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Satellite monitoring of land-use and land-cover changes in northern Togo protected areas

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Abstract

Remote-sensing data for protected areas in northern Togo, obtained in three different years (2007, 2000, and 1987), were used to assess and map changes in land cover and land use for this drought prone zone. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was applied to the images to map changes in vegetation. An unsupervised classification, followed by classes recoding, filtering, identifications, area computing and post-classification process were applied to the composite of the three years of NDVI images. Maximum likelihood classification was applied to the 2007 image (ETM+2007) using a supervised classification process. Seven vegetation classes were defined from training data sets. The seven classes included the following biomes: riparian forest, dry forest, flooded vegetation, wooded savanna, fallows, parkland, and water. For these classes, the overall accuracy and the overall kappa statistic for the classified map were 72.5% and 0.67, respectively. Data analyses indicated a great change in land resources; especially between 1987 and 2000 probably due to the impact of democratization process social, economic, and political disorder from 1990. Wide-scale loss of vegetation occurred during this period. However, areas of vegetation clearing and regrowth were more visible between 2000 and 2007. The main source of confusion in the contingency matrix was due to heterogeneity within certain classes. It could also be due to spectral homogeneity among the classes. This research provides a baseline for future ecological landscape research and for the next management program in the area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Key Laboratory for Silviculture and Conservation of Ministry of Education, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Fousseni Folega, Chun-yu Zhang, Xiu-hai Zhao & Hua-guo Huang

  2. Laboratoire de botanique et écologie végétale, Faculté des sciences, BP 1515, Université de Lomé, Lomé, Togo

    Fousseni Folega, Kperkouma Wala, Komlan Batawila, Marra Dourma & Koffi Akpagana

Authors
  1. Fousseni Folega
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  2. Chun-yu Zhang
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  3. Xiu-hai Zhao
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  4. Kperkouma Wala
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  5. Komlan Batawila
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  6. Hua-guo Huang
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  7. Marra Dourma
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  8. Koffi Akpagana
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fousseni Folega.

Additional information

Project funding: This work was supported by the Chinese Ministry of Sciences and Technology — the host of China-Africa Science and Technology Partnership Program (CASTEP) and the National Special Research Program for Forestry Welfare of China (201104009).

Corresponding editor: Chai Ruihai

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Folega, F., Zhang, Cy., Zhao, Xh. et al. Satellite monitoring of land-use and land-cover changes in northern Togo protected areas. Journal of Forestry Research 25, 385–392 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-014-0466-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-014-0466-x

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