Degradation and Vulnerability to Climate Change in High Andean Rangelands

Rangeland degradation is a process associated with loss of ecosystem equilibrium. Therefore, this work seeks to identify the most important factors that cause the degradation process of rangelands, assess the degree of degradation and vulnerability to current climate change of these ecosystems; and determine if there is a relationship between the degree of rangeland degradation and vulnerability to climate change in high Andean rangelands. The study was located in the central highlands of Peru (Ancash, Junín, Pasco, Huancavelica and Lima) and involved the design of a framework to assess rangeland degradation based on field information and Landsat satellite products that was contrasted with socioeconomic, ecological and location variables. The estimation of vulnerability to climate change was assessed with the Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) platform. The results revealed that around 80% of the rangelands were classified as extreme and serious degraded. Extreme and heavy vulnerability was around 85%. There is positive spatial correlation between degradation and vulnerability to climate change in high Andean rangelands (Pearson = 0.67, Spearman = 0.61).