Driving Mechanisms of Land Use & Cover Change in the Sahel | DIMECLUES

Approval Date
January 2017

Project Duration
5 years

Financial & Technical Partners

  • Financial partners: Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
  • Technical partners: Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (RADI) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), AGRHYMET Regional Center

Country of operations
Sahel region

Objective
Study the response of Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) change to climatic and anthropic forcing in the Sahel and the impact of LULC on water balance.    
The project is structured around 4 components:

  • Mapping of land use change in the Sahel : understand the dynamics of natural and anthropized land cover in the Sahel
  • Evaluation of climatic and anthropic forcing: analyze climatic forcing using satellite observation combined with field data.
  • Analyze LULC  impacts on and response to climatic and anthropic forcing : evaluate the land use and land cover response to climatic and anthropic forcing through the monitoring of biophysical parameters using remote sensing
  • Management of ecosystems for land and water conservation in the Sahel: examine ecosystems management methods and policies in the region and explore sustainable ecosystems management approaches to address climatic and anthropic forcing.  This component will also explain how the project could contribute to the Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) and other local and regional initiatives on land and ecosystems conservation and restoration.  ​​​​​​​

Project Status
On going

Main activities

  • Valorization of the land use maps developed by OSS on the project action zone. OSS data will contribute to the elaboration of the different products envisaged by the project, namely land use and land cover maps and their impact on the water balance in the Sahel.
  • Collection and centralization of the mapping products elaborated by the project partners. This includes the harmonization of LULC data by the project regional partners (GRHYMET, RCMRD and OSS) and the creation of a reference database.
  • Contribution to sites selection, inventories and detailed mapping of field data on anthropic and climatic pressure in the Sahel.  These data are important to analyze the impact of human activities on land use and land cover change.