Browsing by Author "Misana, Salome B."
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Item Aerial Imagery for Monitoring Land Use in East African Wetland Ecosystems(IEEE, 2009) Franke, Jonas; Becker, M.; Menz, Gunter; Misana, Salome B.; Mwita, Emiliana J.; Nienkemper, PamelaAnthropogenic pressure and environmental change processes are key drivers of the recent intensification in the agricultural use of East African wetlands. Land shortage and degradation of upland areas as well as climate change effects turn wetland ecosystems into focal points of production by commercial and traditional users, entailing rapid wetland use changes and, in some instances, severe wetland degradation. An ecosystem inventory by mapping land cover and monitoring land use changes with remote sensing improves our understanding of change processes in wetlands and will contribute to the provision of decision support for sustainable use of wetland ecosystems. However, the spatial resolution of satellite systems is often too coarse to derive land use information at the plot level. In particular, small wetlands often exhibit abrupt transitions into different types of land use and landscape elements. Hence, monitoring of small wetlands requires spatially high-resolution remote sensing data, accounting for the prevailing small-scale diversity in land use. High-resolution aerial imagery, which is not available for most parts of East Africa, may provide information of wetland use/change at the required plot-level scale. Therefore, image acquisition campaigns over Kenyan and Tanzanian wetlands were realized with a common Nikon D-200 in September 2008 and February 2009, respectively. A comprehensive geo-referenced image data set that displays land use units at the plot level was obtained, used to discriminate various land cover types. Land cover/-land use maps can be derived that reveal land use trends fundamental for providing decision support for a sustainable wetland use.Item Charcoal Potential of Miombo Woodlands at Kitulangalo, Tanzania(2005) Malimbwi, R. E.; Zahabu, Eliakimu; Monela, G. C.; Misana, Salome B.; Jambiya, George C.; Mchome, B.A study was carried out to determine the charcoal potential of the miombo woodlands of Kitulangalo area, near Morogoro, Tanzania. Systematic sampling design used in an inventory in 1996 was repeated in 1999 in order to determine the general current stand parameters and forest change. A total of 46 sample plots were laid out in the forest reserve. In adjacent public lands stratified random sampling was applied where a total of 30 plots were laid out. The layout was meant to study how species richness and wood stocking vary in public lands and forest reserve. Preferred tree species for charcoal making had standing wood volume of 24.5 m3ha-1 and 56.5 m3ha -1 in public lands and reserved forest respectively with corresponding basal area of 3.7 m2ha-1 and 7.2 m 2ha-1. Stem numbers were 909 stems ha-1 in public lands and 354 stems ha-1 in the reserved forest. These values indicated more regeneration in public lands following disturbance than in the forest reserve. The weight of charcoal that can be extracted from the woodland at the roadside was 56 kg, equivalent to only one bag of charcoal per hectare. Similarly 54 bags may be extracted at 5 km distance while 125 bags may be extracted from beyond 10 km from the highway. With the established stand growth rate of 2.3 m3 ha-1 year-1 for the regrowth of miombo woodland at Kitulangalo, it will take about 8 to 15 years for the degraded woodlands to recover for charcoal production. Therefore, for sustainable charcoal production in this area, felling cycles of 8 to 15 years are recommended, provided the minimum tree size of > 10 cm dbh (diameter at breast height) for charcoal making is observed.Item Classification, Characterisation, and Use of Small Wetlands in East Africa(Springer Link, 2011) Sakana, Naomi; Alvarez, Miguel; Becker, M.; Boehme, Beate; Handa, Collins; Kamiri, Wangechi; Langensiepen, Matthias; Menz, Gunter; Misana, Salome B.; Mogha, Neema G.; Möseler, Bodo M.; Mwita, Emiliana J.; Oyieke, Helida; Van Wijk, MarkSmall wetlands in Kenya and Tanzania cover about 12 million ha and are increasingly converted for agricultural production. There is a need to provide guide-lines for their future protection or use, requiring their systematic classification and characterisation. Fifty-one wetlands were inventoried in 2008 in four contrasting sites, covering a surveyed total area of 484 km 2 . Each wetland was subdivided into sub-units of 0.5–458 ha based on the predominant land use. The biophysical and socio-economic attributes of the resulting 157 wetland sub-units were determined. The wetland sub-units were categorized using multivariate analyses into five major cluster groups. The main wetland categories comprised: (1) narrow permanent-ly flooded inland valleys that are largely unused; (2) wide permanently flooded inland valleys and highlands flood-plains under extensive use; (3) large inland valleys and lowland floodplains with seasonal flooding under medium use intensity; (4) completely drained wide inland valleys and highlands floodplains under intensive food crop production; and (5) narrow drained inland valleys under permanent horticultural production. The wetland types were associated with specific vegetation forms and soil attributes.Item Comparing the Kenyan and Tanzanian Slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro: Why are the Adjacent Land Uses So Distinct? Campbell LUCID WP 44(2004-06) Campbell, David J.; Misana, Salome B.; Olson, Jennifer M.One of the remarkable contemporary features of the landscape on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro is the sharp land use-land cover boundary that cuts across the gradient coinciding with the political boundary between Tanzania and Kenya. The general similarities in ecological conditions and potential land use on both the Kenyan and Tanzanian sides of the boundary raise the question as to why the contrast in land use-cover is so marked? This paper seeks to address this question. It adopts an approach that explores the recent history of land use, dynamics and distribution of wildlife, herding and farming, and the interactions among and within them, in a nested system in which local processes are examined in their wider national and international context. Both ecological and socio-economic conditions and processes define this context. Ecological characteristics include topography, rainfall, hydrology, vegetation, and fauna. There are differences between north and south sides of the mountain such as the presence of rain shadow on the northwest side, and more swamps northern side. The socio-economic context reflects the patterns of land use (farming, herding, and wildlife), interactions and exchanges between them within the study area and particularly their relationships with broader regional, national, and international processes such as trade and migration, and economic, social and environmental policies.Item Floristic Classification of the Vegetation in Small Wetlands of Kenya and Tanzania(2012) Alvarez, Miguel; Becker, M.; Boehme, Beate; Handa, Collins; Josko, Matthias; Kamiri, Hellen W.; Langensiepen, Matthias; Menz, Gunter; Misana, Salome B.; Mogha, Neema G.; Möseler, Bodo M.; Mwita, Emiliana J.; Oyieke, Helida A.; Sakané, NoméSmall wetlands in East Africa are increasingly converted into sites for agricultural production. The resulting changes in land use and cropping systems will impact on the wetlands’ vegetation. We characterized the plant communities in four wetlands of Kenya and Tanzania, each comprising four types of land use differentiated by the degree of anthropogenic disturbance (cropland, fallow, grazing land and unused). Since no syntaxonomical scheme was available as a reference, a first classification of vegetation units and the identification of diagnostic species is proposed. We collected 207 relevés in the representative wetlands in relation to the current land uses. The plant communities were determined using a modified TWINSPAN classification. For each vegetation unit, diagnostic species were selected according to their fidelity index (phi coefficient). Floristic relationships between vegetation units were surveyed by nMDS ordination analyses. We identified 15 plant communities and selected 147 diagnostic species. The communities were differentiated into (1) semi-natural wetland vegetation (associated with less disturbed environments), (2) grassland and fallow vegetation, and (3) weed communities (associated with eu-hemerobic, drained and cultivated cropland). While the semi-natural vegetation was distinctly matched with unused fields, the differential matching of the other plant communities with land use types was less clear. According to the floristic similarity, the weed communities associated with cropland tended to be aggregated in the nMDS configuration while the semi-natural vegetation was dispersed. The results of the ordination did not differ when involving all species or only the selected diagnostic ones. As the plant communities described are rankless syntaxa, the establishment of a comprehensive syntaxonomic classification for African wetlands will require further vegetation surveys as well as their comparison with published data.Item Impact of Charcoal Extraction to the Forest Resources of Tanzania: The Case of Kitulangalo Area, Tanzania(2000) Malimbwi, R. E.; Misana, Salome B.; Monela, G. C.; Jambiya, George C.; Zahabu, EliakimuResearch is being undertaken to expand the knowledge about the biomass potential for supplying charcoal to urban centres and find workable policy tools that will enable sustainable production and use of charcoal in the medium term perspective. The project, CHAPOSA (Charcoal Potential in Southern Africa) focuses on the dynamics of charcoal production in supply areas (mainly woodlands) and its consumption in three major cities: Lusaka, Zambia, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Maputo, Mozambique. The three year research project is funded by European Union (EU) and co-ordinated by Stockhom Environmental Institute (SEI). In each of the three partner countries, socio-economic and ecological aspects of charcoal are being studied in the supply areas and charcoal consumption and market forces studies are being undertaken in the cities. Preliminary results on the supply side are presented for Tanzania in this paper. At Kitulangalo one of the charcoal supplying areas in Tanzania, an average charcoal making household produce 43 bags of charcoal per month, charcoal is sold at kiln site at Tshs. 1,000/= per bag. The household realizes an income of Tshs. 43,000/= per month. This income is above the minimum salary rates paid currently to government workers and hence attracts more people to join the business.Item Land Cover Dynamics As A Result Of Charcoal Production: Use Of Remote Sensing And Gis(2008) Mbilinyi, Boniface P.; Misana, Salome B.; Malimbwi, R. E.; Monela, G. C.; Jambiya, GeorgeCharcoal is the most important energy source for middle and low-income people in many African cities. Its consumption shows no sign of decrease for the reasons of cost, convenience and availability. The use of charcoal, however, has been blamed for deforestation and degradation of natural forests and woodlands. To increase the understanding of the effects of charcoal use in three countries in Southern Africa: Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique, a collaborative project, CHAPOSA (Charcoal Potential in Southern Africa), was conducted. One of the project objectives was to assess the extent of environmental degradation due to charcoal production and to identify indicators that can quantify and locate such degradation. To meet this objective, an integration of remote sensing, using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data, and Geographical Information System (GIS) tools was used to quantify and locate land cover changes, particularly degradation and regeneration of woodlands that had occurred in the study area between 1991 and 1998. The results reveal that, in the study period, much of the closed woodland has been converted to either open woodland or other cover types including agricultural farms. However, in some locations regeneration of woodlands has been observed. This precludes the presumption that cutting down trees for charcoal production must result in irreversible degradation. Given the fact that charcoal is and will remain, at least in a foreseeable future, the main domestic energy source, sustainable use of the woodland coupled with more use of other energy sources seems to be our best strategy if we want to sustain the remaining woodland.Item Land Use Change Analysis as an Approach for Investigating Biodiversity Loss and Land Degradation: A Targeted Research Project Proposal to UNEP-GEF. Olson LUCID WP 13(2000-02) Olson, Jennifer M.; Bart, Francois; Campbell, David J.; Gichohi, Helen; Maitima, Joseph; Mbonile, Milline; Misana, Salome B.; Mugisha, Sam; Tukahirwa, Joy; Reid, RobinThe "Land Use Change Analysis as an Approach for Investigating Biodiversity Loss and Land Degradation" is a medium sized targeted research project funded by United Nations Environment Programme-Global Environment Facility (UNEP-GEF) and other donors. The project provides an umbrella for coordinated research activities occurring in sites across East Africa, and at the East Africa regional level. The project’s goal is to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and prevention of land degradation by providing useful instruments, or methodological guides, to identify and monitor changes in the landscape associated with biodiversity loss and land degradation, and to identify the root causes of those changes. The main approach has been to examine the linkages between the processes of change in biodiversity, land degradation and land use in East Africa in order to derive information and experience upon which to base the design of the guides for detecting such trends. Various ecological, socioeconomic and land use change theories and conceptual frameworks have informed the research and the guides.Item Land Use Change Patterns and Root Causes on the Southern Slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania(Academic Journals, 2003) Misana, Salome B.; Sokoni, Cosmas; Mbonile, Milline J.This paper presents the findings of a study that analyzed land use and cover change, their driving forces and the socio-economic implications on the southern and eastern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. This study is based on data extracted from remote sensing techniques using 1973, 1984 and 1999/2000 satellite images and household interviews. The major change detected in the study area from satellite images was expansion of cultivation at the expense of natural vegetation. The area under cultivation increased from 54% in 1973 to 62 and 63% in 1984 and 2000, respectively. Expansion and intensification of cultivation were noted particularly in the lowlands while some forest areas in the highlands had become degraded. These changes led to changes in cropping patterns and crop diversification, declined productivity of land and food insecurity. The underlying drivers of these changes were demographic, government policies, economic factors, socio-cultural factors including the land tenure system, institutional factors, technological change and infrastructure development. Investments in irrigation technology, introduction of new crop varieties and government interventions to support the poor are required to improve the productivity of land and reduce the vulnerability of the people to environmental perturbations, including drought.Item Land-use/cover changes and their drivers on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania(Journal of Geography and Regional Planning, 2012-03-18) Misana, Salome B.; Sokoni, Cosmas H.; Mbonile, Milne J.This paper presents the findings of a study that analyzed land use and cover change, their driving forces and the socio-economic implications on the southern and eastern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. This study is based on data extracted from remote sensing techniques using 1973, 1984 and 1999/2000 satellite images and household interviews. The major change detected in the study area from satellite images was expansion of cultivation at the expense of natural vegetation. The area under cultivation increased from 54% in 1973 to 62 and 63% in 1984 and 2000, respectively. Expansion and intensification of cultivation were noted particularly in the lowlands while some forest areas in the highlands had become degraded. These changes led to changes in cropping patterns and crop diversification, declined productivity of land and food insecurity. The underlying drivers of these changes were demographic, government policies, economic factors, socio-cultural factors including the land tenure system, institutional factors, technological change and infrastructure development. Investments in irrigation technology, introduction of new crop varieties and government interventions to support the poor are required to improve the productivity of land and reduce the vulnerability of the people to environmental perturbations, including drought.Item Linkages between Changes in Land Use, Biodiversity and Land Degradation on the Slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania(2003) Misana, Salome B.; Majule, Amos; Lyaruu, Herbert V. M.Item Mapping Small Wetlands of Kenya and Tanzania Using Remote Sensing Techniques(Elsevier, 2013) Mwita, Emiliana J.; Menz, Gunter; Misana, Salome B.; Becker, M.; Kisanga, Danielson; Boehme, BeateAlthough wetlands in Tanzania and Kenya have great potentials for agricultural production and a multitude of uses, many of them are not even documented on official maps. Lack of official recognition has done little in preventing there over utilization. As the wetlands continue to play remarkable roles in the movement of people and terrestrial species in the region, it is important that they are monitored and properly managed. This study was undertaken in Usambara highlands and the Pangani floodplain in Tanzania, the Mount Kenya highlands and Laikipia floodplain in Kenya to map the different types of wetlands in terms of their size, density, spatial distribution and use patterns. Remote sensing techniques and field surveys were adopted, and 51 wetlands were identified in flood plains within the semi-arid and sub-humid lowlands, and inland valleys in the region. The detailed maps generated showed the intensity of wetland use, inland valleys being the most intensively used, and are useful in monitoring changes in wetlands for their effective management. The use of multispatial resolution imagery, combined with field survey and GIS produced satisfactory results for the delineation and mapping of small wetlands and their usesItem Mapping Small Wetlands of Kenya and Tanzania Using Remote Sensing Techniques(Elsevier, 2013) Mwita, Emiliana J.; Menz, Gunter; Misana, Salome B.; Becker, M.; Kisanga, Danielson; Boehme, BeateAlthough wetlands in Tanzania and Kenya have great potentials for agricultural production and a mul-titude of uses, many of them are not even documented on official maps. Lack of official recognition has done little in preventing there over utilization. As the wetlands continue to play remarkable roles in the movement of people and terrestrial species in the region, it is important that they are monitored and properly managed. This study was undertaken in Usambara highlands and the Pangani floodplain in Tanzania, the Mount Kenya highlands and Laikipia floodplain in Kenya to map the different types of wetlands in terms of their size, density, spatial distribution and use patterns. Remote sensing techniques and field surveys were adopted, and 51 wetlands were identified in flood plains within the semi-arid and sub-humid lowlands, and inland valleys in the region. The detailed maps generated showed the intensity of wetland use, inland valleys being the most intensively used, and are useful in monitoring changes in wetlands for their effective management. The use of multispatial resolution imagery, combined with field survey and GIS produced satisfactory results for the delineation and mapping of small wetlands and their uses.Item A Research Framework to Identify the Root Causes of Land Use Change Leading to Land Degradation and Changing Biodiversity: Olson LUCID WP48(2004-10) Olson, Jennifer M.; Misana, Salome B.; Campbell, David J.; Mbonile, Milline; Mugisha, SamScientists, governments and NGOs have a critical need to understand the reasons behind land degradation, desertification and loss of biodiversity. Development of this understanding needs to be put on a firmer empirical and analytical footing. Current data deficiencies are due to limited biophysical and socio-economic databases that often are temporally and spatially limited. The socio-economic dimensions in particular are also often too simplistically analysed, without capturing the causal processes behind changing land management and land use practices. This approach to understanding the causes and extent of land degradation and loss of biodiversity would be greatly enhanced by the use of land use or land cover change analysis, coupled with ground assessments of human activities and biophysical measurements. Obtaining this knowledge is greatly enhanced with use of an analytical framework to guide the collection, analysis and interpretation of the root causes data and information. A framework is particularly useful for land use change research due to the complexity of the problem. This paper provides a guide and a framework for designing such research; technical methodological guides are available in other LUCID working papers and elsewhere.Item Seasonal Vegetation Changes in the Malinda Wetland Using Bi-Temporal, Multi-Sensor, Very High Resolution Remote Sensing Data Sets(Scientific Research, 2014) Kuria, David N.; Menz, Gunter; Misana, Salome B.; Mwita, Emiliana; Thamm, Hans P.; Alvarez, Miguel; Mogha, Neema; Becker, M.; Oyieke, HelidaSmall wetlands in East Africa have grown in prominence driven by the unreliable and diminished rains and the increasing population pressure. Due to their size (less than 500 Ha), these wetlands have not been studied extensively using satellite remote sensing approaches. High spatial resolu- tion remote sensing approaches overcome this limitation allowing detailed inventorying and re- search on such small wetlands. For understanding the seasonal variations in land cover within the Malinda Wetland in Tanzania (350 Ha), two periods were considered, May 2012 coinciding with the wet period (rainy season) and August 2012 coinciding with a fairly rain depressed period (substantially dry but generally cooler season). The wetland was studied using very high spatial resolution orthophotos derived from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) photography fused with TerraSAR-X Spotlight mode dual polarized radar data. Using these fused datasets, five main classes were identified that were used to firstly delineate seasonal changes in land use activities and secondly used in determining phenology changes. Combining fuzzy maximum likelihood clas- sification, knowledge classifier and Change Vector Analysis (CVA), land cover classification was undertaken for both seasons. From the results, manifold anthropogenic activities are taking place between the seasons as evidenced by the high conversion rates (63.01 Ha). The phenological change was also highest within the human influence class due to the growing process of cropped land (26.60 Ha). Much of the changes in both cover and phenology are occurring in the mid upper portion of the wetland, attributed to the presence of springs in this portion of the wetland along the banks of River Mkomazi. There is thus seasonality in the observed anthropogenic influence between the wetland and its periphery.Item The Spatial Patterns and Root Causes of Land Use Change in East Africa. Olson LUCID WP47 PART1(2004-06) Olson, Jennifer M.; Misana, Salome B.; Campbell, David J.; Mbonile, Milline; Mugisha, SamThe overriding finding of the LUCID land use changes analyses is how rapidly farming and agro-pastoral systems have changed. Small-scale farmers and pastoralists have changed their entire system several times since the 1950’s. New land uses have been developed, and existing land uses have been transformed. In sum, the most significant land use changes have been: 1) an expansion of cropping into grazing areas, particularly in the semi-arid to sub-humid areas, 2) an expansion of rainfed and irrigated agriculture in wetlands or along streams especially in semi-arid areas, 3) a reduction in size of many woodlands and forests on land that is not protected, 4) an intensification of land use in areas already under crops in the more humid areas, and 5) the maintenance of natural vegetation in most protected areas. These changes have allowed many more people to live on the land as farmers and agro-pastoralists, and the systems have shown flexibility and adaptability in face of changing international and national economic and political structures. Diversification, towards a mixture of crops and livestock, cash and food crops, and farm and non-farm income, has been a critical means for households to reduce their risk in face of these changes. Amid the complexity of socio-economic and environmental driving forces of the land use changes across space and time, six factors appear to explain a large part of the dynamics of land use change in East Africa: 1. Government policy, laws and regulations 2. Economic factors 3. Population growth and migration 4. Changes in land tenure arrangements 5. Access to markets 6. Environmental conditions. Despite the rapid evolution of systems responding to these forces, rural poverty is common and key environmental resources are becoming increasingly scarce, contested and/ or degraded. The LUCID team found that poverty, poor land management and land degradation are much more common and persistent in marginal environments, especially, the remote, semi-arid zones.Item The Spatial Patterns and Root Causes of Land Use Change in East Africa: MAPS. Olson LUCID WP47 PART2(2004) Olson, Jennifer M.; Misana, Salome B.; Campbell, David J.; Mbonile, Milline; Mugisha, SamItem SWEA-Dataveg – Vegetation of Small Eetlands in East Africa(2015) Alvarez, Miguel; Möseler, Bodo M.; Josko, Matthias; Becker, M.; Langensiepen, Matthias; Menz, Gunter; Boehme, Beate; Oyieke, Helida; Handa, Collins; Kamiri, Wangechi; Misana, Salome B.; Mwita, Emiliana J.; Mogha, Neema G.; Sakana, NaomiSWEA (agricultural use and vulnerability of small wetlands in East Africa) is a multidisciplinary project which task is to evaluate the effects of land use on the ecological and socio-economical functions of small wetlands in Kenya and Tanzania. In order to allow the availability of the collected data for further studies we stored them into SWEA-Dataveg (GIVD ID AF-00-006), a database stored in Microsoft Access (mdb-format). Because this project is dealing not only with vegetation science but also with geography, soil science, hydrology and socio-economy, the database also contains information related to these research fields. Additionally, some functional traits of the plant species occurring in the relevés are included in the species list. The sampling areas are concentrated in four localities, two of them in Kenya (Karatina and Rumuruti) and two in Tanzania (Malinda and Lukozi). The vegetation ecology group is dealing in the project with the classification of the vegetation according to species composition, the correlation of plant communities with environmental factors and land uses, and the survey of potential indicator species for the determination of the resilience of wetlands. Once finished the storage, we are considering an adaptation of SWEA-Dataveg into a TURBOVEG-format as well as its extension to further projects (e.g. SWEA phase II) and relevés collected from publications.Item The Use of UAS for Assessing Agricultural Systems in AN Wetland in Tanzania in the Dry- and Wet-Season for Sustainable Agriculture and Providing Ground Truth for Terra-SAR X Data(2013) Thamm, Hans P.; Menz, Gunter; Becker, M.; Kuria, David N.; Misana, Salome B.; Kohn, D.The paper describes the assessment of the vegetation and the land use systems of the Malinda Wetland in the Usambara Mountains in Tanzania with the parachute UAS (unmanned aerial system) SUSI 62. The area of investigation was around 8 km2. In two campaigns, one in the wet season and one in the dry season, approximately 2600 aerial photos of the wetland were taken using the parachute UAS SUSI 62; of these images, ortho-photos with a spatial resolution of 20 cm × 20 cm, were computed with an advanced block bundle approach. The block bundles were geo-referenced using control points taken with differential GPS. As well a digital surface model (DSM) of the wetland was created out of the UAS photos. Using the ortho-photos it is possible to assess the different land use systems; the differences in the phenology of the vegetation between wet and dry season can be investigated. In addition, the regionalisation of bio mass samples on smaller test plots was possible. The ortho-photos and the DSM derived from the UAS proved to be a valuable ground truth for the interpretation of Terra-SAR X images. The campaigns demonstrated that SUSI 62 was a suitable, robust tool to obtain the valuable information under harsh conditions.