Systematic mapping from EO data for the evaluation of land cover dynamics in three protected areas of the NW Region of Cameroon
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Elvis Fang, K.
1UNIVERSITY OF YAOUNDE I Email: elvis18289@alumni.itc.nl
Abstract
Dense forest in the Fungom, Kom-Wum forest reserves and Kimbi Game reserve in the NW Region of Cameroon. This disappearance will affect the biodiversity of the whole region thus impacting more on climate change. This threat results from aspects such as agriculture, bush fires and the extension of settlements. Located in a range land region where forest is not the dominant vegetation, these protected areas were created to conserve the pockets of tropical forest relics dispersed here and there in the region. This threat constitutes a major preoccupation of the Cameroon government as she opts to know many issues surrounding the region among which is the rate of deforestation. This preoccupation stems from a number of repercussions to be felt by the population if the forest completely disappears giving why to other land cover forms. In the absence of forest cover in areas hitherto covered by dense forest, this does not guarantee a favourable environment for productive investment. This study of land cover evolution between 1986 and 2008 depended on the treatment of EO data to extract land cover maps for analysis. The EO data being landsat satellite images, the procedure consisted of subsetting, radiometric/geometric corrections and sampling which led to the unsupervised classification of the subsets for the two periods. The preliminary results obtained guided the fieldwork which was organized for validation purposes. After the fieldwork, the same exercise was re-carried out in order to realize a supervised classification. The determination and identification of field phenomena was aided by the taking of GPS points and photographs. The classification of the EO data for the two periods proved the quantitative change of forest cover giving way to farmland and settlement. Thus forest cover reduced enormously giving way to farmlands especially in the Fungom forest reserve which passed from 44.48 km2 in 1986 to 30.47 km2 in 2008 giving a negative evolution rate of 24%. Rather this has not improved on the livelihood of the people even though much land has been ceded to agriculture.
Keywords
EO data; classification; protected areas