Laboratoire de Gestion et Valorisation de la Biodiversité au Sahel, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Abdou Moumouni, BP 10662 Niamey, Niger
The tiger bush, the primary habitat of the giraffe, is facing severe soil degradation due to arid climate and increased human activity. This study aims to assess changes in different land cover units and the extent of forest cover degradation in the core giraffe habitat. To this end, Landsat images from 1990, 2006, and 2022 were downloaded using USGS and processed with ENVI 5.1 software. The results reveal that the landscapes of the giraffe zone are predominantly dominated by cultivated areas. The expansion of cultivated areas has contributed to the degradation of tiger bush and shrub steppes, which have seen their areas reduced from 1990 to 2022. The transition matrix showed a 73.21% change in regular tiger bush between 1990 and 2022. The degrading dynamics of forest cover caused by the overexploitation of natural resources should in the long-term lead to the complete anthropization of the landscape.
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