Usar p⁄gs xvii-134 - ResearchGate

CHAPTER 4Forest Development TrendsVenezuela’s forests are the source of a variety of economic and social activities. This section addressesindicators focusing on three major themes: logging, mining (gold and diamond), and humansettlements. While not inclusive of all human-related activities in the country’s forests, these representsome of the socioeconomic factors impacting forests, especially in the Guayana region.Our objective was to answer the following questions:• How important are mining and logging for the national economy?• Who is involved in development activities in the forests of the Guayana region?• Are companies complying with policies and regulations?• What is the impact of development activities (especially logging and mining)in the region’s forests?• What are the impacts of population change on the forests of the region?Data for this analysis were difficult to collect, and in many cases not publicly available. Venezueladoes not maintain a cartographic database of logging and mining concessions. As in the case of protectedareas, concession boundaries are identified through publication of geographic coordinates inan official gazette. However, no map accompanies the decree establishing these boundaries and inmany cases there are no geographic coordinates. In the case of mining concessions, we were onlyable to represent the general area where mining concessions have been allocated because more thanhalf of the concession boundaries have not been officially registered at the national level and geographiccoordinates provided by government officials were incomplete.At the moment, reliable data on the area and location of agricultural activities can only be obtainedthrough satellite imagery. We did not map agricultural activities, as this would have required purchaseand interpretation of recent, high-resolution satellite imagery, which was beyond the scope ofthis initial work. However, we have provided an indicator of agricultural activity by mapping settlementsdedicated to raising crops, and we supplemented this with secondary sources. In the future,we hope to identify areas of agricultural activity in a select group of forest development zones, whichwill allow us to analyze these issues in more detail.35