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NatureServe - Peru - n/a Environment: Forestry, Energy & Environmental Services Peru 2006 - 2007 NatureServe |
Helping Save Wild Peru
RATIONALEThe slopes of South America's Andes Mountains are places of incredible natural richness, supporting some of the world's highest diversity of birds, insects, mammals, plants, and other life forms. Conservationists working to preserve the Andean environment need to identify places harboring the highest diversity, to prioritize those areas in greatest need of protection.
Governmental agencies and private organizations prepare ecosystem maps to help them identify important natural areas, but verifying the accuracy of this information on the ground is time-consuming, expensive, and, in some remote and rugged areas, nearly impossible. Winrock is a recognized world leader in the development of digital aerial imagery, using low-flying aircraft to survey landscapes with great speed and accuracy.
OBJECTIVES
Winrock International will work with the scientific group NatureServe and their Peruvian partner to provide an accuracy assessment for their recently created ecosystems map. By providing high-resolution imagery, Winrock will facilitate an evaluation of the dataset created from classified Landsat data and Global Information Systems (GIS) models based on geomorphology, terrain, and bioclimate data. Once validated, this ecosystems map will be used to identify areas of high conservation value and with high levels of endemism (species found nowhere else).
ACTIVITIES
Winrock will provide a georeferenced mosaic of approximately 1400 kilometers of flight lines with an image swath of approximately 1.5 kilometer for a total coverage of approximately 210,000 hectares, of which approximately 165,000 hectares will be mosaicked. The mosaic files will be in formats viewable in any GIS software. The individual image resolution will be 4992 by 3328 and geographically accurate to within approximately 5 meters. The individual images and an index to them will also be provided in a Quicklook format.