One hundred and four environmental change pair studies, largely drawn from the 36-year legacy of Landsat satellite data, for publication in a 400-page hardcover book: Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environment (June 2008 release). This publication presents a survey of environmental change in all 54 African countries focusing on the past several decades.
For each country, a 2-page profile presents relevant issues and statistics. This is followed by change pair studies showing specific instances of environmental change for that country. The majority of change pairs are Landsat imagery. Declassified Corona and Argon images, Aerial photography and high-resolution commercial satellite images are used as well. Each change pair is accompanied by a brief narrative based on literature review, data from the respective countries, UN data, and correspondence with local experts. Six of the 104 sites are shown below.
Agriculture in the Yamba Berté Forest Reserve: Chad:
The Yamba Berté Forest Reserve in southwestern Chad is made up of critical gallery forests, pristine woodlands, and a network of small lakes and swamps. The dense forest includes trees that can grow as tall as 35 m. The reserve is an important habitat for gazelles, monkeys, warthogs, giraffes, elephants, and the rare giant eland. Yamba Berté is located in a zone of savannah woodland that stretches across southern Chad and supports a dense human population and most of the country’s agriculture. The introduction of cotton in the 1930s and draft animals in the 1950s supported a large increase in agriculture. During the drought years (1968, 1972–1973, 1983–1984), large numbers of people migrated to the area because of its higher rainfall and the economic opportunity of its larger cities. In addition to subsistence crops such as maize, millet, and sorghum, the area is ideal for growing cotton and groundnuts, which are the two primary cash crops.
The 1986 image shows agriculture around Yamba Berté, including some encroachment on the reserve area. The second image, captured 15 years later, shows dramatically increased agriculture around the reserve and several areas where the reserve boundary has been breeched. The high-resolution image (inset) shows the detail in one areaof encroachment.
One Example showing Desertification can be seen here:
Important Notes for more Information:
Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environment contains 316 satellite images taken in 104 locations in every country in Africa, along with 151 maps and 319 ground photographs and a series of graphs illustrating the environmental challenges faced by the continent.
All the materials in the Atlas are non-copyrighted and available for free use.
Individual satellite images, maps, graphs and photographs, can be downloaded from http://na.unep.net/AfricaAtlas
The Atlas can also be purchased at www.earthprint.com
The digital version of the Atlas will also be released on Google Earth and other websites.
The book is the fruit of collaborative work between UNEP and partners including the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), the US Geological Survey, Global Earth Observations (GEO) Secretariat, United States Agency for the International Development (USAID), the World Resources Institute (WRI), Belgian Development Cooperation, the University of Maryland, South Dakota State University, the Southern African Development Community, the African Association for Remote Sensing of the Environment (AARSE), Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), EIS-AFRICA, Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), DigitalGlobe and GeoEye.
For more information on the 12th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, visit http://www.unep.org/roa/Amcen/Amcen_Events/12th_Session_AMCEN/
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- Anuj Kothari
- I am a IT engineering student from K J Somaiya College (Mumbai,India).I like blogging about engineering, education, exams, environment and world updates .
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