Examining the impact of military training exercises on vegetation: case of the South African Army Combat Training Centre Lohatla

Abstract

Training under realistic combat conditions is a prerequisite for maintaining a strong and effective defence force. For training to be effective, militaries rely on the availability and accessibility of suitable training areas to conduct training activities that ensure preparation for executing missions with maximum effectiveness and fewer casualties. Training activities that ensure combat-ready soldiers often cause vegetation degradation through vegetation cover alteration, resultant soil erosion, and increased soil compaction. Ultimately, these activities might compromise the continued availability and accessibility of realistic training conditions. Therefore, it is imperative to early detect, monitor and mitigate vegetation change in military training areas, and to secure sound environmental practices to ensure the sustainable use of training areas. Determining vegetation change by conducting fieldwork is often both time-consuming and expensive. As an expedited, inexpensive way to investigate vegetation change at the South African Army Combat Training Centre (SA Army CTC) Lohatla, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used to determine changes in vegetation after military training exercises. The NDVI results indicate the impact of military exercises on vegetation and shows that exercises with a long duration can indeed lead to vegetation degradation, but short term, light exercises have limited impact on vegetation.