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Biodiversity in the Global South

 | 
Jean-François Agnèse
, 
Olivier Dangles
, 
Estienne Rodary

Protecting biodiversity

Cataloguing the French Guiana forest

Résumé

The forests of French Guiana account for one third of the total surface area of French forests, a huge, largely uninhabited territory, two thirds of which are managed by the National forestry office (ONF), with the French Guiana Amazonian Park (PAG) covering the southern third of the territory. Hence the need for an overview of the diversity and fragility of the forest cover.

Texte intégral

Inselberg in the French Guiana forest.

© ird/D. Sabatier

1The Amazon forest is not homogeneous. It consists of a mosaic of habitats that managers are striving to map out, an objective field surveys were unable to attain. In French Guiana, this observation resulted in a partnership between ONF, IRD and Cirad in the early 2000s, with a view to developing remote detection techniques and extrapolating the knowledge gained from the field.

2Researchers decided to use data from the SRTM US satellite, whose radar waves provide access to geomorphology, i.e. the spatial organisation of the relief and soil on the scale of the territory. This approach echoes the research in soil science which, in the 1970s-1980s, showed that variations in the physical-chemical properties of soil impact the species composition of the community of trees that settles thereon. These variations are caused by the alteration, due to surface erosion, of very ancient soils which were formed under different climatic conditions from those of today.

3In fact, geomorphology can be used to determine not only the nature of soil but also the type of forest that develops thereon. This methodology, combined with field surveys, made it possible to draw up a catalogue of around twenty forest habitats in French Guiana. Published in 2015, it has quickly become instrumental in devising forest management plans. This document drew the attention of forestry managers in neighbouring countries, including Suriname and the Brazilian State of Amapa, with whom IRD is currently working to implement the same approach. More recently, the same kind of mapping process was initiated in the Congo Basin in central Africa, which features the world’s second largest tropical rainforest.

••• Field surveys and remote detection tools are used to map out forest habitats in French Guiana •••

Aerial view of the French Guiana forest.

© ird/D. Sabatier

Partners

Inra, Cirad, ONF, ONCFS
French Guiana Amazonian Park, SBB (forest management, Suriname)
IEPA and
Embrapa, Brazil

Table des illustrations

Légende Inselberg in the French Guiana forest.
Crédits © ird/D. Sabatier
URL http://books.openedition.org/irdeditions/docannexe/image/43626/img-1.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 281k
Légende Aerial view of the French Guiana forest.
Crédits © ird/D. Sabatier
URL http://books.openedition.org/irdeditions/docannexe/image/43626/img-2.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 839k
URL http://books.openedition.org/irdeditions/docannexe/image/43626/img-3.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 10k

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