The impact of human activities on West Africa's natural vegetation: estimating land cover dynamics by means of a sample based high resolution image survey
Sub-Saharan Western Africa with its great variety of ecological regions from North to South experienced major changes during the last decades. To assess and quantify land cover dynamics in the region a systematic sampling of high resolution Landsat imagery is used. Samples taken as a box of 20km x 20km around each 1 degree latitude and longitude intersects are processed and analyzed. Statistical estimates of land cover change are produced by means of an automatic object-based classification in six broad classes for the years 1990 and 2000. Figures of change for the West African Sahel region are presented and put in perspective to other existing time series. Results yield information on land cover change processes such as vegetation dynamics and deforestation.These are discussed within the context of the causes of changes to the natural ecosystem and their follow-on impact on land availability.
BODART Catherine;
DONNAY François;
LUPI Andrea;
KISSIYAR Ouns;
BRINK Andreas;
2011-05-12
International Center for Remote Sensing of Environment (ICRSE)
JRC64449
http://www.isrse34.org/,
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC64449,
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