Evaluating the Dynamics of Vegetation Cover Along the Great Green Wall in Yobe State, Nigeria Using NDVI Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56919/usci.2541.026Keywords:
Monitoring, Vegetation Cover, Dynamics, Green Wall, Landsat 8Abstract
The Great Green Wall (GGW) is an important project in northern Nigeria that helps restore degraded lands and reduce desertification and the risks associated with shifting Sahara deserts and sand dunes while promoting land restoration and conservation using both commercial and forest tree species. However, there is a serious risk that these objectives won't be met due to insecurity, conflicts, and poor weather conditions. Even though Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have funded the project and included it in the state's development plans for GGW initiatives, the scientific method for analyzing vegetation cover dynamics since its inception has not received the necessary attention. In this regard, this study decided to monitor the changes in the vegetation cover of the Great Green Wall within Yobe State, Nigeria, from 2015 to 2023. The vegetation dynamics were monitored using Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) for 8 years at 2-year intervals. The result shows that there was an increase in vegetation cover from 35,000 hectares in 2017 to 78000 hectares in 2021. However, there was a total decrease of 23,498 hectares in the spatial distribution of vegetation cover from 2021 to 2023. This decrease can be attributed to climate change and anthropogenic activities that will be included in the design and implementation of policies of the GGW to achieve its objectives.
References
Arowolo, A. O., Deng, X., Olatunji, O. A., & Obayelu, A. E. (2018). Assessing changes in the value of ecosystem services in response to land-use/land-cover dynamics in Nigeria. Science of the Total Environment, 636, 597–609. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.277
Goffner, D., Sinare, H., & Gordon, L. J. (2019). The Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative as an opportunity to enhance resilience in Sahelian landscapes and livelihoods. Regional Environmental Change, 19, 1417–1428. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-019-01481-z
Gwaza, P. A., & Akpan, C. (2022). Africa's Great Green Wall and the challenges of peacebuilding in Nigeria. Arts and Social Science Research, 12(1), 24.
Leroux, L., Bégué, A., Seen, D. L., Jolivot, A., & Kayitakire, F. (2017). Driving forces of recent vegetation changes in the Sahel: Lessons learned from regional and local level analyses. Remote Sensing of Environment, 191, 38–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.01.014
Makinde, E. O. (2021). The dynamics of land cover in Nigeria. The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses, 13(1), 91–109. https://doi.org/10.18848/1835-7156/CGP/v13i01/91-109
Naah, J. B. S., & Braun, B. (2019). Local agro-pastoralists perspectives on forage species diversity, habitat distributions, abundance trends, and ecological drivers for sustainable livestock production in West Africa. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 1707. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-38636-1
Nse, O. U., Okolie, C. J., & Nse, V. O. (2020). Dynamics of land cover, land surface temperature, and NDVI in Uyo City, Nigeria. Scientific African, 10, e00599. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sciaf.2020.e00599
Orakwue, C. A. (2020). At the frontline of land restoration and sustainable livelihood: An analysis of the implementation of Nigeria's Great Green Wall (Master's thesis). International Institute of Social Studies, Hague, Netherlands.
Sacande, M., Parfondry, M., Cicatiello, C., Scarascia-Mugnozza, G., Garba, A., Olorunfemi, P. S., ... & Martucci, A. (2021). Socioeconomic impacts derived from large-scale restoration in three Great Green Wall countries. Journal of Rural Studies, 87, 160–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.09.021
Turner, M. D., Carney, T., Lawler, L., Reynolds, J., Kelly, L., Teague, M. S., & Brottem, L. (2021). Environmental rehabilitation and the vulnerability of the poor: The case of the Great Green Wall. Land Use Policy, 111, 105750. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105750
Zumo, I. M., & Hashim, M. (2020, July). Mapping seasonal variations of grazing land above-ground biomass with Sentinel 2A satellite data. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 540, No. 1, p. 012061). IOP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/540/1/012061
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
UMYU Scientifica recognizes the importance of protecting authors’ intellectual property while promoting the free exchange of scientific knowledge. The journal adopts a copyright-retention model that empowers authors to maintain ownership of their work while granting the journal rights necessary for publication and dissemination.
1. Copyright Ownership
Authors publishing with UMYU Scientifica retain full copyright and publishing rights to their work. By submitting a manuscript, authors agree to grant the journal a non-exclusive license to publish, reproduce, distribute, and archive the article in all forms and media for the purpose of scholarly communication.
2. Licensing Terms
All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) license.
This license permits others to:
- Share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
- Adapt - remix, transform, and build upon the material.
- For non-commercial purposes only, provided that proper credit is given to the original author(s) and UMYU Scientifica as the source, a link to the license is provided, and any modifications are clearly indicated.
Commercial reuse or distribution of the content requires written permission from both the author and the editorial office.
3. Author Rights
Authors are free to:
- Deposit all versions of their manuscript (preprint, accepted version, and published version) in institutional, disciplinary, or public repositories without embargo.
- Use and distribute their published article for non-commercial scholarly purposes, including teaching, conference presentations, and research sharing.
- Include their work in future books, theses, or compilations, provided proper citation to the journal is made.
4. Publisher’s Rights
Upon publication, UMYU Scientifica retains the right to:
- Host, index, and disseminate the article through the journal’s website and partner databases.
- Archive the content in long-term preservation systems such as the PKP Preservation Network (PKP-PN) and the Umaru Musa Yar’adua University Institutional Repository.
5. Attribution and Citation
Users must give appropriate credit to the author(s), include a link to the article’s DOI or the journal webpage, and indicate if changes were made. Proper citation is required whenever the work is reused or referenced.
6. License Reference
For detailed terms of use, please refer to the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0):
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
