Understanding risk and coping strategies in forest-agriculture landscapes
The incomes of farm households in developing countries are notoriously low and uncertain. Coping strategies might include relying on safety nets such as forests and fallows for food and non-timber products, varying crops and farming patterns, cashing in on savings, selling family assets, migrating elsewhere in search of work, relying on remittances and wage labour, and accessing informal forms of insurance and credit. This project in cooperation with CIFOR asks whether the structure of environmental incentives (as credit, insurance, or payments) influences land use behaviour.
It aims to link various strands of work relating to payments for ecosystem services (PES), risks, and insurance.
Satellite data-based assessment of land cover
Within the project, CDE is responsible for a satellite-based assessment of land cover and land use patterns in northern Laos with the focus on permanent and shifting cultivation. Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 data sets between 2011 and 2014 are used to perform several multi-seasonal land cover classifications applying maximum likelihood as well as support vector machines. Spatial analysis of the derived land cover maps resulted in detailed information regarding the current and past extent of shifting cultivation areas in Xieng Khoung and Luang Prabang provinces, Laos.
Results of this research will be of particular interest to institutions in the rural development sector, and institutions developing or implementing environmental incentive systems such as PES.
Project duration: 2013 – 2015