Sader, S.A., D.J. Hayes, D.E. Irwin, and S.S. Saatchi, 2001 (in press), Preliminary forest cover change estimates for Central America (1990's), with reference to the proposed Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, Proceedings of the Year 2001 Annual Conference of the American Society of Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, St. Louis, MO.

The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC) was established in 1997 by the presidents of the seven Central American nations as a crucial environmental region with a central development concept: integrating conservation, sustainable use, and biodiversity within the framework of sustainable economic development. The following year, in an effort to promote the MBC concept, NASA teamed with the Central American Commission on the Environment and Development (CCAD). A Memorandum of Understanding was signed to initiate research in using remote sensing technology to develop regional forest cover maps and to monitor temporal changes in forest cover throughout Central America and the MBC, as well as facilitate data and technology transfer to Central American participants. This paper describes the data and methods used to develop preliminary estimates of forest cover and forest cover change over the 1990s from seven Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) study sites across Central America, and in relation to the current and proposed protected areas of the MBC. Results of the analyses suggest that forest clearing rates had declined region-wide for the past decade, as compared to 1980s deforestation estimates from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization's (FAO) survey. In addition, forest clearing in areas outside of the current and proposed protected zones was found to be substantially higher than the areas within the MBC.


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