Agricultural productivity in the Peruvian region of Amazonas is being jeopardized by conflicts and inadequate land use, that are ultimately contributing to environmental degradation. Therefore, our aim is to assess land suitability for potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) farming in the Jucusbamba and Tincas microwatersheds located in Amazonas, in order to improve land-use planning and enhance the crop productivity of small-scale farmers. The site selection methodology involved a pair-wise comparison matrix (PCM) and a weighted multicriteria analysis using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) on selected biophysical and socioeconomical drivers. Simultaneously, land cover mapping was conducted using field samples, remote sensing (RS), geostatistics and geographic information systems (GIS). The results indicated that for potato crop farming, the most important criteria are climatological (30.14%), edaphological (29.16%), topographical (25.72%) and socioeconomical (14.98%) in nature. The final output map indicated that 8.2% (22.91 km2) was highly suitable, 68.5% (190.37 km2) was moderately suitable, 21.6% (60.11 km2) was marginally suitable and 0.0% was not suitable for potato farming. Built-up areas (archaeological sites, urban and road networks) and bodies of water were discarded from this study (4.64 km2). This study intends to promote and guide sustainable agriculture through agricultural land planning.

Peru is one of the world’s main coffee exporters, whose production is driven mainly by five regions and, among these, the Amazonas region. However, a combined negative factor, including, among others, climate crisis, the incidence of diseases and pests, and poor land-use planning, have led to a decline in coffee yields, impacting on the family economy. Therefore, this research assesses land suitability for coffee production (Coffea arabica) in Amazonas region, in order to support the development of sustainable agriculture. For this purpose, a hierarchical structure was developed based on six climatological sub-criteria, five edaphological sub-criteria, three physiographical sub-criteria, four socio-economic sub-criteria, and three restrictions (coffee diseases and pests). These were integrated using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS). Of the Amazonas region, 11.4% (4803.17 km2), 87.9% (36,952.27 km2) and 0.7% (295.47 km2) are “optimal”, “suboptimal” and “unsuitable” for the coffee growing, respectively. It is recommended to orient coffee growing in 912.48 km2 of territory in Amazonas, which presents “optimal” suitability for coffee and is “unsuitable” for diseases and pests. This research aims to support coffee farmers and local governments in the region of Amazonas to implement new strategies for land management in coffee growing. Furthermore, the methodology used can be applied to assess land suitability for other crops of economic interest in Andean Amazonian areas.

The evaluation of suitable landfill sites is a complex process and requires various legislative, technical, social, and environmental criteria. Therefore, this study provides a management tool for identifying suitable sites for landfills through the integrated use of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), geographic information systems (GISs), and remote sensing (RS). Accordingly, fourteen subcriteria were identified and grouped into physical (7), environmental (3), and socioeconomic (4) criteria and were weighed using pairwise comparison matrices (PCMs). The weighted linear combination (WLC) approach of maps allowed us to generate models and submodels of land suitability. From the territory of the districts of Chachapoyas and Huancas, 0.9% (1.71 km2), 71.1% (141.89 km2), 21.0% (41.86 km2), 0.0%, and 7.7% (14.21 km2) have highly suitable, moderately suitable, marginally suitable, unsuitable, and restricted conditions, respectively, for a landfill site. Twelve highly suitable sites were identified, of which three were selected based on their shape and the minimum area required for the operation of the landfill until 2040. In fact, this study proposes a management tool for decision-makers (DMs) that improve the process of selecting landfill sites, supported by engineering and its applications for territorial sustainability.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are used in a variety of applications with the aim of mapping detailed surfaces from the air. Despite the high level of map automation achieved today, there are still challenges in the accuracy of georeferencing that can limit both the speed and the efficiency in mapping urban areas. However, the integration of topographic grade Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers on UAS has improved this phase, leading to a reach of up to a centimeter-level accuracy. It is therefore necessary to adopt direct georeferencing (DG), real-time kinematic positioning (RTK)/post-processed kinematic (PPK) approaches in order to largely automate the photogrammetric flow. This work analyses the positional accuracy using Ground Control Points (GCP) and the repeatability and reproducibility of photogrammetric products (Digital Surface Model and ortho-mosaic) of a commercial multi-rotor system equipped with a GNSS receiver in an urban environment with a DG approach. It was demonstrated that DG is a viable solution for mapping urban areas. Indeed, PPK with at least 1 GCP considerably improves the RMSE (x: 0.039 m, y: 0.012 m, and z: 0.034 m), allowing for a reliable 1:500 scale urban mapping in less time when compared to conventional topographic surveys.

In Peru, grasslands monitoring is essential to support public policies related to the identification, recovery and management of livestock systems. In this study, therefore, we evaluated the spatial dynamics of grasslands in Pomacochas and Ventilla micro-watersheds (Amazonas, NW Peru). To do this, we used Landsat 5, 7 and 8 images and vegetation indices (normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI). The data were processed in Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform for 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020 through random forest (RF) classification reaching accuracies above 85%. The application of RF in GEE allowed surface mapping of grasslands with pressures higher than 85%. Interestingly, our results reported the increase of grasslands in both Pomacochas (from 2457.03 ha to 3659.37 ha) and Ventilla (from 1932.38 ha to 4056.26 ha) micro-watersheds during 1990–2020. Effectively, this study aims to provide useful information for territorial planning with potential replicability for other cattle-raising regions of the country. It could further be used to improve grassland management and promote semi-extensive livestock farming.