Journal of Geography  & Natural Disasters
Open Access

Abstract

Cloud-Based Application for Spatial and Statistical Analysis about Environmental Fragility and Land Cover

Luiz Fernando de Novaes Vianna* and Fabio Martinho Zambonim

The Brazilian MapBiomas project developed a free and open-source platform to monitor Brazilian Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) changes since 1985. To increase its land cover changes analytic power, we developed an Environmental Fragility Mapping System (EFMS), using Google Earth Engine (GEE). Environmental Fragility (EF) analysis has its origins in ecodynamics, and it is composed of Potential Environmental Fragility (PEF) and Emergent Environmental Fragility (EEF). The main advantage of EF analysis over LULC analysis is its flexibility in evaluating multiple scenarios for different aspects of environmental challenges. In EFMS, we calculate three environmental fragility indexes: (i) Potential Fragility Index (PFI), (ii) Land Cover Fragility Index (LCFI), and (iii) Emergent Fragility Index (EFI). Combined with LULC change analysis from the MapBiomas Project, EFMS can provide spatial analysis and generate maps and data for environmental management. In this article we describe the EFMS method, provide the code and present a case study to generate fragility scenarios for selecting priority areas for environmental recovery.

Published Date: 2024-07-09; Received Date: 2024-06-07