species are still awaiting discovery.
... The highly clustered spatial distribution of morbidity due to CRD in northern Thailand discovered in our countrywide study is consistent with the findings of Pothirat et al. (2015), who described a higher COPD prevalence among a rural community in the North. There are reasons to believe that the reasons behind the problems in this part of the country may be due to an inflammatory environmental issue connected with a move to turn forest land into cornfields, which has led to rapid deforestation in the Thai highlands (Trisurat et al., 2010). The extensive use of fire to prepare and maintain land for agriculture called human-initiated biomass burning (Yin, 2020), has released large amounts of particulate matter into the atmosphere, which has been linked with an increase of respiratory diseases as described by Rujivanarom (2019). ...
Chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) constitute 4% of the global disease burden and cause 4 million deaths annually. This cross-sectional study used QGIS and GeoDa to explore the spatial pattern and heterogeneity of CRDs morbidity and spatial autocorrelation between socio-demographic factors and CRDs in Thailand from 2016 to 2019. We found an annual, positive, spatial autocorrelation (Moran’s I >0.66, p<0.001) showing a strong clustered distribution. The local indicators of spatial association (LISA) identified hotspots mostly in the northern region, while coldspots were mostly seen in the central and north-eastern regions throughout the study period. Of the socio-demographic factors, the density of population, households, vehicles, factories and agricultural areas, correlated with the CRD morbidity rate, with statistically significant negative spatial autocorrelations and coldspots in the north-eastern and central areas (except for agricultural land) and two hotspots between farm household density and CRD in the southern region in 2019. This study identified vulnerable provinces with high risk of CRDs and can guide prioritization of resource allocation and provide target interventions for policy makers.
... The Chiang Mai-Lamphun basin has been achieved rapid socioeconomic development since 1984 due to national policy efforts following Thailand's economic boom (McGrath et al., 2017). Many recent studies indicated that forest areas in the Chiang Mai-Lamphun basin are continuously decreasing, especially the upland forests that were converted to cultivated areas (Arunyawat & Shrestha, 2016;Choocharoen et al., 2014;Lee et al., 2022;Lippe et al., 2017;McGrath et al., 2017;Sangawongse et al., 2005;Trisurat et al., 2010). Furthermore, the construction of highway networks and radial road widening provided transportation accessibility that influenced urban sprawl from the lower basin (McGrath et al., 2017). ...
... Nationwide government employs scenario simulation as a scientific-based method to produce various scenarios for stakeholder persuasion and decision-making (Mayer et al., 2016). The high-quality map simulation requires accuracy validation to determine the model's credibility (Lippe et al., 2017;Trisurat et al., 2010). Associated distinct assessments focused on accuracy agreement, quantity, and allocation disagreement are required for robust model validation in order to reduce misleading accuracy problems (Salk et al., 2018). ...
... To respond to the demands, human has utilized the use of land by changing biophysical characteristics from vegetated surfaces to residential and cultivation areas (Grimm et al., 2008). These actions have caused direct and indirect consequences on terrestrial ecosystems, such as forest fragmentation (Fichera et al., 2017), wildlife movement restriction (Allen et al., 2001), biodiversity loss (Trisurat et al., 2010), and ecosystem services degradation (Lippe et al., 2017). Following a discipline of landscape ecology, human settlements nowadays have been challenged by goals of sustainable land management with the requisites of good science, and an adaptive approach from interdisciplinary collaborations (Pataki et al., 2011;Mayer et al., 2016). ...
Changes in land cover in the Chiang Mai-Lamphun basin have been influenced by the pressure of rapid socio-economic developments. Increase of building residential areas and farming areas influenced by local socio-economic factors has resulted in declining the forest covers and may have negative impacts on ecosystems. This thesis aims to understand the mechanism of land cover change in the past, the present, and the future that can be used as supplemental data for environmental planning and conservation. In this study, manifold geographic information system techniques were utilized for data extraction, management, and analysis. In 2021, Markov-cellular automata (Markov-CA) and a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) were employed to model land cover changes using four scenarios. Then, the future land cover maps for 2030 and 2050 were developed based on the 2021 transition probability metrics. The different scenarios were based on socio-economic schemes, which included the business-as-usual scenario (BaU), the ecological protection scenario (EPS), the pessimistic development scenario (PDS), and the baseline development scenario (BDS). As a result of model validation using 534 ground survey points in 2021, the BaU in 2021 generated the highest overall accuracy (82.77%) with a Kappa value of 0.7846, quantity disagreement value of 0.0693, and allocation disagreement value of 0.1030. While the accuracy in PDS and BDS were comparatively low compared to BaU and EPS. The simulated 2021 BaU scenario reflected the current trends of socio-economic development. It was proposed that the projected BaU in 2050 revealed the decrease of forest land, whereas 6.04% and 1.59% of forests were converted to agricultural areas and built-up areas, respectively. At the same time, the increase of the built-up areas dominated 6.04% of the existing agricultural areas in 2021. These scientific trends were used to gather local perceptions on the described socio-economic settings. Implications for possible land use management in the Chiang Mai-Lamphun basin were discussed.
... Mae Chaem is located at 18°6′0″ to 19°10′0″N and 98°4′0″ to 98°34′0″E, with an area of 3,853 km 2 . The topography of Mae Chaem is a basin with surrounding steep elevations between 260 and 2,540 m above sea level [28]. ...
... Schulp et al., 2016), for planning purposes at watershed-level (i.e. Trisurat et al., 2010), or to simulate stakeholder-driven scenario storylines (Lippe et al., 2017). The model simulates LULC change based on empirical relationships between LULC types, location characteristics and a set of decision rules. ...
... We used the relative operator characteristic (ROC) to evaluate the goodness-of-fit of the related logistic regressions and to determine the location factor setting with the highest ROC value. A value of 0.7 or higher is desirable for the purpose of Dyna-CLUE modelling (Claessens et al., 2009;Trisurat et al., 2010;Lippe et al., 2017). Logistic regressions and all other statistical computations were performed with the open software package R (version 3.4.2). ...
This study simulates the future impact of land use and land cover (LULC) change and the enforcement of policy bundles on the multi-functionality of tropical forest landscapes. It focusses on the Northern Ecuadorian Amazonas (NEA) which is characterised by high biodiversity and endemism but at the same time is threatened by deforestation and unsustainable land use practices. Scenario simulations mimic LULC change during 2016–2030 at canton-level (area: 2,146 km²) combining explorative with policy-screening components. Scenarios NATIONAL(+)POLICY, NATIONAL(-)POLICY, REGIONAL(+)POLICY, and REGIONAL(-)POLICY are contrasted by varying deforestation trends (high regional demand for agricultural products vs. national-level structural transformations) and the enforcement/ non-enforcement of policy bundles on forest protection, reforestation and restoration. An indicator-based impact assessment analysed in a spatially-explicit fashion for each scenario in 2030 (i) the evolution of agricultural and forestry-related LULC change trajectories, (ii) future hotspots of deforestation, (iii) remaining forest core zones (FCZ) as key element of habitat integrity, and (iv) the provisioning of long-term carbon sinks. Key findings reveal that only NATIONAL(+)POLICY, as the combination of enforced policy bundles and simulated national LULC change trend extrapolating the long-term reference period 1990–2016, lead to an expansion of forest areas and a 2% carbon stock gain in 2030 compared to 2016. When assuming a linear continuation of this trend, it requires 96 years to reach a similar carbon stock level compared to the reference year 1990. Farm area expansion will continue to affect protected forests in case of scenarios NATIONAL(-)POLICY and REGIONAL(-)POLICY but will be avoided in NATIONAL(+)POLICY and REGIONAL(+)POLICY. The simulated persistence of many farming areas reveals that the likelihood to reforest existing agricultural patches will be rather low. Against expectations, scenario NATIONAL(+)POLICY which assumes net zero deforestation by 2030 led to a high level of FCZ fragmentation contrasting its carbon sink potential (27,971 Mio. Mg ha⁻¹) which performed best among all scenarios. Our study depicts a mismatch of future LULC change realities compared to the anticipated future achievements of the Ecuadorian land use policy framework. The simulated variability of forest change patterns (deforestation, reforestation) and farming trajectories (diversification, intensification, rotation) further suggests to foster more cross-sectoral policy approaches that acknowledges the hybrid role of local stakeholders who can be farmers and forest users at the same time. Our study shows that focusing on preserving carbon stocks and their long-term climate mitigation potential only while neglecting other important ecosystem functions or biodiversity can be a short-sighted policy goal if not accompanied by rural development programmes. We further conclude that scenario-based assessments should become an integral part of multi-stakeholder interactions across relevant levels of decision-making. This can support long-term sustainable land use management which is not only relevant for the case of the Northern Ecuadorian Amazons region but for many other landscapes in transition.
... This is not limited to mapping approaches but also pervasive in the definition of threats themselves, for which 'stress' , 'impacts' , 'risk' , 'drivers' and 'footprints' are often used synonymously [29,[31][32][33]. Furthermore, many authors refer to processes such as habitat loss and land-use change as a threats [34][35][36][37]. Whereas, others consider these processes to be the mechanism by which threatening human activities result in species declines rather than being threats themselves [38,39]. ...
Background
Human activities are driving accelerating rates of species extinctions that continue to threaten nature’s contribution to people. Yet, the full scope of where and how human activities threaten wild species worldwide remains unclear. Furthermore, the large diversity of approaches and terminology surrounding threats and threat mapping presents a barrier to understanding the state of knowledge and uptake into decision-making. Here, we define ‘threats’ as human activities and direct human-initiated processes, specifically where they co-occur with, and impact the survival of, wild species. Our objectives were to systematically consolidate the threat mapping literature, describe the distribution of available evidence, and produce a publicly available and searchable database of articles for easy uptake of evidence into future decision-making.
Methods
Four bibliographic databases, one web-based search engine, and thirteen organisational websites were searched for peer-reviewed and grey-literature published in English 2000–2020. A three-stage screening process (title, abstract, and full-text) and coding was undertaken by two reviewers, with consistency tested on 20% of articles at each stage. Articles were coded according to 22 attributes that captured dimensions of the population, threat, and geographic location studied in addition to methodological attributes. The threats studied were classified according to the IUCN Red List threat classification scheme. A range of graphical formats were used to visualise the distribution of evidence according to these attributes and complement the searchable database of articles.
Review findings
A total of 1069 relevant threat mapping studies were found and included in the systematic map, most conducted at a sub-national or local scale. Evidence was distributed unevenly among taxonomic groups, ecological realms, and geographies. Although articles were found for the full scope of threat categories used, most articles mapped a single threat. The most heavily mapped threats were alien invasive species, aquatic or terrestrial animal exploitation, roads and railways, residential development, and non-timber crop and livestock agriculture. Limitations regarding the English-only search and imperfect ability of the search to identify grey literature could have influenced the findings.
Conclusions
This systematic map represents a catalogue of threat mapping evidence at any spatial scale available for immediate use in threat reduction activities and policy decisions. The distribution of evidence has implications for devising actions to combat the threats specifically targeted in the post-2020 UN Biodiversity Framework, and for identifying other threats that may benefit from representation in global policy. It also highlights key gaps for further research to aid national and local-scale threat reduction. More knowledge would be particularly beneficial in the areas of managing multiple threats, land-based threats to marine systems, and threats to plant species and threats within the freshwater realm.
... Spatially explicit models are often based on Cellular Automata (CA); however, numerous models consider this type of technique or are combined with others. For several authors (Pontius et al., 2004;Sapena et al., 2017;Trisurat et al., 2010;, techniques associated with statistical regressions are one the best calibration methodologies, while CA's are considered a decision model that analyzes whether the state of a pixel explicitly takes into account the current state of the neighboring pixel. Similarly, for Sapena et al. (2017), there are other specific techniques such as exogenous quantification methods where the quantification of each category is specified in the prediction of maps, independent of their location or agent-based models. ...
Latin America’s intensive urbanization processes are triggering rapid peri-urban transformations and the expansion of cities. These include accelerated metropolization processes, urban sprawl, and the emergence of new conurbations. These changes parallel the expansion of highly profitable agricultural activities and plantations linked to international markets. This paper aims to analyze land use/cover changes between 1990 and 2050 in the Quillota Province, Valparaíso Region, Chile. Specific objectives considered (1) analyzing changes in land use/cover trajectories between 1990 and 2017, (2) simulating changes in land use/cover based on three scenarios of territorial planning to 2050 (trending, ecological planning, and spatial planning), and (3), identifying the areas most likely to be modified by urbanization and agricultural activity as a result of biodiversity loss in the study area. The Dyna-CLUE model implemented was complemented with GIS techniques for the analysis of land use/cover trajectories that allowed classifying and characterizing the most dynamic land uses/cover within the Quillota Province, such as urban land uses. The results of simulations to 2050 show a probable conurbation of medium-sized cities of Quillota-La Cruz-Calera, and future land use conflicts between peri urban-agricultural land use and plantation-natural conservation land use. The results suggest that it is essential to choose scenarios to ensure sustainable land use planning to control urban and peri-urban sprawl and protect areas of high natural value.
... The analysis may involve a designation of protected areas integrating with land-use change detection. In some protected areas, the forest cover and its spatial characteristics may be more affected by human activities, policies, and regulations because in these areas various goals of environmental conservation were considered, considering many factors such as human population and community demands (Trisurat et al., 2010;Singh et al., 2021). The protected area network also depends on government organizations (Trisurat, 2007). ...
... Especially, areas in southwestern Chiang Mai province showed more sites of negative land cover change (Figures 2A and 2C) that partly represented the conversion of natural and semi-natural ecosystems to agriculture. In this way, modeling of future forest areas under some land-use scenarios can highlight ongoing future deforestation and biodiversity loss (Trisurat et al., 2010;Poortinga et al., 2020). Therefore, proper social data integration and local management will be useful to highlight ongoing population growth and residential demands. ...
Protected areas have been developed in Thailand to conserve the natural environment required for wildlife and human beings, and to prevent disasters. It is necessary to address doubts about effectiveness of protected areas because regulations have been changed or are ignored in some communities and regions, especially in Chiang Mai province, which is facing the loss of natural forest areas under area transformations. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of forest protected areas. To do this, this study focused on analyzing multi-year land cover changes in Chiang Mai over two decades (1995-2015) with four land cover types: forest, agriculture, urban, and water bodies, inside and outside protected areas. The results suggest that the establishment of forest protected areas assisted to curtail urban expansion compared to non-protected areas. The protected areas effectively kept the number of divided forest patches small, and the forest patches were larger than in non-protected areas. We detected clearing of forests in protected areas, where they were transformed into agricultural areas. However, agricultural patches in protected areas were smaller and in higher densities than in non-protected areas. We conclude that the main contribution of forest cover loss in Chiang Mai is transition to agricultural areas, and that designated national parks and wildlife sanctuaries could help to effectively conserve such forest areas. Keywords: Land cover change, Land transformation, Protected areas, Non-protected areas, Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
... Compared to other distribution areas, the number of newly discovered tree frog species in Thailand is very small (Frost, 2020). Since 2013, we have carried out a series of biodiversity surveys to sample the herpetofauna of Thailand, a region associated with underestimated herpetological diversity (Laopichienpong et al., 2016;Chen et al., 2018) and one that is subject to ongoing conservation threats (Sodhi et al., 2010;Trisurat et al., 2010). We collected several specimens of the genus Raorchestes and Kurixalus (superficially resembling R. longchuanensis and K. odontotarsus), which are known to be distributed throughout this region and its adjacent areas. ...
Thailand is a global biodiversity hotspot, harboring a striking diversity of species and endemism. However, the amphibian diversity in the region is poorly understood. In this study, the frogs Kurixalus odontotarsus and Raorchestes longchuanensis were collected and recorded for the first time in northern Thailand. This determination was based on specimens previously collected from this region. Morphologically, these specimens displayed good agreement with the original descriptions provided for K. odontotarsus and R. longchuanensis. Phylogenetically, the specimens clustered according to the sequences of type locality of K. odontotarsus and R. longchuanensis with only a small degree of genetic distance. Based on our work, we have extended the latitudinal distribution of K. odontotarsus and R. longchuanensis southward into northern Thailand. Notably, our discovery increases the number of amphibian species recorded in Thailand to 195, and the number of rhacophorid species known to occur in Thailand to 40.
... Community forests vary greatly in size, forest conditions, and accessibility ranging from small communal woodlots to vast forest reserves, which are either part of a fragmented forest mosaic or embedded within a primary forest landscape (Nagendra, 2002;Putraditama et al., 2019). Consequently, their exposure to deforestation threats is likely to differ depending on their accessibility (Trisurat et al., 2010;Trisurat et al., 2019). Thus, their effectiveness in forest conservation will not only depend on their protection measures but also on the level of deforestation pressure in the surrounding area, which has been already shown for protected areas (Nolte et al., 2013;Cuenca et al., 2018). ...
... Tang In the Northern provinces, 25.6% of the combined provincial land areas are part of an extensive system of protected areas, specifically national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, and, thus, under strict conservation. The current national legislation permits only the formalization of community forests that are not located within the boundaries of protected areas (Trisurat et al. 2010). Many of these forestdependent communities were evicted following the establishment of protected areas while other communities maintain their traditional management (Vandergeest, 1996). ...
Governments are legally formalizing an increasing number of community forests by sharing and transferring tenure rights over state-owned forestland in an effort to reduce deforestation. However, there has been little evidence on whether their conservation effectiveness could be further strengthened through formalization. In Thailand, the Royal Forest Department began to register community forests in 2000. The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of community forests in moderating the impact of deforestation pressures and the effect of a legal formalization. In a spatial evaluation approach, statistical matching and fixed-effects models were used to analyze the effect of community-based forest conservation and its formalization on deforestation rates. Each analysis was conducted in provincial areas sampled from northern, northeastern , and southern Thailand (n = 680) to compare the impact of varying levels of deforestation pressure over 14 years. The large majority (82%) of sampled communities effectively protected their forests against deforestation regardless of their formalization status. Moreover, the likelihood of forest loss in regions of high deforestation pressure could be reduced from approximately 40% to almost zero. In contrast, the threat of deforestation did not significantly change after a formal registration. These findings were similar across different regions despite their biophysical and socioeconomic differences. These findings suggest that formalization itself is currently ineffective in strengthening communal forest conservation and that its implementation in Thailand is likely still lacking behind its potential. Registered community forests are still affected by forest encroachment despite their successful conservation efforts. Thus, communities require stronger support from forest officials and local law enforcement agencies in both legal and technical capacities.
