Browsing by Author "Murayama, Yuji"

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    City profile:
    (Cities, 2013-02) Estoque, Ronald C.; Murayama, Yuji
    Baguio, planned as a convalescent-cum-recreational center and a highland refuge by American colonizers, has evolved into a highly-urbanized regional center. The availability of essential urban services and facilities has helped transform the settlement into the summer capital of the country, a major educational and tourist center, the seat of the regional government and, in recent years, an emerging industrial and health service center north of Metro Manila. Congestion arising from rapid population growth and uncontrolled urban expansion are exerting pressure on the city's amenities, resources and the natural environment. This profile traces the city's evolution as a hill station to a highly urbanized regional center, and discusses and analyses its plans for future development. Systematic planning, cooperation and good governance are crucial to address the many challenges that the city faces, and to allow for its sustainable development in the future.
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    Prioritizing areas for rehabilitation by monitoring change in barangay-based vegetation cover
    (MDPI AG, 2012) Estoque, Ronald C.; Estoque, Ria S.; Murayama, Yuji
    Analysis of spatial and temporal changes of vegetation cover using remote sensing (RS) technology, in conjunction with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), is becoming increasingly important in environmental conservation. The objective of this study was to use RS data and GIS techniques to assess the vegetation cover in 1989 and 2009, in the barangays (smallest administrative units) of the city of San Fernando, La Union, the Philippines, for planning vegetation rehabilitation. Landsat images were used to prepare both the 1989 and 2009 land cover maps, which were then used to detect changes in the vegetation cover for the barangays. In addition to conventional accuracy assessment parameters such as; proportion correct, and standard Kappa index of agreement, two other parameters; quantity, and allocation disagreements were used to assess the accuracy of the land cover classification. Results revealed that there were gains and losses of vegetation cover in most of the barangays, but overall vegetation cover increased by 11% (around 625 ha) based on the original extent of 1989. Those barangays that showed substantial net losses in vegetation cover need to be prioritised for rehabilitation planning. As exemplified in this study, the collection, processing and analysis of relevant RS and GIS information, can facilitate priority-setting in the planning of environmental rehabilitation and conservation by the local government at both city and barangay levels.
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    Remotely sensed tree canopy cover-based indicators for monitoring global sustainability and environmental initiatives
    (IOP Publishing Ltd, 2021) Estoque, Ronald C.; Johnson, Brian A.; Gao, Yan; Dasgupta, Rajarshi; Ooba, Makoto; Togawa, Takuya; Hijioka, Yasuaki; Murayama, Yuji; Gavina, Lilito D.; Lasco, Rodel D.; Nakamura, Shogo
    With the intensifying challenges of global environmental change, sustainability, and biodiversity conservation, the monitoring of the world's remaining forests has become more important than ever. Today, Earth observation technologies, particularly remote sensing, are at the forefront of forest cover monitoring worldwide. Given the current conceptual understanding of what a forest is, canopy cover threshold values are used to map forest cover from remote sensing imagery and produce categorical data products such as forest/non-forest (F/NF) maps. However, multi-temporal categorical map products have important limitations because they inadequately represent the actual status of forest landscapes and the trajectories of forest cover changes as a result of the thresholding effect. Here, we examined the potential of using remotely sensed tree canopy cover (TCC) datasets, which are continuous data products, to complement F/NF maps for forest cover monitoring. We developed a conceptual analytical framework for forest cover monitoring using both types of data products and applied it to the forests of Southeast Asia. We conclude that TCC datasets and the statistics derived from them can be used to complement the information provided by categorical F/NF maps. TCC-based indicators (i.e. losses, gains, and net changes) can help in monitoring not only deforestation but also forest degradation and forest cover enhancement, all of which are highly relevant to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other global forest cover monitoring-related initiatives. We recommend that future research should focus on the production, application, and evaluation of TCC datasets to advance the current understanding of how accurately these products can capture changes in forest landscapes across space and time. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.
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    Suitability Analysis for Beekeeping Sites Integrating GIS & MCE Techniques
    (Medwell Journals, 2010) Estoque, Ronald C.; Murayama, Yuji
    The study evaluates the suitability of the Province of La Union, Philippines, for beekeeping using Geographic Information System (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) techniques. It presents an empirical method involving GIS, stakeholder and expert participation, database creation and management, spatial and multi-criteria analysis, and validation. The final suitability map was validated through correlation analysis using existing beekeeping projects, honey-yield data, and calculated suitability values. Results showed a relatively high correlation between the suitability index and honey yield, indicating reliability of the model and its output. The study may serve as a basis for evaluating other areas for beekeeping and for future studies.