Abstract
The main objectives of this study were to detecting the land use and land cover change (LULC), using remote sensing techniques, then identify the reasons for rangeland and tree cover degradation in El Rawashda Forest, Gadarif State, Sudan. The study has conducted field experiment developed on an area of 20 feddans that was affected by deterioration in the forest and to assess the best method for rehabilitation of the vegetation cover in the area of study. The experimental area was divided into 5 blocks; each block consisted of 4 treatments: grass seeds and Talih (Acacia seyal var. seyal); sowing seeds just before autumn, sowing seeds after disc ploughing, sowing seeds using water harvesting technique and control (no seeding). In the present study an attempt has been made to analyze and monitor the LULC changes using multi‐temporal Landsat data deterioration in the forest and to assess the best method for restoration of the vegetation. In the present study, an attempt has been made to analyze and monitor the LULC changes using multi‐temporal Landsat data for years 1984, 1994 and 2013. LULC grades in the classification scheme are: Trees, Mechanized Rain-fed Agriculture (MRA), Grasses and Bare land. Individual classifications based on maximum likelihood of algorithm were used and the results showed a significant that extensive change of LULC patterns has occurred in all decades in the study area. The results also show Trees class was decreased, while MRA, Grasses and Bare land were increased. The seeding of the forage and Talih seeds after disc plowing gave the best results compared to the other treatments, followed by forage and Talih seed sowing under the water harvesting technique and broadcasting of forage and Talih seeds and finally the control.
Highlights
Sudan is rich in its natural resources; the forest resources are among them, which are either reserved, or nonreserved
It is worth mentioning that productivity in late season was always greater than early season regardless of treatments used as late season productivity benefited from the rainfall since it was taken at the end of autumn
The current study shows a successful application of multi-temporal Landsat data and maximum likelihood algorithm in mapping land use and land cover change (LULC) classes of the years 1984, 1994 and 2013 in Sahelian environments
Summary
Sudan is rich in its natural resources; the forest resources are among them, which are either reserved, or nonreserved. By the end of 1970s and in the early 1980s, most of the lands were used for mechanized farming [2] This situation, coupled with several other factors such as monocropping of sorghum, lack of crop rotation, inappropriate methods of soil preparation and management, had resulted in severe land degradation problems. Rangeland miss-use and open grazing by villagers and nomads during their seasonal movement from North to South Gadarif state and their stay for a longer period in the forest exposes its resources to further depletion. The objectives of the present study were 1) to study the land use and land cover (LULC) detection using multi-temporal Landsat data in El Rawashda forest, Gadarif State; and 2) to identify the reasons of rangeland and tree cover degradation in the study area. The man made activities are contributing potentially in degradation of El Rawashda Forest Reserve
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