Articles | Volume 8, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-651-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-651-2016
23 Nov 2016
 | 23 Nov 2016

An explicit GIS-based river basin framework for aquatic ecosystem conservation in the Amazon

Eduardo Venticinque, Bruce Forsberg, Ronaldo Barthem, Paulo Petry, Laura Hess, Armando Mercado, Carlos Cañas, Mariana Montoya, Carlos Durigan, and Michael Goulding

Abstract. Despite large-scale infrastructure development, deforestation, mining and petroleum exploration in the Amazon Basin, relatively little attention has been paid to the management scale required for the protection of wetlands, fisheries and other aspects of aquatic ecosystems. This is due, in part, to the enormous size, multinational composition and interconnected nature of the Amazon River system, as well as to the absence of an adequate spatial model for integrating data across the entire Amazon Basin. In this data article we present a spatially uniform multi-scale GIS framework that was developed especially for the analysis, management and monitoring of various aspects of aquatic systems in the Amazon Basin. The Amazon GIS-Based River Basin Framework is accessible as an ESRI geodatabase at doi:10.5063/F1BG2KX8.

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Short summary
Despite large-scale infrastructure development in the Amazon Basin, relatively little attention has been paid to the wetlands, fisheries and other aspects of aquatic ecosystems. In this data article, we present a GIS framework that was developed for the analysis, management and monitoring of aquatic systems in the Amazon Basin.