The Tagaeri Taromenane People are two indigenous groups belonging to the Waorani first nation living in voluntary isolation within the Napo region of the western Amazon rainforest. To protect their ...territory the Ecuadorean State has declared and geographically defined, by Decrees, the Zona Intangible Tagaeri Taromenane (ZITT). This zone is located within the UNESCO Yasuni Biosphere Reserve (1989), one of the most biodiverse areas in the world. Due to several hydrocarbon reserve exploitation projects running in the area and the advancing of a large-scale deforestation front, the survival of these groups is presently at risk. The general aim was to validate the ZITT boundary using the geographical references included in the Decree 2187 (2007) by analyzing the geomorphological characteristics of the area. Remote sensing data such as Digital Elevation Models (DEM), Landsat imagery, topographic cartography of IGM-Ecuador, and fieldwork geographical data have been integrated and processed by Geographical Information System (GIS). The ZITT presents two levels of geographic inconsistencies. The first dimension is about the serious cartographical weaknesses in the perimeter delimitation related to the impossibility of linking two rivers belonging to different basins while the second deals with the perimeter line not respecting the hydrographic network. The GIS analysis results clearly show that ZITT boundary is cartographically nonsense due to the impossibility of mapping out the perimeter. Furthermore, GIS analysis of anthropological data shows presence of Tagaeri Taromenane clans outside the ZITT perimeter, within oil production areas and in nearby farmer settlements, reflecting the limits of protection policies for non-contacted indigenous territory. The delimitation of the ZITT followed a traditional pattern of geometric boundary not taking into account the nomadic characteristic of Tagaeri Taromenane: it is necessary to adopt geographical approaches to recognize the indigenous right to their liveable territories in the complex territorialities enacted by different stakeholders.
Drones, or better defined unmanned aerial system (UAS), together with spatially-based ICT currently embody different data acquisition tools and approaches. In smart farming they are commonly adopted ...for different purposes: from monitoring crop yields, to increasing water use efficiency, to performing integrated management of water and nutrients. However, the integration of UAS and GeoICT in organic farming and agroecological systems is at present scarcely developed even when from experimental trials and case studies in different geographical contexts showed benefits of using UAS to understand agroecosystem dynamics and to support sustainable practices. This chapter aims to give a critical overview of UAS in agriculture, by presenting the main characteristics (platforms, sensors, components) as well as the most diffused applications for monitoring, mapping, and modeling agroecosystems. Moreover, through a case study developed, in the tropical forests of Ecuador, the use of a low-cost fixed-wing UAS for preserving spider monkeys' habitat and monitoring deforestation is illustrated. Finally, bringing the concept of 'Drones for Good', the chapter illustrates opportunities and intersections of experimenting low-cost and open-source UAS for drawing possible pathways towards the agroecological transition, both in terms of improving efficiency of agroecosystems and empowerment of local farmers.
This work intends to lay the foundations for identifying the prevailing forest types and the delineation of forest units within private forest inventories in the Autonomous Province of Trento (PAT), ...using currently available remote sensing solutions. In particular, data from LiDAR and hyperspectral surveys of 2014 made available by PAT were acquired and processed. Such studies are very important in the context of forest management scenarios. The method includes defining tree species ground-truth by outlining single tree crowns with polygons and labeling them. Successively two supervised machine learning classifiers, K-Nearest Neighborhood and Support Vector Machine (SVM) were used. The results show that, by setting specific hyperparameters, the SVM methodology gave the best results in classification of tree species. Biomass was estimated using canopy parameters and the Jucker equation for the above ground biomass (AGB) and that of Scrinzi for the tariff volume. Predicted values were compared with 11 field plots of fixed radius where volume and biomass were field-estimated in 2017. Results show significant coefficients of correlation: 0.94 for stem volume and 0.90 for total aboveground tree biomass.
The introductory chapter of the book starts with a reflection on the levels of agroecological transition to map the multiplicity of labels for sustainability in agriculture, and the different ...declinations of Agriculture 4.0 with the corresponding embodied approaches to technologies and innovation for sustainability. The approach adopted in agroecology can be defined as 'technology for all' as a dynamic combination of available tools adapted to the specific locations and cultures of myriads of agroecological small farms, going beyond the universalizing closed menu of technological supply for standardizing conventional large farms. The chapter summarizes the 'basket of options' offered by the books as flexible, appropriate, and suitable opportunities for the multiplicity of small farmers, herders, fishermen, peasants, indigenous people, and urban dwellers interested in growing directly their food, caring for humans and non-humans in safe places, and suitable for youths and elders, for women and men.
The last chapter of the book collects the challenge of finding territorial alternatives to development in the context of climate change, agroecological transition, and food sovereignty as compasses ...to navigate the uncertainty of the pandemic era. The chapter recalls the role of agroecology, either in the rural and urban context, to overcome the social and environmental impacts of conventional farming through the integrated and multi-scale approach among social and natural systems based on the rights of farmers and citizens connected in sustainable and sovereign food networks. The local knowledge systems of constituting the unique place-based coevolving experiences of agroecology are involved in the co-creating of knowledge also through technological appropriation of the new commons of geographical information and technology. Many emancipatory processes are ongoing in many parts of the world, from the Amazon rainforest supporting the struggle of indigenous groups for safe territories to urban peripheries and conventional farming areas of the global north.
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