Abstract
In order to study the evolution of land use and the changes in land cover in Upper Casamance, from Landsat images acquired in 1987 and 2018, we used a method of multistage unsupervised classification. Recently developed to mapping and quantification of vegetation land cover changes in West-African coastal, this method is based on the following stages: first classification (K-means) over 15 classes, interpretation of the spectral signatures of the resulting classes followed by reclassification according to the chosen nomenclature, creation of thematic masks, classifications on masks, and finally reclassification. With the only difference, our study aims also to contribute, methodologically, to the knowledge of the spectral profiles of plant formation types. On a thematic level, the results show that between 1987 and 2018, forest areas decreased by 377,118.7 ha (or 27.4%), while wooded areas and agricultural and soil surfaces increased by 263,172.4 ha (or 19.1%) and 1560 75.5 ha (11.3%). In terms of change, deforestation by increasing agricultural and soil surfaces is noted along the border with the Gambia, savanization and anthropization is noted along the central part, and stability of forest surfaces followed by a slight increase in savannas and agricultural and soil surfaces is noted in the south.
Highlights
Monitoring of land use and land cover changes is of major interest to States for better management of resources and the environment
Multistage unsupervised classification allowed to contribute to the knowledge of the spectral profiles of land-use classes, plant formations, in the different channels used (Figure 17)
The results indicated that between 1987 and 2018, forest areas decreased by 377,118.7 ha (27.4%), while wooded areas and cultivations areas and soil increased by 263,172.4 ha (19.1%) and 156,075.5 ha (11.3%) respectively
Summary
Monitoring of land use and land cover changes is of major interest to States for better management of resources and the environment. In West Africa, Senegal, this follow-up takes place in a general context marked by variability in climate conditions [1] and through deforestation and land degradation [2,3,4,5,6,7] for more than five decades. It takes on a interesting dimension through the identification, description and analysis of the current process. In southern Senegal, in the Vélingara department, the loss of vegetation cover is 74,182 ha in 31 years [10]
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