TITLE:
Monitoring Forest Cover Change and Fragmentation Using Remote Sensing and Landscape Metrics in Nyungwe-Kibira Park
AUTHORS:
Alphonse Kayiranga, Alishir Kurban, Felix Ndayisaba, Lamek Nahayo, Fidele Karamage, Abdimijit Ablekim, Haiwen Li, Osman Ilniyaz
KEYWORDS:
Burundi, Forest Management, Landscape Analysis, Nyungwe-Kibira Park, Remote Sensing, Rwanda
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.4 No.11,
November
4,
2016
ABSTRACT: The
objective of this study was to evaluate forest cover change and forest
degradation in Nyungwe-Kibira Park, a natural reserve straddling Rwanda and
Burundi from 1986 to 2015. Landsat TM, ETM+ and 8OLI images of 30 m spatial
resolution were used as primary datasets. Geographic Information System (GIS)
techniques were used for forest cover mapping and landscape metrics were
calculated by using FRAGSTATS software. Classification and change analysis of
forest cover type and landscape patterns analysis were carried out. In
addition, to analyze the correlated external disturbances, the buffer zone of 5
Km was delineated outside the boundary of Nyungwe-Kibira Park. The results
revealed that in among 5 land cover classes considered within the Park, the
dominant one was dense forest class covering over 70% of the entire Park area
while in the buffer zone cultivated and open land dominated at over 90% between
the years 1986 and 2015. Change detection highlighted that within
Nyungwe-Kibira forest, approximately 0.27% (4.97 Km2) of forest
cover was cleared while 0.07% (1.22 Km2) was regenerated annually.
In the buffer zone, the annual cleared forest cover was about 0.76% (13.02 Km2).
The five landscape indices chosen at class level indicated a considerable
fragmentation of forest inside the Park and the highest fragmentation in the
buffer zone. Indeed, these results shed a bleak image over the future of the
Nyungwe-Kibira forest that should be helpful for the policy-makers and managers
of these natural parks to establish adequate policies to mitigate the forest
loss and degradation by implementing quick and effective solutions.