Land degradation, a phenomenon referring to (drought) in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions as a result of climatic variations and anthropogenic activities most especially in the semi-arid lands of Sudan, where vast majority of the rural population depend solely on agriculture and pasture for their daily livelihood, the ecological pattern had been greatly influenced thereby leading to loss of vegetation cover coupled with climatic variability and replacement of the natural tree composition with invasive mesquite species. The principal aim of this study is to quantitatively examine the vigour of vegetation in Sudan through different vegetation indices. The assessment was done based on indicators such as soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI). Cloud free multi-spectral remotely sensed data from LANDSAT imagery for the dry season periods of 1984 and 2009 were used in this study. Results of this study shows conversion of vegetation to other land use type. In general, an increase in area covered by vegetation was observed from the NDVI results of 2009 which is a contrast of that of 1984. The results of the vegetation indices for NDVI in 1984 (vegetated area) showed that about 21% was covered by vegetation while 49% of the area were covered with vegetation in 2009. Similar increase in vegetated area were observed from the result of SAVI. The decrease in vegetation observed in 1984 is as a result of extensive drought period which affects vegetation productivity thereby accelerating expansion of bare surfaces and sand accumulation. Although, increase in vegetated area were observed from the result of this study, this increase has a negative impact as the natural vegetation are degraded due to human induced activities which gradually led to the replacement of the natural vegetation with invasive tree species. The results of the study shows that NDVI perform better than by SAVI.
Vegetation forms the basis for the existence of animal and human. Due to changes in climate and human perturbation, most of the natural vegetation of the world has undergone some form of transformation both in composition and structure. Increased anthropogenic activities over the last decades had pose serious threat on the natural vegetation in Nigeria, many vegetated areas are either transformed to other land use such as deforestation for agricultural purpose or completely lost due to indiscriminate removal of trees for charcoal, fuelwood and timber production. This study therefore aims at examining the rate of change in vegetation cover, the degree of change and the application of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in the dry sub-humid region of Nigeria using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data spanning from 1983-2011. The method used for the analysis is the T-mode orientation approach also known as standardized PCA, while trends are examined using ordinary least square, median trend (Theil-Sen) and monotonic trend. The result of the trend analysis shows both positive and negative trend in vegetation change dynamics over the 29 years period examined. Five components were used for the Principal Component Analysis. The results of the first component explains about 98 % of the total variance of the vegetation (NDVI) while components 2-5 have lower variance percentage (< 1%). Two ancillary land use land cover data of 2000 and 2009 from European Space Agency (ESA) were used to further explain changes observed in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. The result of the land use data shows changes in land use pattern which can be attributed to anthropogenic activities such as cutting of trees for charcoal production, fuelwood and agricultural practices. The result of this study shows the ability of remote sensing data for monitoring vegetation change in the dry-sub humid region of Nigeria.
The Central Asian (CA) rangelands is a part of the arid and semi-arid ecological zones and spatial extent of drylands in CA (Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan) is vast. Projections averaged across a suite of climate models, as measured between 1950-2012 by Standardised Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) estimated a progressively increasing drought risks across rangelands (Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) especially during late summer and autumn periods, another index: Potential Evapotranspiration (PET) indicated drought anomalies for Turkmenistan and partly in Uzbekistan (between 1950-2000). On this study, we have combined a several datasets of drought indices ( SPIE, PET, temperature_T°C and precipitation_P) for better estimation of resilience/non-resilience of the ecosystems after warming the temperature in the following five countries, meanwhile, warming of climate causing of increasing rating of degradations and extension of desertification in the lowland and foothill zones of the landscape and consequently surrounding experienced of a raising balance of evapotranspiration (ET0). The study concluded, increasing drought anomalies which is closely related with raising (ET0) in the lowland and foothill zones of CA indicated on decreasing of NDVI indices with occurred sandy and loamy soils it will resulting a loss of vegetation diversity (endangered species) and raising of wind speeds in lowlands of CA, but on regional level especially towards agricultural intensification (without rotation) it indicated no changes of greenness index. It was investigated to better interpret how vegetation feedback modifies the sensitivity of drought indices associated with raising tendency of air temperature and changes of cold and hot year seasons length in the territory of CA.
Remote sensing has long been used as a means of detecting and classifying changes on the land. Analysis of multi-year
time series of land surface attributes and their seasonal change indicates a complexity of land use land cover change
(LULCC). In semi-arid region, where fragile ecosystems are dominant, the land cover change often reflects the most
significant impact on the environment due to excessive human activities. This study focused on the monitoring and
mapping of land use land cover change in the Gash Agricultural Scheme (Eastern Sudan), Sudan through monitoring the
changes that occurred in land use pattern due to drought, climate change and mismanagement. The study attempted to
analyze variation of land use land cover changes and it is impacts particularly the changes in the agricultural territories in
Gash river scheme, Eastern Sudan. Multi-temporal remotely sensed data (Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced
Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) between 1972 and 2010 (MSS 1972, TM 1987, ETM+1999 and ASTER 2010) were
used together with Geographical Information System (GIS).The study reveals that there was rapid increase of invasion of
mesquite tree as well as increase in sand land during the period of study and clear decrease in cultivated and grass land.
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