The Land cover of Africa for the year 2000 P. Mayaux, E. Bartholomé, M. Massart, C. Van Cutsem, A. Cabral, A.Nonguierma, O. Diallo, C. Pretorius, M. Thompson, M. Cherlet, J-F. Pekel, P. Defourny, M. Vasconcelos, A. Di Gregorio, S.Fritz, G. De Grandi, C.Elvidge, P.Vogt, A. Belward

The overall context 30,000,000 km 2 From dry deserts to tropical rain forests Evergreen (forests, deserts) and seasonal (savannahs, grasslands) ecosystems Isolated continent  no overlap with other windows 1 continental window (baseline map) + regional windows (improvements)

Characteristics of the product Collaboration between many institutions: FAO, Instituto Investigação Cientifica Tropical (Lisbon), Université Catholique de Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve), Agrhymet (Niamey), CSIR (Pretoria)… Various techniques: statistical averaging and clustering (Louvain-la-Neuve), composition on albedo and tree classifiers (Lisbon), clean NDVI & NDWI profiles and clustering (CCR) Data used: SPOT VEGETATION, ERS & JERS SAR (flooded forests), DMSP (cities) Legend has put the accent on the savanna and the forests The current product is still in improvement

Cleaning up of the NDVI profiles Elimination of low values Interpolation over long periods

Monthly max NDVI and min NDWI August – April - January

Maroc Urge agricultural areas Urban settlements Meditteranean vegetation Inversed vegetation cycle

Irrigation in the Lybia desert Urge irrigation areas Urban settlements Desert Salt hardpans

Nile Delta Urge cities (Cairo, Alexandria) Free water and swamp grasslands, and irrigated agriculture Desert

Senegal Urge agricultural areas (“Bassin Arachidier” Mangroves (Saloum, Casamance) Urban settlements From sparse grasslands to woodlands Remnants of tropical forests (Basse Casamance)

Chad Lake Chad lake Free water and swamp grasslands (“prairie flottante) Agriculture From desert to closed shrublands

Internal delta of Nile Urge areas of swamp grasslands, water From shrublands to dense woodlands

Malawi Agriculture Miombo woodlands Large lake

South D.R. Congo Wet miombo woodlands Swamp grasslands Shrublands and grasslands Woodlands mixed with agriculture

Wet miombo woodlands

Delta of the Okavango Swamp grasslands and shrublands From grasslands to woodlands Salt hardpans

Cape Town Intensive agriculture (wheat, vineyards) Vegetation related to topography Large urban settlements High botanical biodiversity

Forest blocks in Ghana Volta Lake Lagoons Urban settlements Forest reserves Forest / croplands / savanna mosaic

Central “Cuvette” of Congo River Swamp forests Swamp grasslands (“prairie flottante) Agriculture mixed with fallows and forest Enclosed savannas

Congo Basin forests Agriculture mixed with fallows and forest along the former “paysannats” Penetration by the logging tracks

Niger delta Mangroves Lowland and montane forests Urban settlements Forest / croplands / savanna mosaic Woodlands mixed with agriculture

Montane forests Kilimanjaro, Mehru… Montane forests Closed grasslands Agriculture

Madagascar Montane and lowland rain forests Dry deciduous forests Secondary forests & rural complex Mangroves Grasslands and shrublands Thicket

Global land-cover maps IGBP DIS-CoverUniversity of MarylandGLC 2000VGT colour composite

The locust window FAO / JRC

Qualitative validation

Agricultural areas

Limitations Confusion in the agricultural areas (mixed with natural vegetation) Seasonal cycle of the vegetation could be more exploited (number and period of vegetation cycles) Local legends do not fit with the continental one Necessity of regional products