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Satellite images of Africa illustrate the dire state of the continents habitats

12/06/2008 16:33:00

Africa's rapidly changing environmental landscape, from the disappearance of glaciers in Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains to the loss of Cape Town's unique ‘fynbos' vegetation, has been presented to the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN).

The Atlas, compiled on behalf of the ministers by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), underlines how development choices, population growth, climate change and, in some cases, conflicts are shaping and impacting the natural and nature-based assets of the region.

See below to see some of the images.

A few positive signs

The satellite images also highlight positive signs of management that is protecting against and even reversing environmental degradation, say the authors.
Action on overgrazing in the Sidi Toui National Park, southeastern Tunisia has produced a dramatic rebound in the natural ecosystem. The park has seen the reintroduction of the Scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) which is currently on the verge of extinction.
A new management plan for the Itezhi-tezhi dam in Zambia has helped to restore the natural seasonal flooding of the Kafue flats, as shown in the 2007 satellite image.
The expansion of wetlands resulting from a restoration project in and around Diawling National Park is helping to control flooding and improve livelihoods in Mauritania.
New policies and improved enforcement have significantly reduced unsustainable exploitation of the forests of Mount Kenya, which is a crucial area for water catchment and hydro-power generation.
Farmer initiatives focusing on the planting and protection of trees have led to significant land revitalization in Tahoua Province, Niger. A recent study revealed that there are now 10 to 20 times more trees across three of Niger's southern provinces than there were in the 1970s.
A review of forest concessions in Liberia has helped protect the forest in Sapo National Park from logging as well as illegal mining and poaching.

mostly bad news

In addition to well-publicized changes, such as Mount Kilimanjaro's shrinking glaciers, the drying up of Lake Chad and falling water levels in Lake Victoria, the Atlas presents, for the first time, satellite images of new or lesser known environmental changes and challenges including:
Disappearing glaciers in Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains, which decreased by 50 per cent between 1987 and 2003.
The widening corridors of deforestation that have accompanied expanding roads in the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1975. New roads threaten to bring even greater traffic to this biologically rich rainforest and further fuel the bushmeat trade.
The disappearance of a large portion of Madagascar's South Malagasy spiny forest between 1973 and 2003 as a result of farming and fuelwood gathering.
The northern edge of Cape Town, which has seen much of its native ‘fynbos' vegetation replaced with farms and suburban development since 1978. ‘Fynbos' make up 80 per cent of the plant varieties in the Cape Floristic Region, an area with over 6,000 plant species which are found nowhere else in the world and are an economic asset for tourism.
The loss of trees and shrubs in the fragile environment of the Jebel Marra foothills in western Sudan as a result of population growth due in part to an influx of refugees fleeing drought and conflict in neighbouring Northern Darfur.
The dramatic expansion of Senegalese capital Dakar over the past half century from a small urban centre at the tip of the Cap Vert Peninsula to a metropolitan area with 2.5 million people spread over the entire peninsula.

Striking changes
The nearly 400-page long publication features over 300 satellite images taken in every country in Africa in over 100 locations. The ‘before' and ‘after' photographs, some of which span a 35-year period, offer striking snapshots of local environmental transformation across the continent.

Satellite imagery tells the story
The Atlas, compiled in cooperation with researchers and organizations in Africa and elsewhere, offers a sobering assessment of thirty-six years of environmental change, including: "The swell of grey-coloured cities over a once-green countryside; protected areas shrinking as farms encroach upon their boundaries; the tracks of road networks through forests; pollutants that drift over borders of neighbouring countries; the erosion of deltas; refugee settlements scattered across the continent causing further pressure on the environment; and shrinking mountain glaciers".

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said: "As shown throughout the Atlas, there are many places across Africa where people have taken action - where there are more trees than thirty years ago, where wetlands have sprung back, and where land degradation has been countered. These are the beacons we need to follow to ensure the survival of Africa's people and their economically important nature-based assets."

"The Atlas also however clearly demonstrates the vulnerability of people in the region to forces often outside their control, including the shrinking of glaciers in Uganda and Tanzania and impacts on water supplies linked with climate change. These underline the urgent need for the international community to deliver a new climate agreement by the climate change convention meeting in Copenhagen in 2009-one that not only delivers deep emission reductions but also accelerates the flow of funds for adaptation and the climate proofing of economies," he added.

Main Findings and Key Concerns
Between 1990 and 2004, many African countries achieved some small but promising environmental improvements, mainly in the field of water and sanitation, according to the Atlas. A few countries have expanded protected areas - currently numbering over 3,000 across the continent.

However, loss of forest is a major concern in 35 countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Nigeria and Rwanda, among others. This is closely followed by biodiversity loss - which is occurring in 34 countries such as Angola, Ethiopia, Gabon and Mali. Land degradation, similarly, is a major worry for 32 countries in Africa including Cameroon, Eritrea and Ghana. Other problems include desertification - in Burkina Faso, Chad, Kenya and Niger among others - as well as water stress, rising pollution and coping with rapid urbanization.

Double deforestation
Africa is losing more than four million hectares of forest every year - twice the world's average deforestation rate, says the Atlas. Meanwhile, some areas across the continent are said to be losing over 50 metric tonnes of soil per hectare per year.

The Atlas also shows that erosion and chemical and physical damage have degraded about 65 per cent of the continent's farmlands. In addition, slash and burn agriculture, coupled with the high occurrence of lightning across Africa, is thought to be responsible for wild fires.

Over 300 million people on the continent already face water scarcity, and areas experiencing water shortages in Sub-Saharan Africa are expected to increase by almost a third by 2050. Climate change is emerging as a driving force behind many of these problems and is likely to intensify the already dramatic transformations taking place across the continent.

Although Africa produces only four per cent of the world's total carbon dioxide emissions, its inhabitants are poised to suffer disproportionately from the consequences of global climate change. Africa's capacity to adapt to climate change is relatively low, with projected costs estimated to reach at least 5-10 per cent of GDP. Finally, transboundary issues are a key feature of Africa's environment, from international river basins to cross-border air pollution.

Refugee migrations are also causing further pressure on the environment, with major population movements due to conflict but also increasingly as a result of food and water shortages. Cooperative approaches involving several bordering countries are becoming essential for the conserving and enhancing of shared ecosystems if they are to remain productive into the 21st century.

Click here to see all the images.

Satellite
Taking advantage of the latest space technology and Earth observation science, including the 36-year legacy of the US Landsat satellite programme, the Atlas serves to demonstrate the potential of satellite imagery data in monitoring ecosystems and natural resources dynamics. This in turn can provide the kind of hard, evidence-based data to support political decisions aimed at improving management of Africa's natural resources.

Plantations in Campo-Ma'an: Cameroon - 01 February 1973.

The Campo-Ma'an rain forest in southern Cameroon covers approximately 770 000 hectares of the Guineo-Congolian Regional Centre of Endemism-a species-rich area of rain forest with many species found nowhere else in the world. While the human population density is quite low, the area supports a host of economic activities, many of which threaten the area's ecosystems, including logging, shifting agriculture, and commercial agro-forestry. These forces contribute to the deforestation rate in southern Cameroon, which is among the highest in central Africa.

Plantations in Campo-Ma'an: Cameroon - 26 April 2001.

In the 1973 image the forest appears as largely intact. However, the impact of the agro-forestry industry, which is dominated by rubber and palm plantations, can be seen clearly in the centre of the 2001 image. Plantations, roads and cultivated areas dominate the landscape. These large-scale agro-industrial operations have replaced approximately 7.5 per cent of the area's forest cover. Campo-Ma'an is an important focus of conservation efforts in Cameroon, and in 2000 the Campo-Ma'an National Park was created to protect its diverse flora and fauna. The park covers 26 400 hectares of diverse forests stretching from the coast to roughly 100 km inland.

The Gorillas of Virunga National Park: DRC -
06 February 1978.

The Virunga Park area is home to over half of the world's 700 surviving mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei). In an area approximately 40 km by 12 km with an elevation ranging from 2 300 to 4 507 metres there are a variety of ideal gorilla habitats including bamboo and montane forests. The area includes Mgahinga National Park in Uganda, Volcans National Park in Rwanda and the Mikeno (Gorilla) sector of Virunga National Park in DRC. Surrounding these protected areas, however, are some of the densest human populations in Africa. In addition to population pressure, armed conflict in the region has made habitat and species protection very difficult.

The Gorillas of Virunga National Park: DRC - 21 February 2005.

In the 1978 image, a line between the protected areas and the populated agricultural areas surrounding the parks is already apparent. While the boundary of the parks has remained largely intact since the mid-1970s, during the 1990s and early 2000s, large numbers of people moved into the area surrounding the parks, many of them refugees from armed conflict. A report by the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature documented a large coordinated influx of people from outside the area in May and June of 2004. The report estimated that 15 km2 of land at the west edge of the Park (yellow arrow) were deforested during this time. The decline in areas of green outside the protected areas suggests that few fallow fields and little natural vegetation remain-a sign of the agricultural intensity in this area.

The Drying Up of Lake Faguibine: Mali - 03 January 1974 - 26 December 1978.

When Mali's Lake Faguibine is full, it is among the largest lakes in West Africa-it covered an estimated 590 km2 in 1974-and is an important source of water for the surrounding area. The lake is at the end of a series of basins that receive water from the Niger River when it floods. Thus, water levels in Lake Faguibine are closely tied to the flow of the Niger River. A lack of rainfall in the catchments of either the lake or the river can affect water levels in Lake Faguibine. Water levels have fluctuated widely in Lake Faguibine since the beginning of the 20th century. However, in the late 1980s, an extended period of reduced precipitation led to a complete drying up of the lake in the 1990s, making the traditional livelihoods of fishing, agriculture, and pastoralism difficult if not impossible. Despite relatively normal rainfall in recent years, Lake Faguibine remains nearly dry.

The Drying Up of Lake Faguibine: Mali - 30 October 2006.

A 2003 Columbia University study linked changes in sea surface temperature to drought in the Sahel during the 1970s and 1980s. More recent research has linked sea surface temperatures to human induced global warming. As global warming intensifies, there may be more change in store for West Africa and for the people who depend on water resources such as Lake Faguibine for their livelihoods.

Habitat Regeneration: Sidi Toui National Park, Tunisia - 02 January 1978.

The semi-arid Sahelian grassland and scrub of southern Tunisia has been profoundly altered by human activities during the last century. Located on the northern fringe of the Sahara Desert, this ecosystem is susceptible to erosion and desertifi cation brought on by droughts, overgrazing, and agriculture. In 1993, Sidi Toui National Park was established. Within the bounds of this protected area, natural vegetation began to return. The 1987 image shows the barren condition of the region before the park was created. In the 2006, image the outline of the park, which is protected from the effects of grazing cattle, contrasts markedly with the surrounding landscape. Protection substantially increased the vegetation density and species diversity, particularly of the grasses.

Habitat Regeneration: Sidi Toui National Park, Tunisia - 14 January 2006.

The Scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) and five other species of gazelles and antelope native to this area had been brought to near extinction by lack of habitat and overhunting throughout the 20th century. Classifi ed as critically endangered in 1996, a small population of Scimitar-horned oryx was introduced into Sidi Toui Park in 1999. If the population inside the park thrives, it may enable future reintroductions of Scimitar-horned oryx elsewhere, Sidi Toui also provides habitat for several native species of antelope, as well as a variety of birds species.