Accumulated Land Use and Land Cover Anthropization Between 1985 and 2023 in the Soure–Salvaterra Region, Brazilian Amazon: A Bivariate Local Moran’s I Approach

Land use and land cover (LULC) changes are major drivers of environmental transformation in sensitive regions, such as the Marajó Archipelago in the Brazilian Amazon. This study assessed accumulated anthropization of LULC in the Immediate Geographic Region of Soure–Salvaterra, Eastern Amazon, between the reference years 1985 and 2023, using MapBiomas data and spatial statistical techniques. Bivariate Local Moran’s I (LISA) was applied to evaluate intertemporal spatial associations between areas classified as natural in 1985 and anthropized in 2023. In this approach, High–Low indicates natural areas associated with low anthropization in 2023, whereas High–High indicates areas where natural cover in 1985 was spatially associated with higher anthropization in 2023. The results indicated a strong predominance of High–Low, with values above 94% in all municipalities and up to 99.86% in Santa Cruz do Arari. In contrast, High–High had localized concentrations in Salvaterra (3.53%), Cachoeira do Arari (1.28%), and Soure (1.16%), especially in coastal zones and inland sectors. Low–Low, associated with lower anthropogenic pressure or possible signs of natural regeneration, was extremely low (≤0.0004%). These findings indicate that LISA is useful for identifying local LULC patterns and supporting environmental assessment and territorial planning in tropical regions.