Land use change around hydroelectric dams using Landsat multi-temporal data: a challenge for a sustainable environment in Mexico

Dams must provide human development with economic viability, social equitability, and be environmentally sustainable However, environmental and social impacts are often negative and seldom considered in the design of these projects. We made a multitemporal analysis classifying 26 satellite images of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inGeocarto international Vol. 37; no. 21; pp. 6375 - 6390
Main Authors Zarco-González, Zuleyma, Monroy-Vilchis, Octavio, Antonio-Némiga, Xanat, Endara-Agramont, Angel Rolando
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Taylor & Francis 02.11.2022
Subjects
Environmental impact
hydroelectric dam
Landsat
Mexico
remote sensing
sustainability
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Summary:Dams must provide human development with economic viability, social equitability, and be environmentally sustainable However, environmental and social impacts are often negative and seldom considered in the design of these projects. We made a multitemporal analysis classifying 26 satellite images of several Mexican hydroelectric power stations between 1972 and 2016 to evaluate the effect of dams on the change in land use. Eleven socio-economic indicators were also compared before and after the construction of the dam to document effects on local communities. We use the Land Change Modeler to quantify the net changes in land use and land cover. We found a mean decrease in tropical forest (1,404.19 km 2 ) and temperate forest (1,191.26 km 2 ) and an increase in agriculture (2,241.26 km 2 ) and urban use (92.9 km 2 ). The results also show that although some indicators improved, the environmental deterioration around these projects shows that they are not sustainable.
ISSN:1010-6049
1752-0762
DOI:10.1080/10106049.2021.1933212