A Window on a Changing World A

Landscapes of West Africa

A WindoW on A ChAnging World
Back of cover
Landscapes of West Africa

A Window on a Changing World
Editorial and Production Team

Comité Inter-états de Lutte contre la Sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS)

Issifou Alfari, GIS and Remote Sensing Specialist

Edwige Botoni, Natural Resources Management Specialist

Amadou Soulé, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist

U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science (USGS EROS) Center

Suzanne Cotillon, Geographer*

W. Matthew Cushing, GIS Specialist

Kim Giese, Graphic Designer*

John Hutchinson, Cartographer

Bruce Pengra, Geographer*

Gray Tappan, Geographer

University of Arizona

Stefanie Herrmann, Geographer

U.S. Agency for International Development/West Africa (USAID/WA)

Nicodeme Tchamou, Regional Natural Resource Management and Climate Change Adviser

Funding and Program Support

Regional Office of Environment and Climate Change Response

U.S. Agency for International Development/West Africa

Accra, Ghana

Copyright ©2016, Comité Permanent Inter-états de Lutte contre la Sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS)

No use of this publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial purpose whatsoever without 

prior permission in writing from CILSS.

CILSS

03 B.P. 7049

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Tel: (226) 30 67 58

www.cilss.bf

To be cited as: 

CILSS (2016). Landscapes of West Africa – A Window on a Changing World. U.S. Geological Survey 

EROS, 47914 252nd St, Garretson, SD 57030, UNITED STATES.

Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement 

by the U.S. Government.

*SGT Inc., Contractor to the U.S. Geological Survey, Contract G15PC00012

PHOTOS (COVER): GRAY TAPPAN/USGS; ROBERT WATREL/SDSU; ERIC LANDWEHR/SDSU; RICHARD JULIA
Table of Contents

Preface ..................................................................................................................................ii

Foreword ............................................................................................................................iii

Acknowledgements........................................................................................................iv

Introduction .....................................................................................................................vii

2.1 Benin................................................................................................................. 74

2.2 Burkina Faso............................................................................................ 82

2.3 Cabo Verde................................................................................................ 90

2.4 Côte d’Ivoire............................................................................................ 96

2.5 Gambia (The)........................................................................................104

2.6 Ghana.............................................................................................................110

2.7 Guinea...........................................................................................................118

2.8 Guinea-Bissau......................................................................................126

2.9 Liberia............................................................................................................132

1.1 Landscapes and Physical Geography.........................3

Physical Geography.........................................................................................3

Bioclimatic Regions.........................................................................................7

 Landscapes of the Sahara Desert............................................ 11

Ecological Regions........................................................................................ 13

Biodiversity and Protected Areas ........................................................... 16

 The W-Arly-Pendjari Transboundary Reserve....................... 20

1.2 Approach to Monitoring Land Resources.......... 25

Satellite Imagery ........................................................................................... 25

Mapping Land Use and Land Cover....................................................... 26

Land Cover Modification............................................................................ 28

1.3 Drivers of Land Changes.......................................................... 30

Population....................................................................................................... 31

Climate ........................................................................................................... 34

1.4 Land Productivity............................................................................. 38

1.5 Land Use and Land Cover Trends ................................. 42

 from 1975 to 2013

West Africa Land Use and Land Cover Maps....................................... 44

Land Use and Land Cover Classes .......................................................... 50

 Special Landscapes of West Africa .......................................... 56

Agriculture Expansion................................................................................. 59

Settlements Growth..................................................................................... 62

Deforestation of the Upper Guinean Forest........................................ 66

Mangrove Changes...................................................................................... 68

Landscape Restoration and Re-greening............................................. 70

2.10 Mali................................................................................................................140

2.11 Mauritania............................................................................................148

2.12 Niger............................................................................................................156

2.13 Nigeria.......................................................................................................164

2.14 Senegal.....................................................................................................174

2.15 Sierra Leone.......................................................................................184

2.16 Chad.............................................................................................................192

2.17 Togo..............................................................................................................200

Chapter 1: West Africa’s Changing Environment.......................................................................................................................1

Chapter 2: Country Profiles, Land Use and Land Cover, and Trends.....................................73

References.......................................................................................................................208

Acronyms and Abbreviations...................................................................................214

Index .................................................................................................................................215
On October 12, 2015, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter took this striking view of the Earth as it circled 

134 km above Compton Crater on the Moon, near the terminator between day and night. The sharp 

black outline of the lunar horizon is from mountains still on the night side of the terminator, silhouetted 

against the lower limb of the Earth. This image is reminiscent of the iconic Earthrise photograph taken 

by the crew of Apollo 8 as they orbited the Moon on December 24, 1968. Many people credit that unique 

view of our home planet as having sparked the environmental movement that so shaped our thinking 

about our planet during the 1970s and beyond. 

Apart from its beauty, this image of the Earth from the Moon shows the African continent quite prominently. 

A great amount of cloud cover characterizes the blue planet. Several large areas are, however, clear: the 

deserts of North Africa and the Middle East, and in the Southern Hemisphere, the drylands of southern 

Africa. The tropical regions of Africa’s mid-section are partially covered by belts of clouds that mark the 

intertropical convergence zone, where the northern and southern circulation patterns merge. 

Source: NASA, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter 
A Window on a Changing World i
ii Landscapes of West Africa

Preface

Dr. Djimé Adoum

Since the 1970s, West Africa has experienced many forms 

of climate stress — heavy rains, floods, and periods of 

drought. Drought has had a particularly devastating 

impact on agricultural production, pastoral livelihoods, 

and natural ecosystems. Economic losses alone are 

estimated in billions of dollars.

The concerns raised by these climate stressors have 

translated into initiatives to combat desertification and 

to adapt to climate change. The Comité Inter-états de 

Lutte contre la Sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS – The 

Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control 

in the Sahel) and the U.S. Agency for International 

Development (USAID) have put in place activities to 

benefit the population of the Sahel and all of West Africa.

The West Africa Land Use Dynamics (LULC) Project is 

emblematic of this cooperation. Initiated in 1999, the 

LULC project has had several phases including training 

national experts to extract pertinent information from 

satellite images to characterize vegetation cover and 

producing tools and supporting information on land 

cover dynamics. 

This atlas — Landscapes of West Africa: Window on a 

Changing World — is part of the current phase of the 

LULC project and provides insights into the changes 

occurring at national and regional levels through 

mapping time series data from 1975 to 2013. This 

work highlights landscapes that have undergone major 

transformations, and examines the drivers of change 

and their environmental and socioeconomic impacts.

The atlas showcases the accomplishments of the LULC 

project, and makes a case for further investment in 

natural resource management. Aimed at both decisionmakers and the general public, the Atlas has a goal of 

making people aware of the changes taking place in 

the landscapes of the region. 

Beyond raising awareness, the atlas also aims to incite 

action to protect the environment of West Africa and 

the Sahelian region. We therefore invite everyone — 

scientists, students, researchers, teachers, planners, 

managers of development or research projects, local, 

national and regional decision-makers, donors, members 

of civil society organizations, and visitors to the region 

— to make the most of this work. 

Congratulations to the experts at CILSS, U.S. Geological 

Survey, USAID and the country-level teams of the LULC 

project for this fruitful partnership. We truly hope that 

this cooperation will continue and deepen, with the 

view of regaining the equilibrium of ecosystems. Doing 

so will constitute a decisive step towards realizing a 

green economy in West Africa, thereby enhancing the 

well-being of all West African people.

Djimé Adoum, Ph.D,

Executive Secretary

CILSS

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
A Window on a Changing World iii

At the core of the U.S. Agency for International 

Development’s (USAID’s) mission is a deep commitment 

to work as partners in fostering sustainable development. 

Environments that are vulnerable to changing climate 

patterns are often the most reliant on agriculture for 

food and income, and the least able to financially protect 

themselves or respond to disasters. As effects of climate 

change are felt more severely, advanced mitigation and 

adaptation measures are key to resilience. 

Rapid changes are occurring across West Africa’s natural 

and human landscapes and balancing the need to 

preserve natural ecosystems with the need to grow 

more food, together with ensuring resilience in the same 

ecosystems, is a challenge. USAID West Africa’s (USAID/

WA) Environmental Threats and Opportunity Assessment 

and its Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment revealed 

that timely and accurate information, indispensable for 

good governance in the environmental sector, is scant 

and barely accessible. Mitigating climate change impacts 

and conserving biodiversity can support sustainable 

development, and prevent countries from sliding further 

into poverty. 

USAID/WA worked in partnership with the U.S. Geological 

Survey (USGS) and the Comité Inter-états de Lutte contre 

la Sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS – The Permanent 

Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel), 

to analyze changes in land use and land cover in West 

Africa and to better understand trends over the past 

40 years with the goal of improving decision-making 

in land management. Products derived from these 

analyses include maps that provide a clear record of 

changes and trends in three periods — 1975, 2000 and 

2013 — in 17 West African countries and aggregated 

to the regional level. 

These maps and analyses form the foundation for 

future landscape scenarios and contribute to a body 

of best practices for the re-greening of landscapes in 

West Africa. Application of the atlas and associated 

data goes beyond informing decision-making on land 

use planning. The time series maps provide credible 

information to help countries account for their carbon 

emissions to the United Nations Framework Convention 

on Climate Change and can also be used to quantify 

carbon emission trends in West Africa for the past 

40 years. 

This achievement would not have been possible without 

the U.S. Landsat Program. Landsat satellites have 

provided the longest-ever continuous global record 

of the Earth’s surface. A partnership of the National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration and the USGS, 

the Landsat program provides image data that show 

the impact of human society on the planet — a crucial 

measure as the world’s population has already surpassed 

seven billion people. The first Landsat satellite was 

launched in 1972 and now, 44 years later, Landsats 7 

and 8 are continuing to provide an unbroken record of 

the Earth, providing critical information for monitoring, 

understanding and managing our resources of food, 

water, and forests. No other satellite program in the 

world comes close to providing such a long, unbroken 

record of geospatial information of the planet.

Knowing that these analyses will be put to use for 

decision making in natural resource management, I 

would like to thank all of the teams that worked tirelessly 

to produce this Landscapes of West Africa atlas. And 

my sincere gratitude goes to CILSS, the USGS, and the 

multitude of government institutions in West Africa for 

their commitment to completing this influential work. 

Alex Deprez

Regional Mission Director

USAID/West Africa 

Accra, Ghana

Foreword

Alex Deprez

WEST AFRICA
iv Landscapes of West Africa

Acknowledgments

On behalf of the governments and the people of West 

Africa who have benefitted from the West Africa Land 

Use Dynamics Project, the Comité Permanent Inter-Etats 

de Lutte contre la Sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS – 

Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control 

in the Sahel) expresses its profound gratitude to all 

those who have contributed to the publication of this 

atlas. In particular, we would like to thank:

The U.S. Agency for International Development/West 

Africa (USAID/WA) which financed, encouraged and 

contributed actively to the review of this atlas;

The Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced (RISE) Program 

managed from USAID/Senegal’s Sahel Regional Office, 

which supports the work of mapping best practices and 

re-greening, and promotes soil and water conservation 

in the Sahel;

The U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources and 

Observation Science (USGS EROS) Center for the scientific 

and technical guidance, provision of satellite imagery, 

maps, field data and photographs, statistics and analyses;

The AGRHYMET Regional Center under CILSS for its role 

in the technical coordination of the work and processing 

of satellite imagery;

The Directors of the Centre National de Télédétection et 

de Suivi Ecologique (CENATEL) in Cotonou, the Agence 

Nationale de Gestion de l’Environnement (ANGE) in 

Lomé, and the Centre de Suivi Ecologique (CSE) in 

Dakar who hosted mapping validation workshops , and;

The national teams from across West Africa who provided 

valuable content for the maps and case studies.

Members of the National Teams

Benin

Cocou Pascal Akpassonou, Chef Division Coopération 

Technique au Centre National de Télédétection du Bénin 

(CENATEL) ;

O. Félix Houeto, Chef Division Télédétection et SIG au Centre 

National de Télédétection (CENATEL) du Bénin.

Burkina Faso

Raïnatou Kabré, Chargé de production et de diffusion de 

l’information environnementale au Secrétariat Permanent du 

Conseil National pour l’Environnement et le Développement 

Durable (CONEDD) ;

Louis Blanc Traoré, Directeur Monitoring de l’Environnement 

au Secrétariat Permanent du Conseil National pour 

l’Environnement et le Développement Durable (CONEDD).

Cabo Verde

Maria Da Cruz Gomes Soares, Directrice, Direction des Services 

de Sylviculture (DGASP);

Sanchez Vaz Moreno Conceiçao, Responsable Inventaires 

Forestiers et Cartographie, Direction des Services de 

Sylviculture (DGASP).

The Gambia

Peter Gibba, Senior Meteorologist, Department Of Water 

Resources (DWR);

Awa Kaira Agi, Program Officer CGIS UNIT, National 

Environment Agency (NEA).

Ghana

Emmanuel Tachie-Obeng, Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA);

Emmanuel Attua Morgan, Lecturer, Department of Geography 

and Resource Development, University of Ghana.

Guinea

Aïssatou Taran Diallo, Agro-environnementaliste, Ministère 

de l’Agriculture, Service National des Sols (SENASOL) ;

Seny Soumah, Ingénieur Agrométéorologiste et Chef de 

Section, Direction Nationale de la Météorologie (CMN).

Guinea-Bissau

Antonio Pansau N’Dafa, Responsable Bases de Données 

Changements Climatiques, Secrétariat de l’Environnement 

Durable;

Luis Mendes Cherno, Chargé de Bases de Données Climatiques, 

Institut National de Météorologie.

Liberia

D. Anthony Kpadeh, Head of Agro-meteorology, Climatology 

and Climate Change Adaptation, Liberia Hydrological Services;

Torwon Tony Yantay, GIS Manager, Forestry Development 

Authority (FDA).

Mali

Abdou Ballo, Enseignant Chercheur, Faculté d’HistoireGéographie, Université de Bamako;

Zeinab Sidibe Keita, Ingénieur des Eaux Forêts, Système 

d’Information Forestier (SIFOR).

Niger

Nouhou Abdou, Chef Division Inventaires forestiers et 

Cartographie, Direction des Aménagements Forestiers et 

Restauration des terres, Ministère de l’Environnement, de la 

Salubrité Urbaine, et du Développement Durable;

Abdou Roro, Chef du Département Cartographie, Institut 

Géographique National du Niger (IGNN).

Nigeria

Kayode Adewale Adepoju, Lecturer and Scientist, Obafemi 

Awolowo University, Ile Ife;

Esther Oluwafunmilayo Omodanisi, Lecturer, Obafemi 

Awolowo University, Ile Ife;
A Window on a Changing World v

Acknowledgements

Sule Isaiah, Lecturer, Federal University of Technology, Minna;

Mary Oluwatobi Odekunle, Federal University of Technology, 

Minna.

Senegal

Samba Laobé Ndao, Cartographe et Ingénieur en 

Aménagement du Territoire, Direction des Eaux, Forêts, 

Chasse, et de la Conservation des Sols (DEFCCS), Programme 

PROGEDE;

Ousmane Bocoum, Cartographe, Centre de Suivi Écologique 

(CSE).

Sierra Leone

Samuel Dominic Johnson, System Administrator, Ministry of 

Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security (MAFFS).

Chad

Angeline Noubagombé Kemsol, Agronome, Assistante de 

Recherche, Centre National d’Appui à la Recherche (CNAR);

Ouya Bondoro, Chercheur, Centre National d’Appui à la 

Recherche (CNAR).

Togo

Issa Abdou-Kérim Bindaoudou, Géographe et Cartographe, 

Direction Générale de la Statistique et de la Comptabilité 

Nationale;

Yendouhame John Kombaté, Responsable Suivi Evaluation 

et Communication, Agence Nationale de Gestion de 

l’Environnement, Ministère de l’Environnement.

Contributors from the AGRHYMET 

Regional Center

Bako Mamane, Expert en télédétection et Système 

d’Information Géographique (SIG);

Djibo Soumana, Expert Agrométéorologue;

Alio Agoumo, Technicien en traitement d’images;

Dan Karami, Technicien en Système d’Information 

Géographique.

Other Contributors

In West Africa, we would also like to acknowledge the 

invaluable advice, insights and assistance from: 

Amadou Hadj, Geographer and Land Use Planner, 

Dakar, Senegal, for many fruitful years of field work and 

reflecting on natural resource management;

Samba Laobé Ndao, besides being part of the Senegal 

National Team, provided considerable support to field 

work, geographic databases, and logistical support to 

the project team;

Moussa Sall and Assize Touré at the Centre de Suivi 

Ecologique (CSE) in Dakar, for assistance with field 

work, studies on biomass and carbon sequestration, 

and many long years of collaboration;

Bienvenu Sambou and Assane Goudiaby, Université 

Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar/Institut des Sciences de 

l’Environnement (ISE), for many years of exchanges 

with the USGS EROS team on long-term monitoring 

of Sudanian ecosystems.

At the USGS EROS Center, we extend special thanks to 

Jan Nelson and Tom Holm for guiding the publication 

process. Thanks also to the manuscript reviewers, Tom 

Adamson and Mike Budde, and to Aaron Neugebauer 

for his artwork on vegetation profiles. Many thanks to 

Melissa Mathis for her help with GIS training, and for her 

major role in developing the Rapid Land Cover Mapper. 

We are indebted to Anne Gellner for translating much 

of the manuscript into French.

At the World Resources Institute (WRI), we would like 

to thank Chris Reij and Robert Winterbottom, and 

Michael McGahuey at the USAID, for their many decades 

of work and insight into the natural resources of the 

Sahel, and their tireless work on landscape restoration 

and re-greening for the benefit of people across the 

region. We are also grateful for the many landscape and 

cultural photographs contributed by Michiel Kupers in 

the Netherlands, and Robert Watrel and Eric Landwehr 

at South Dakota State University (SDSU). Many thanks 

also to Scott Benton for his excellent contribution to 

the study of vegetation changes on the Island of Santo 

Antão, Cabo Verde. 

In Memory

Our thoughts are with three colleagues and friends who 

are no longer with us. All three contributed significantly 

to the success of the West Africa Land Use Dynamics 

Project, including major content contributions to this 

atlas: 

Yendouhame John Kombaté, Responsable Suivi 

Evaluation et Communication, Agence Nationale 

de Gestion de l’Environnement, Ministère de 

l’Environnement, Togo;

Kevin Dalsted, Soil Scientist and Land Resource Specialist, 

South Dakota State University, for his support to the 

land use mapping;

Richard Julia, friend and pilot based in Ouagadougou 

who made it possible for the project team to acquire 

thousands of aerial photographs in numerous countries 

of West Africa, and for his own photography of 

landscapes, wildlife and cultures of the Sahel.
vi Landscapes of West Africa
A Window on a Changing World vii

Our global ecosystem is and has always been complex, 

dynamic, and in constant flux. Science tells us how 

natural forces of enormous power have shaped and 

reshaped Earth’s surface, atmosphere, climate, and 

biota again and again since the planet’s beginnings 

about 4.5 billion years ago. For most of the planet’s 

history those environmental changes were the result 

of the interaction of natural processes such as geology 

and climate, and were described on the geological time 

scale in epochs spanning millions of years.

When humankind appeared on Earth around 200,000 

years ago the influence of human activity on the 

environment must have been small and localized. 

The influence of scattered small groups of people on 

the global ecosystem would have been overwhelmed 

by the forces of natural systems (Steffen and others, 

2007). Human population would not grow to 50 million 

(about 0.7 percent of the Earth’s current population) for 

another 197,000 years. Population growth accelerated 

over the centuries that followed until the planet was 

adding more than that 50 million people every year. 

Our planet is now home to roughly 7.3 billion people 

and we are adding 1 million more people roughly every 

4.8 days (US Census Bureau, 2011). Before 1950, no one 

on Earth had lived through a doubling of the human 

population, but now some people have experienced 

a tripling in their lifetime (Cohen, 2003). 

With hunting and the use of fire, later agriculture and 

urbanization, and eventually the industrial revolution 

and modern technology, the ability of humans to 

shape their environment also grew exponentially. 

Earth scientists use the geologic time 

scale to describe time periods where 

different processes and forces shaped 

events in the Earth’s history, such as ice 

ages and mass extinction events. They 

use periods of time they call epochs, 

which range from 11,700 years (the 

Holocene) to millions of years (the 

Pleistocene and Neogene). In about 

2000, Earth scientists coined a new 

word — Anthropocene — to describe 

a new epoch where “the human imprint on the global 

environment has become so large and active that it rivals 

some of the great forces of nature in its impact on the 

functioning of the Earth system” (Steffen and others, 

2011). Many in the Earth sciences believe that epoch 

has begun and that humankind with its vast numbers 

and its power to change the face of the Earth is at risk 

of putting the Earth system out of balance and causing 

the collapse of natural systems that are 

essential for humans to thrive, perhaps even 

threatening the future of all humankind.

In 2015, the 17 countries included in this atlas 

are estimated to have a total population of 

over 369 million, representing a nearly 5-fold 

increase since 1950 — outstripping global 

population growth, which grew by 2.9 fold 

during the same time (UN, 2015). The young 

age structure of the West African population 

assures continued rapid population growth 

until 2050 and beyond. If United Nations 

estimates are correct the 17 countries in 

this atlas will grow to 835 million people 

by 2050; that would equate to 11.1 times 

as many people as lived on the same land 

in 1950 (UN, 2015)!

Introduction

“Mai lura da ice bashin jin 

yunwa” — He who takes 

care of trees will not suffer 

from hunger. 

– Hausa proverb

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): SUZANNE COTILLON / SGT

Population growth in Africa and the rest of the 

world from 1950 to 2100

YEAR

POPULATION (BILLIONS)

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

2030

2040

2050

2060

2070

2080

2090

2100

12

10

8

6

4

2

0
viii Landscapes of West Africa

Parallel trends can be seen in the land cover changes 

of West Africa. With so many new families to feed, West 

Africa doubled the area covered by farms between 

1975 and 2013. Vast areas of savanna, woodland, and 

forest landscape have been replaced or fragmented by 

cropland. At the same time villages, towns, and cities 

have grown in area — taking up 140 percent as much 

land as they had in 1975. In part to make way for those 

farms and settlements more than a third of the forest 

cover present in 1975 has been lost. In savanna and 

steppe landscapes of West Africa, drought, in some 

cases made worse by unsustainable land use practices, 

has degraded the vegetation cover contributing to a 

47 percent increase in sandy areas (see top images 

pair, opposite page). The future is unpredictable, but 

the trends of the past four decades projected into the 

future would be unsustainable.

Conversion of the natural landscapes of West Africa 

to agriculture greatly reduces the natural biodiversity, 

and exposes the soil to wind and water erosion. The 

savanna, woodland, forest, and wetland ecosystems that 

are lost have some relatively tangible impacts such as 

the loss of natural ecosystem goods and services like 

wood for fuel and construction, honey, nuts, medicines, 

game animals, berries, and forage. There are also many 

important goods and services lost that are less visible 

such as biodiversity, carbon storage, water quality, water 

runoff versus infiltration, and regional climate functions.

Wooded landscape fragmented by agriculture expansion in western 

Burkina Faso

JAMES ROWLAND / USGS
A Window on a Changing World ix

Expansion of degraded land in the Ferlo region of Senegal

Decline in vegetation cover and biodiversity in east-central Senegal

1994

1984

2011

2013

It is in the hands of today’s decision makers to formulate 

wise, well informed choices about how to manage West 

Africa’s land, to ensure that vital ecosystem services and 

agricultural productivity are able to support tomorrow’s 

people. To make good choices the governments of West 

Africa need good information about the rapid changes 

now occurring, the causes of those changes, and the 

interactions occurring between climate, land use, other 

human activity, and the environment.

Experts from institutions in 17 countries in West Africa 

have partnered with the Comité Inter-états de Lutte 

contre la Sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS – The Permanent 

Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel), 

the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) 

West Africa and the U.S Geological Survey (USGS) to map 

changing land use and land cover and associated factors 

across much of West Africa through the West Africa 

Land Use Dynamics Project. This publication presents 

the results of that work. The following chapters present 

maps, graphs, tables, and images detailing the natural 

environment of these 17 countries and changes that 

have taken place over the past four decades. 

This atlas tells a story of rapid environmental change with 

both hopeful and worrisome chapters. The story is told 

with maps and numbers detailing the rate, magnitude, 

and location of land cover change but also with words 

and images that seek to make the story more real for 

the people living in West Africa and around the globe. 

The hope is that this information helps to build a clearer 

picture of past and current land use and land cover in 

order to guide us all in making informed choices that 

will support the livelihoods and well-being of ours and 

future generations.

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS GRAY TAPPAN / USGS
x Landscapes of West Africa
Chapter I

West Africa’s 

Changing Environment

A Window on a Changing World 1
2 Landscapes of West Africa
A Window on a Changing World 3

West Africa’s Landscapes 

and Physical Geography

1.1

The 8 million square kilometers and 17 countries covered 

by this atlas encompass a wide range of landscapes from 

alluvial valleys in Senegal and Ghana, sandy plains and 

low plateaus across the Sahel, and rolling hills of Togo to 

rugged mountains with summits reaching over 1,500 m 

in Guinea and 1,800 m in Niger. Covering approximately 

one quarter of Africa, West Africa contains a broad range 

of ecosystems, bioclimatic regions, and habitats from 

rain forest to desert. 

West Africa can be divided internally through its natural 

features. Geology, relief, climate, vegetation, soils, and 

the responses of people to the patterns of its biophysical 

resources through human land uses all tend to be 

arranged along east-west belts. Pastoralists in northern 

Senegal would likely find their livelihoods more similar 

to those of pastoralists 3,000 km to the east in Niger 

than to those of someone raising cattle just 300 km 

south in Guinea-Bissau. Likewise the mix of crops varies 

more within Nigeria — from the semiarid north to the 

wet southern coast — than it does from one end of the 

West African Sahel in Senegal to the other in Chad. The 

most dramatic transitions in natural features and land 

use occur as one moves north or south across these 

belts we call bioclimatic regions. To better understand 

the geography of West Africa and how it drives land 

use, we briefly examine the geology, topography, 

hydrography, climate, and vegetation through these 

broad bioclimatic regions. 

Geology

West Africa is remarkable for its geological variety. 

Like most of Africa, the region is largely composed of 

ancient Precambrian rocks (at least 541 million years 

old; the oldest rocks may be about 3 billion years old), 

which have been folded and fractured over hundreds 

of millions of years. These rocks are exposed over 

about one-third of West Africa and are part of the vast 

continental platform of Africa, which in West Africa has 

an average elevation of 400 m (Church, 1966). Numerous 

series of Precambrian rocks of various ages and their 

eroded surfaces provided a fairly level floor for the 

advance and retreat of shallow Palaeozoic seas (a major 

geologic era after the Precambrian, spanning about 

289 million years). As these seas came and went, they 

deposited and eroded new material that formed the 

sedimentary rocks that overlay the ancient Precambrian 

PHOTOS (CHAPTER 1): GRAY TAPPAN/USGS; MICHIEL KUPERS; RICHARD JULIA; MELISSA MATHIS/SGT 

IMAGE (OPPOSITE PAGE): NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

PHOTOS: GRAY TAPPAN/USGS; MICHIEL KUPERS; RICHARD JULIA

Physical Geography
4 Landscapes of West Africa

floor across the region. For example, a large sedimentary 

basin called the Senegalo-Mauritanian Basin extends 

across much of western Mauritania, two-thirds of 

Senegal, and into Guinea. It is composed of sediments 

deposited when the ocean covered this part of the 

African plate (Michel, 1973; Stancioff and others, 1986). 

For most of West Africa, continental conditions have 

existed since the Eocene or Oligocene, that is, since the 

last 23 to 34 million years. Most of West Africa’s mountain 

massifs and highlands, such as the Aïr Mountains, the 

Tibesti Mountains, the Adrar des Ifoghas, and the Fouta 

Djallon, originated as Precambrian folds (Church, 1966). 

Much later, volcanic activity in many of these highlands 

deposited additional layers of igneous rock. Volcanic 

outpourings have occurred throughout West Africa’s 

geologic history, with major activity as recent as the 

Pliocene (2.5 to 3.6 million years ago), and even more 

recent activity in the Aïr and Tibesti Mountains. 

During recent dry periods in the late Quaternary (0.5 to 

1 million years ago), intensive weathering of sandstone 

formations produced much of the present day sand 

sheets that cover vast areas north of a line running 

approximately through Kano, Ouagadougou, Bamako 

and Dakar. These sand deposits fill in many irregularities 

of relief and mask much of the surface geology.

Relief

Relief on its own is not the source of great regional 

diversity in West Africa. For the most part, West Africa is 

relatively flat and low, which sets it apart from the other 

major regions of Africa. Nor does the relief do much 

to interrupt the zonal patterns and latitudinal belts of 

Physical Geography of West Africa
A Window on a Changing World 5

climate and vegetation, except in the mountainous 

regions of the Fouta Djallon, the Guinea Highlands, 

the Jos Plateau, and the Aïr Mountains. In these 

areas, rainfall is somewhat higher than in the low 

plains around them. 

Hydrography

Several major rivers, including the Niger—West 

Africa’s longest river—originate in the Guinea 

Highlands, where rainfall is heavy. Other major 

rivers rise from Guinea’s Fouta Djallon, including 

the Gambia and Senegal. The Senegal River drains 

a major basin—the third largest in West Africa 

after the Niger Basin and the Lake Chad Basin. West 

Africa’s rivers experience great seasonal variations 

in river flow. 

Major river basins in West Africa

(DATA SOURCE: HARVESTCHOICE, 2001)
6 Landscapes of West Africa

The Niger River is about 4,180 km long and passes 

through almost every climatic zone in West Africa. A vast 

inland delta has formed along its way in Mali, owing to 

the shallow slope of the river and sand accumulations 

that have obstructed its many channels. The Inland 

Niger Delta acts like a giant sponge, moderating the 

flow downstream and reducing the risk of flooding (see 

pages 146–147). Where the Niger arcs past Timbuktu 

in Mali’s northern Sahel, sand accumulations push 

it southward. In Nigeria, the Niger River is joined by 

the Benue, its major tributary, which drains much of 

northeastern Nigeria. 

The Lake Chad Basin occupies a huge area, covering 

parts of Niger, most of Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon, and 

the Central African Republic. The catchment of the Chari 

and the Logone Rivers comprises the southern part of 

the Lake Chad Basin. They feed Lake Chad, which has 

shrunk to a small fraction of its 1960 size. 

Many separate basins are defined by smaller rivers 

that drain the land between the Atlantic Ocean and 

the basins of the Senegal and Niger Rivers. Of these, 

two are worth mentioning: the Gambia, which drains 

central Senegal and the nation of The Gambia, and 

the Volta River, which starts at the confluence of the 

Nakanbé (White Volta) and the Mouhoun (Black Volta), 

and reaches into the Mossi Plateau in Burkina Faso. 

Ghana constructed the Akosombo Dam (completed 

in 1965) in a gorge where the Volta cuts through the 

Akwapim–Togo Range, creating the world’s largest 

artificial lake, Lake Volta.

Climate

Most of West Africa, from the southern Sahara to the 

humid coastal countries, has only one rainy season, 

which lasts from one to six months. The area of two 

rainy seasons, a long one and a shorter one, is limited 

to the southern portions of the coastal countries from 

Liberia to Nigeria. The climate is related to the advance 

and retreat of the intertropical front—the interface 

between two air masses—one hot and humid and the 

other cool and dry. This front migrates annually north 

and south, following the position of the sun, with a 

lag of 1 to 2 months. In the winter months (December 

to March), there is an anticyclonic high pressure area 

centered over the Sahara. It drives the Harmattan, a 

desiccating, dusty wind that blows rather persistently 

from the northeast, drying out landscapes all the way 

to the coast. In the summer the high pressure area 

is replaced by a depression, bringing warm, moist 

winds in from the Atlantic in the southwest (from the 

Gulf of Guinea) (Arbonnier, 2000; Zwarts and others, 

2009). Generally, the dry season lengthens and annual 

rainfall decreases with increasing latitude. Conversely, 

in the southern latitudes, rainfall increases and the dry 

season shortens, often to just four months (December 

to March). Maximum temperatures and temperature 

ranges also increase with latitude. In the humid south, 

temperatures vary little, whereas in the arid north 

one temperatures range from 0 ̊C to more than 45 ̊C 

(Church, 1966). 

2004 Flooding of the Niger River in Niamey, Niger 2012

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS 

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): MICHIEL KUPERS
A Window on a Changing World 7

From north to south — from the Sahara to the humid 

southern coast — West Africa can be subdivided into 

five broad east-west belts that characterize the climate 

and the vegetation. These are the bioclimatic zones 

known as the Saharan, Sahelian, Sudanian, Guinean, 

and Guineo-Congolian Regions, shown in the map 

on page 8. The lines between these regions represent 

more of a transition along a continuous ecological 

gradient than sharp boundaries. There is considerable 

variation among different authors in the definition and 

geographic delineation of these regions, though most 

use long-term rainfall averages to define the boundaries. 

Since long-term rainfall levels have generally decreased 

since the 1960s (but increased somewhat in the past 

two decades), some authors consider these bioclimatic 

regions to have shifted somewhat southward (Gonzalez, 

1997). Since these regions are often referenced in this 

atlas, it is useful to present their general characteristics. 

They are presented from driest to wettest climatic 

regimes.

Saharan Region

The Sahara, or Saharan Region, stretches across the 

whole northern extent of West Africa, formed by the 

Sahara Desert. It consists of a variety of arid landscapes 

varying from sandy sheets and dune fields to gravel 

plains, low plateaus, and rugged mountains. Vegetation 

cover is sparse to absent, except in depressions, wadis, 

and oases, where water is present at or just below the 

surface. Average annual rainfall ranges from 0 to 150 

mm per year. 

Sahelian Region

The Sahel, or Sahelian Region, is a broad semiarid belt, 

extending from the Atlantic Ocean to Sudan (and to the 

Red Sea), averaging about 350 km wide. Climatically, 

it is characterized by average annual rainfall between 

150 and 600 mm, with great variability in amount and 

timing in a given year. It has an ecologically dry season 

of 8 to 9 months. Vegetation in the Sahel is generally 

characterized by open herbaceous types (steppe and 

short grass savanna) often mixed with woody plants. 

It is known for its thorny trees, particularly from the 

genus Acacia, and mostly annual grasses from the 

genera Aristida and Cenchrus. The number of woody 

plant species is relatively low. The present physiognomy 

of Sahelian vegetation results from long-term human 

and animal presence. Annual grass fires often sweep 

across its landscapes where there is ample grass cover. 

The Sahel is also home to countless small wetlands, 

like in eastern Mauritania, as well as some major ones 

including the Senegal Delta, the Inland Niger Delta, 

and the Lake Chad area.

Sudanian Region

The Sudan, or Sudanian Region, consists of a very large 

belt immediately south of the Sahel, with average 

annual rainfall between 600 and 1,200 mm and an 

ecologically dry season of 5 to 7 months. It is the domain 

of the savanna — ranging from open tree savannas to 

wooded savannas to open woodlands. As in the Sahel, 

rainfall is spread over the months when the sun is high 

Bioclimatic Regions

Temet, Niger: a wadi in the Sahara
8 Landscapes of West Africa

(typically May to October). The short, annual grasses 

of the Sahel are replaced in the Sudan Region by tall, 

perennial grasses, mainly of the genus Andropogon. 

The savannas almost always have a woody component, 

with trees growing among the tall grasses. There are 

at least 80 species of trees specific to this bioclimatic 

region (Aubréville, 1938). In the northern part of the 

Sudanian Region, tree savannas tend to dominate, 

whereas the southern reaches of this region typically 

transition into denser wooded savannas and open 

woodlands. Fire has been part of the region’s ecology 

for millennia. Both natural and human-induced bush 

fires sweep though the savanna areas, burning up to 80 

percent of their area each year. Gallery forests, with tall 

tree species more common in the Guinean Region to 

the south, follow watercourses, penetrating deep into 

the Sudanian Region. They are generally not affected 

by bush fires and often act as natural fire breaks. 

Guinean Region

The Guinean Region lies immediately south of the 

Sudanian Region, generally defined by average annual 

rainfall between 1,200 and 2,200 mm. This is the domain 

of the seasonally wet-and-dry deciduous or semideciduous forest. Despite the relatively high rainfall, this 

region has a distinct dry season of 7 to 8 months, which 

distinguishes it from the Guineo-Congolian Region. The 

forest canopy is generally dense and closed, forming 

over a heterogeneous woody understory. Tree height 

is high, averaging 18 to 20 m. Guinean forests in their 

natural setting are generally not affected by bush fires. 

Present day landscapes of the Guinean Region are 

mostly altered by human activity, particularly slash-andburn agriculture, so that the actual extent of Guinean 

forest is rather limited. Most of what remains has been 

modified by humans. The tree and wooded savannas are 

also extensive. Some authors consider that the forests 

have been replaced by “derived savanna,” a mosaic of 

cropland, bush fallow, and secondary forest resulting 

from centuries of human influence (Keay, 1959). Gallery 

forests of varying width follow watercourses. 

Guineo-Congolian Region

The Guineo-Congolian Region is the wettest in West 

Africa, with average annual rainfall between 2,200 and 

5,000 mm. The rainfall can be distributed across most of 

the year, or in two rainy seasons with short drier periods 

between the rains. This region is split geographically 

into western and eastern blocks, separated by the 

Dahomey Gap where savanna reaches the coast. These 

blocks are often referred to as the Upper Guinean and 

Lower Guinean Forests, respectively (Church, 1966). This 

region is thought to have been mostly forested in the 

past, but today only a fraction of the land is forested. 

Nevertheless, the forest flora is the richest in West Africa. 

The forests are dense, with trees reaching over 60 m. The 

upper tier usually has a discontinuous canopy, towering 

over a lower, dense canopy. In the undergrowth, woody 

climbers and epiphytes are characteristic. Herbaceous 

ground cover may be found but can also be absent.

Bioclimatic regions
A Window on a Changing World 9

Sahara

Sahel

Sudan

Guinean

Guineo-Congolian

GRAY TAPPAN/USGS
10 Landscapes of West Africa
A Window on a Changing World 11

Landscapes of the 

Sahara Desert

Among the most striking natural features of the Sahara 

Desert are the Aïr Mountains, rising from the sands of 

central Niger. These mountains, which extend over an 

area of 72,000 sq km—about the size of Sierra Leone 

—have some of the most spectacular scenery in West 

Africa. They evolved from a long volcanic history, with 

impressive peaks, the highest being Mount Bagzane 

(2,022 m). Most of the massif is underlain by Precambrian 

igneous and metamorphic rocks, characteristic of other 

major massifs found in North Africa (Lowman, 1968). 

Note the prominent round mountain masses, some 

over 45 km wide, seen in the Landsat image mosaic. 

Massive sand dunes from the Ténéré Desert, east of 

the Aïr, pile up against the outcrops and escarpments 

of the eastern side of the mountains, juxtaposing two 

extraordinarily beautiful landscapes. 

Humans have lived among its rocks and valleys for 

thousands of years. The Aïr contain a treasure trove of 

Neolithic art, with paintings that capture a lush savanna, 

replete with many of the large mammals that would 

rival today’s national parks. Deep valleys and natural 

springs support oasis life in the midst of these desert 

mountains. The village of Timia is a green gem of date 

palms and verdant gardens. For centuries, the Aïr have 

been inhabited by the Tuareg people—traditionally 

nomadic pastoralists who live in a vast area of the central 

and western Sahara. Many have settled in small towns 

like Timia and Iferouane, or in Agadez, the gateway to 

northern Niger. 

MICHAEL FITZGERALD ; MICHAEL FITZGERALD ; MICHAEL FITZGERALD ; RICHARD JULIA ; RICHARD JULIA ; MICHAEL FITZGERALD
12 Landscapes of West Africa

Djado, Niger
A Window on a Changing World 13

Ecological Regions of West Africa

The map of ecological regions of West Africa (see pages 

14–15) captures the variety and complexity of West 

Africa’s landscapes and presents a way of organizing 

them into smaller units. Ecological regions, or ecoregions, 

are areas of relative homogeneity with respect to 

ecological systems involving the interrelationships 

of plants, animals, and their environment. Ecoregions 

are a holistic concept: The spatial patterns that help 

identify them arise from the interplay and integration 

of many factors — geology, geomorphology, soils, 

vegetation cover, climate, hydrology, and finally human 

modification of the land. 

As some of these factors vary along gradients, not all 

ecoregion boundaries represent sharp or concrete 

differences in the landscape. Nonetheless, the 

identification of discrete regions of similar environmental 

makeup offers a helpful spatial framework for land use 

planning and management. Operating as integrated 

systems, ecoregions provide logical reporting units on 

a variety of biophysical and socioeconomic conditions 

and can be useful in many complex tasks, such as setting 

priorities for conservation and development, studying 

the impact of climate change, and assessments of 

carbon stocks and sequestration potential.

Satellite remote sensing is an effective tool for ecoregion 

mapping because it already integrates many biophysical 

and man-made elements, depicting the complex 

character of the land surface in image form. Landsat 

imagery in particular offers the ideal characteristics 

for delineating and classifying ecoregions from spatial 

patterns of the land surface at national and regional 

scales. Ecoregion mapping was one of the early steps 

in the process that culminated in mapping the land use 

and land cover of 17 West African countries.

The ecoregions map of West Africa was compiled from 

national draft maps prepared by 12 country teams during 

a workshop held at the AGRHYMET Regional Center 

in Niamey. The country teams delineated ecoregions 

based on visual interpretation of a Landsat image 

mosaic, drawing on their extensive knowledge of the 

biophysical and human geography of their respective 

countries. Their interpretation of the Landsat imagery 

was also supported by thematic maps of individual 

environmental properties (e.g., soils, geology, climate, 

vegetation) where available. Because the regional 

map was stitched together from individual national 

maps, ecoregion boundaries and names are not always 

consistent across international borders. Ecoregion names 

were retained in their original language. 

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): MICHIEL KUPERS

SUZANNE COTILLON / SGT

Agricultural landscape in the commune of Kourteye, Niger
14 Landscapes of West Africa

Ecoregions
A Window on a Changing World 15
16 Landscapes of West Africa

Biodiversity and Protected Areas in West Africa

Biological diversity, or biodiversity, refers to the variety of 

life. It can be measured in many ways including species 

richness, ecosystem complexity, and genetic variation.

Biodiversity may be the greatest natural resource, as it 

is a source of food, fuel, medicines, clothing, building 

materials, clean water, tourism and many other benefits 

(Norse and others, 1986). Biodiversity possesses marked 

economic value that in many areas enables conservation 

to serve as a competitive form of land use (Stock, 2012).

The importance of biodiversity in West Africa is well 

established. The various ecosystems, ranging from dry 

savanna to tropical forest, provide habitats to more 

than 2,000 amphibian, bird and mammal species 

(Mallon and others, 2015). The region’s tropical forest 

in the Upper Guinean countries is the main locus for 

biodiversity in the region. These lowland forests of 

West Africa are home to approximately 320 mammal 

species (which represents more than a quarter of Africa’s 

mammals), 9,000 vascular plant species, and 785 bird 

species (Bakarr and others, 2004).The Upper Guinean 

forest is renowned for its primate diversity, with nearly 

30 distinct species, and has been identified as one of 

Africa’s most critical primate conservation areas. The 

West African forest ecosystem is also home to two 

of Africa’s great apes, including remaining scattered 

populations of the endangered western chimpanzees 

and a small population of western lowland gorillas on 

the Nigeria-Cameroon border. 

The West African countries are also home to a population 

of over 7,500 African elephants, although many groups 

reside in northern savanna habitats outside the forest 

ecosystems (Mallon and others, 2015). The Upper 

Guinean forest ecosystem of West Africa, however, is 

one of the most critically fragmented regions on the 

planet. Indeed, only 68,500 sq km, or 10 percent of its 

original forest cover, remains (see pages 66–67). Much 

of this remaining forest is exploited for timber and does 

not represent intact habitat. Moreover, hunting and 

indiscriminate trapping are prevalent throughout the 

forest zone, and accelerating rates of animal harvest 

put increasing pressure on populations of primates 

and forest antelopes. Similarly, hunting—whether for 

meat, trophies or sport—has resulted in a catastrophic 

decline of large mammals across the Sahel and Sahara 

zones in the north of the region (Durant and others, 

2013; Mallon and others, 2015). The reduced prey 

base adversely impacts carnivore numbers, such as 

the African lion, across the region.

In West Africa today, most of the endangered species 

and highly biodiverse habitats are confined to protected 

areas. A total of 1,936 nationally protected areas have 

been identified in the region, currently covering 

around 9.6 percent of West Africa (see Protected 

Areas map pages 18–19). Approximately 90 percent 

of these protected areas are small and dominated by 

forest reserves. In addition, 53 protected areas have 

international designations, including 17 biosphere 

reserves. Protected areas vary widely in size, from 

less than 1 sq km to 97,300 sq km. However, large 

protected areas, including clusters of sites, are critical 

to supporting viable populations of larger species 

or ensuring fully-functioning, dynamic ecosystems 

(Mallon and others, 2015). More extensive areas or 

buffer zones provide connectivity between habitats, 

safeguard dispersal corridors between core populations 

and natural migration routes, and enhance resilience 

to the effects of climate change (Mengue-Medou, 

2002). Since international borders rarely coincide 

with ecosystem boundaries, transboundary sites and 

landscapes are of great importance. These better 

preserve ecosystem function, show the value of 

managing biodiversity conservation at a sub-regional 

scale in spite of institutional difficulties, engage 

local communities, and may lead to harmonization 

of legislation. For instance, Diawling National Park in 

Mauritania and Djoudj Bird Reserve in Senegal lie on 

opposite sides of the Senegal River Delta, but the joint 

site is recognized as an International Biosphere Reserve. 

Similarly, the W-Arly-Pendjari complex (Benin, Burkina 

Faso and Niger) is a transboundary Biosphere Reserve 

that covers roughly 32,250 sq km and protects a highly 

biodiverse savanna ecosystem (see pages 20–23).

The rosewood tree (Pterocarpus 

erinaceus), rapidly disappearing from 

savannas and woodlands due to logging 

for its valuable timber.

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

SUZANNE COTILLON/SGT; GRAY TAPPAN/USGS
A Window on a Changing World 17

Distribution of the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) 

Distribution of the African lion (Panthera leo) 

Distribution of the western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) 

The original range of the African elephant covered all countries in West Africa, but the elephant is now extinct in at least The 

Gambia and Mauritania, where the last population in the Assaba Mountains disappeared in the 1980s (Mallon and others, 

2015). The recent population estimate of African elephants in West Africa is about 7,500. The largest elephant population can 

be found in the transboundary W-Arly-Pendjari complex in Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger. The Gourma elephant population 

in Mali is the most northerly in the world. 

Historical data indicate that lions were formerly distributed throughout West Africa, with the exception of coastal rain 

forests and the interior of the Sahara Desert. Recent surveys confirm lions’ presence in only six countries of the region, which 

means that lions have lost almost 99 percent of their former range habitat in West Africa (Henschel and others, 2015). Less 

than 500 lions remain in West Africa, of which less than 250 are considered “mature individuals.” Around 85 percent of them 

occur in the W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP) complex of protected areas, shared between Burkina Faso, Niger and Benin (Henschel 

and others 2015). A large continuous area of distribution remains in southeastern Chad around Zakouma National Park. A 

small relict population survives in Niokolo-koba National Park in southeastern Senegal, as well as in Yankari and Kainji Lake 

National Parks in Nigeria.

Formerly distributed in nine countries of West Africa from Senegal to Nigeria, recent surveys estimate the western chimpanzee 

population at 18,960–59,290 individuals. About two-thirds of the remaining representatives of this subspecies are thought 

to occur in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Senegal is thought to have only a few hundred individuals remaining in the 

southeast of the country. However, they are likely extinct in Benin, Burkina Faso, The Gambia and Togo (Humle and others, 

2008). Western chimpanzees occur in many prominent protected areas, such as Outamba-Kilimi and Gola Rain Forest National 

Parks (Sierra Leone), Haut Niger National Park and Nimba Reserve (Guinea), Sapo National Park (Liberia), and Taï and Comoé 

National Parks (Côte d’Ivoire).

(DATA SOURCES: BLANC, 2008; MALLON AND OTHERS, 2015)

(DATA SOURCES: RIGGIO, 2011, 2013; HENSCHEL AND OTHERS, 2015; MALLON AND OTHERS, 2015)

(DATA SOURCES: BRNCIC AND OTHERS, 2010; HUMLE AND OTHERS, 2008; MALLON AND OTHERS, 2015; KORMOS, 2003)

KELLY BOYER ONTL GRAY TAPPAN / USGS RICHARD JULIA
18 Landscapes of West Africa

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines a protected area as, “A clearly defined 

geographical space, recognized, dedicated, and managed, through legal or other effective means, to 

achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values” 

(Dudley, 2008). IUCN has also developed a system for categorizing protected areas according to their 

management goals and governance, but many protected areas in West Africa have not been assigned 

to a category and have an unclear management status. Because the 17 countries of West Africa are 

physically and politically diverse, the category designation and management goals of protected areas 

can vary greatly between countries (Mallon and others, 2015). To lessen confusion and to simplify the 

data for purposes of making this map, West African protected areas were grouped as follows.

Internationally designated sites

Biosphere Reserve: Sites recognized under the international UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) 

Programme for their ecosystem and biodiversity conservation importance. World Heritage sites that 

were not designated as Biosphere Reserve are not included on the map.

Ramsar site (Wetlands of International Importance): Wetlands of high conservation importance for 

their resources.

The protected areas map was compiled from the World Database on 

Protected Areas (WDPA) (IUCN and UNEP-WCMC, 2016). However, 

the WDPA database is not complete and some protected areas are 

not listed or are missing spatial data. Other sources were consulted 

in order to present an accurate and up-to-date protected areas 

map. Protected areas under the “Proposed” status were not included 

unless other sources stated they had been formally designated. 

Hunting zones were not included because they do not offer the 

level of protection inherent in other categories of protected areas.

Protected Areas in West Africa 
A Window on a Changing World 19

Nationally designated sites

National Park: Area set aside for the protection, conservation, and propagation 

of natural resources of particular scientific or aesthetic interest. Prohibited 

activities, unless authorized by permit, include the collection or removal 

of any forest products, hunting, trapping, damaging natural resources, 

setting fire, mining, and building infrastructure (IUCN, 1992). In addition 

to the areas designated as “National Park,” this category also includes 

“Natural Park” (Guinea-Bissau).

Nature Reserve: Area of importance for wildlife, habitats, or features of 

geological or other interest which is managed for conservation and to 

provide special opportunities for study or research. Management and level 

of protection differ by local laws. In addition to the areas designated as 

“Nature Reserve,” this category includes the “Natural Reserve,” “Wetland 

Reserve,” “Strict Nature Reserve,” “Botanical Reserve” and “Marine Community 

protected area.”

Wildlife Sanctuary: Area set aside to assure the natural conditions necessary to 

protect nationally significant species or physical features of the environment 

where these require specific human manipulation for their perpetuation. 

Hunting, killing or capture of fauna is prohibited. In addition to the areas 

designated as “Wildlife Sanctuary,” this category includes the “Game 

Sanctuary” and “Chimpanzee Sanctuary.”

Faunal Reserve: Area established for the conservation, management and 

propagation of wild animal life, threatened animal or plant species, and the 

protection and management of its habitat. Hunting, killing or capture of 

fauna is regulated. In addition to the areas designated as “Faunal Reserve,” 

this category includes the “Game Reserve,” “Partial Faunal Reserve,” “Bird 

Reserve,” and “Wildlife Reserve.”

Forest Reserve: Area where conservation is considered necessary to 

maintain the ecological equilibrium for the benefit of populations and 

the conservation of species recognized to be endangered. Sustainable 

exploitation of wood is permitted but regulated. Activities prohibited, unless 

authorized by permit, include farming, grazing of livestock, mining, fires, 

hunting, and damage to any natural resources (IUCN, 1992). In addition 

to the areas designated as “Forest Reserve,” this category includes the 

“Classified Forest,” “Community Forest,” and “National Forest.”
20 Landscapes of West Africa

The W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP) ecological complex in West Africa is a major 

expanse of intact Sudano-sahelian savanna. The two core areas of the 

complex are the W Regional Park straddling the borders of Benin, Burkina 

Faso and Niger, and the Arly Total Faunal Reserve and Pendjari National 

Park in Burkina Faso and Benin. However, as many as 16 additional reserves, 

partial reserves and hunting zones surround the two core transboundary 

reserves, bringing the total area of the complex to roughly 32,250 sq km. 

While the condition and level of protection varies among the various parks 

and reserves, the complex nevertheless represents an extremely important 

contiguous body of intact West African habitat, crucial to the preservation 

of regional biodiversity and natural heritage (Clerici, 2007).

The W-Arly-Pendjari Transboundary Biosphere Reserve
A Window on a Changing World 21

Between 1990 and 2015 the estimated population within a 30-km buffer 

surrounding all of the various designated protected areas of the complex 

more than doubled, from 1.67 million people to 3.52 million people 

(CIESIN, 2005), putting growing pressure on reserve boundaries. In the 

key agricultural region of northwestern Benin, food crops and a rapid 

expansion of cotton growing have converted the savanna landscape 

bordering the WAP reserve to one dominated by small holder farm fields 

(Kokoye and others, 2013). At the northern edge of the WAP where the 

Niger River forms the W shape, which gives the transboundary national 

park its name, dozens of new villages have appeared in recent decades. 

Food insecurity in the 1970s led to the decommissioning of almost half of 

the Tamou Total Faunal Reserve there, leading to a wave of migration to the 

fertile soils along the Niger floodplain. In eastern Burkina Faso, while many 

villages are not new (Price and others, 2002), a growing population and 

increasingly intense farming and cattle-raising have made the boundary 

between the inside and outside of the protected area a sharp unmistakable 

line in the 2015 satellite images. 
The W-Arly-Pendjari complex is recognized 

internationally for its important biodiversity. Pendjari 

National Park in Benin in 1986 and the W National 

Park in Niger in 1996 were designated UNESCO 

Biosphere Reserves. In 2002 the Benin and Burkina 

Faso W National Parks were added to form the W 

Transboundary Biosphere Reserve (TBR) (Michelot and 

Ouedraogo, 2009). In 2007 the wetlands of the W TBR 

were designated “wetlands of international importance” 

under the Ramsar Convention (UNESCO, 2005). The W 

National Parks in Niger, the W and Pendjari Parks in 

Benin and the Arly, W and Singou Reserves in Burkina 

Faso were all designated as Important Bird Areas by 

Birdlife International in 2001. 

The size and structure of the WAP complex is unusual 

if not unique in West Africa where protected forests 

tend to be relatively small and suffer high levels of 

encroachment (Joppa and others, 2008). Following the 

biosphere reserve concept adopted by UNESCO, the 

WAP complex’s core areas of biodiversity and intact 

ecosystems (green areas on the adjacent map) are 

protected by buffer areas and transition zones (UNESCO 

1996). Nevertheless, the pressure to feed and provide 

livelihoods for a rapidly growing population is evident 

in the dramatic loss of wooded savanna and gallery 

forests surrounding the WAP complex’s borders. 

 For the W-Arly-Pendjari Complex the partial reserves 

and hunting zones serve as buffers for much of the core’s 

perimeter but do not completely encircle the core. Land 

cover maps from 1975, 2000 and 2013 (pages 44–49) 

show that within the core area of the three contiguous 

W National Parks, Pendjari National Park and the Arly 

Total Faunal Reserve, land cover has been very stable 

since 1975. Outside the core areas but within the partial 

reserves and hunting zones (gray with crosshatch), 

agriculture has increased from 8 percent in 1975 to 15 

percent in 2013, while intact savanna decreased from 71 

22 Landscapes of West Africa

W-Arly-Pendjari complex and surrounding buffer zones

Baobabs along the Niger River in the W National Park, Niger
A Window on a Changing World 23

percent to 68 percent. In the areas outside the core and 

not designated as reserves or hunting zones (diagonal 

hatch marks), the loss of savanna was much greater. 

Savanna covered 70 percent of unprotected land in 

1975 but just under 45 percent in 2013, as agriculture 

grew from 16 percent to over 44 percent.

In spite of the high levels of protection that have been 

established, especially for the core areas, ongoing 

encroachment can be seen occurring at some locations 

along boundaries of the reserves. The high-resolution 

image from July 2011 (see opposite page) shows 

some farm fields that have been cleared within the 

bounds of W National Park, Benin. Most of this sort 

of encroachment occurs away from the designated 

hunting zones and reserves, which appear to provide 

effective buffers for the core parks where they have 

been established. 

It is estimated that the W Regional Park is a seasonal 

home to 3,800 African elephants, more than half the 

West African population (Clerici, 2007). Data collected 

from a variety of surveys taken between 2004 and 2014 

sets the number of elephants in the larger complex 

of 19 protected areas at over 5,500 (IUCN, 2015). The 

WAP complex supports populations of several other 

large mammals including giraffe, hippopotamuses, 

and West African savanna buffalo, big cats such as 

lions, leopards, and cheetahs and a number of antelope 

species including roan antelope, kobs, topi, defassa 

waterbuck, western hartebeest, red-fronted gazelle, 

and oribi. The WAP complex protects hundreds of bird 

species, as well as many species of fish, insects and other 

organisms, all of which are a part of the biodiversity of 

this invaluable natural ecosystem. 

RICHARD JULIA; RICHARD JULIA; JOAQUIM JULIA; RICHARD JULIA; SUZANNE COTILLON / SGT; GRAY TAPPAN / USGS
24 Landscapes of West Africa

NASA photograph ISS042-E-244403 taken by an astronaut on board the International Space Station 

on February 12, 2015. This east-looking photograph includes Lake Chad, visible at left, and the 

Tibesti Mountains at upper right. This photo was modified to include a NASA artist’s rendition of 

Landsat 8 in orbit. 
A Window on a Changing World 25

Approach to Monitoring 

Land Resources

1.2

Satellite Imagery

The maps, photographs, and remote sensing images in 

this atlas were all created with the goal of assessing land 

cover and land conditions, and measuring change over 

time. Maps show a broad view of a country or region, 

and ground photographs can document landscapes for 

a particular location, but remote sensing images are the 

key tools to detect and record surface conditions and 

understand changes happening on the landscape, both 

natural and human-caused. Remote sensing images are 

an objective, cost-effective way to measure and analyze 

long-term change, including the change in land cover 

from 1975 to 2013 that is at the heart of this book.

Some of the images are taken from Google Earth and 

credited as such, but the majority come from one 

of three sources: Landsat, Corona, or the Moderate 

Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Each 

has its own characteristics and advantages.

The first Landsat satellite was launched in 1972, and 

the program has been in continuous operation since 

then. Landsat was designed specifically to study and 

map land resources. Landsat 8 now orbits the Earth at 

an altitude of 705 km and records data as 30-m pixels 

in images approximately 170 km by 185 km. Landsat 

images revisit the entire Earth every 16 days. 

Corona was a national reconnaissance mission, flown 

on satellites from 1960 to 1972. Corona recorded 

photographs on high quality film stock, which was 

jettisoned and recovered in the atmosphere by airplane. 

The high quality film meant that Corona photos 

recorded fine details, but coverage was limited to areas 

of interest to U.S. military programs during the Cold 

War. Nevertheless, Corona photography of West Africa 

covers virtually all of West Africa, dating back to as early 

as 1962. Corona film was declassified in the interest 

of science in 1995. Project staff at the U.S. Geological 

Survey (USGS) EROS Center coordinated the scanning 

and georegistration needed to convert Corona film 

photography into digital image data.

The MODIS instrument is mounted on the Terra and 

Aqua satellites, launched in 1999 and 2002, respectively, 

that orbit at the same 

altitude as Landsat. 

However, MODIS images 

cover a swath 2,330 km 

wide at a relatively coarse 

resolution of 250 m. As a 

result, MODIS images are 

less detailed than Landsat, 

but instead of every 16 

days, MODIS has the 

advantage of covering the 

entire Earth every one or 

two days. MODIS provides 

the data for calculating 

a widely used index of 

vegetation condition, the 

normalized difference 

vegetation index, or NDVI (see section 1.4, pages 38–41).

The Landsat program has served longer than any 

other Earth-observing satellite system. For that reason, 

Landsat provides the bedrock dataset for land cover 

mapping and land cover change analysis for most 

of the maps in this book. Landsat is detailed enough 

at 30-m resolution to map and measure many types 

of landscape changes, for example the growth of 

agriculture and of cities, as well as the fragmentation 

of forests and savannas. Landsat’s 16-day repeat cycle 

is frequent enough to make it possible to overcome 

the frequent heavy cloud cover in some parts of West 

Africa. The consistency of Landsat imagery makes it 

possible to make objective observations of land cover 

change from 1972 to the present. 

Corona serves the important function in several areas 

of pushing the observation window back another 10 

years before Landsat, with satellite photography from 

the early 1960s that complements Landsat imagery. 

MODIS data at 250-m resolution serve as a base for 

several national and regional maps in this atlas and 

for assessing vegetation condition. The differences in 

footprint and visual characteristics among the three 

systems can be seen in the comparison above.

MODIS data serve as the backdrop to a 

2014 Landsat image of Lake Fitri in Chad, 

with 1967 Corona photography on top.

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): NASA
26 Landscapes of West Africa

Mapping the land use and land cover of all of West 

Africa for three periods in time (1975, 2000 and 2013) 

using many hundreds of Landsat images required 

careful consideration with regard to a methodology. 

Mapping land cover over time requires an approach 

that generates consistently accurate maps over time 

for reliable change detection. Of two basic mapping 

approaches — computer automated classification and 

visual image interpretation — one needed to be chosen.

The most common approach in land use and land 

cover mapping is automated classification — throwing 

huge amounts of digital image data into an image 

classifier. However, earlier experiences with automated 

classification in Mali, Senegal and Niger produced 

disappointing results. Important land use and land 

cover types, such as agriculture in the Sahel, could 

not be uniquely differentiated from other types based 

on their spectral reflectance properties. Automated 

methods of image classification are based on spectral 

image data and are often plagued by problems of 

misclassification. Spectral reflectance of land surfaces 

— and more broadly spectral response patterns — 

measured by remote sensors may be quantitative but 

they certainly are not absolute. They may be distinctive 

but they are not necessarily unique. In reality, there 

is often extreme variability of spectral reflectance 

associated with various land cover types (Lillesand and 

Kiefer, 1994). This variability poses major challenges in 

mapping and analyzing land cover types based solely 

on their spectral properties. For these reasons, the 

project chose visual image interpretation rather than 

the semi- or fully-automated approaches.

Mapping land use and land cover using visual 

interpretation is not without its own challenges, 

but the combination of firsthand knowledge of the 

landscapes and reliance on multiple dimensions of 

information inherent in imagery is a powerful approach 

to producing highly accurate maps. Mapping land cover 

from satellite images requires special skills and detailed 

local knowledge about the area of interest — including 

its physical, biological and human components. Satellite 

images, much like aerial photographs, contain a detailed 

record of features on the Earth’s surface at the time of 

acquisition. Drawing upon training, field experience, 

geographic knowledge, an acute power of observation 

and patience, image analysts mapped the land use 

and land cover using visual interpretation. They relied 

on the basic elements of image interpretation: shape, 

size, pattern, color, tone, texture, shadows, geographic 

context, and association. The time of year when each 

image was acquired was also an important factor in 

identifying the land features. The image interpretation 

process was facilitated through the use of interpretation 

guidelines, which included written and illustrated 

definitions of all of the land use and land cover classes.

The visual image interpretation method works well 

for several important reasons. First, it lends itself 

well to working with photographs and images from 

different satellite systems and formats. Second, it allows 

Mapping Land Use and Land Cover

Landsat 8 nominal image footprint for the West Africa mapped area
A Window on a Changing World 27

expert interpreters to integrate local knowledge with 

the many dimensions of information contained in 

images. Third, image interpreters can readily account 

for, and work around, problems related to seasonal 

differences from image to image, as well as differences 

in illumination and atmospheric effects. For example, 

the human interpreter can effectively distinguish real 

land changes from many of the ephemeral changes on 

the land such as burn patterns from annual grass fires. 

Image interpretations were systematically validated 

with high-resolution satellite imagery and, in many 

countries, with visits to the field. Fourth, in order to 

maintain high accuracy and reduce confusion among 

land cover types, we defined land use and land cover 

classes that could be consistently identified and 

mapped from Landsat satellite imagery (see pages 

50–55). Fifth, the requirement of mapping land use 

and land cover at multiple periods of time necessitated 

high accuracy in order to confidently characterize the 

changes from period to period. When done properly, 

the visual interpretation method provides the high 

accuracy needed. 

In order to check the accuracy of the maps, the analysts 

used multiple sources of ancillary data, including 

thousands of aerial photographs taken by the project 

team, and recent high-resolution satellite images 

viewable in Google Earth. The Google Earth tool was 

particularly useful in systematically checking the 

mapping of land cover from recent Landsat imagery. 

The traditional method of visual interpretation is 

ideal for the reasons given above, but it is also laborintensive, particularly for such a vast area; mapping 

millions of square kilometers for three points in time 

would have been insurmountable using the traditional 

method. To expedite the interpretation process while 

still maintaining temporal accuracy, the U.S. Geological 

Survey (USGS) EROS Center team developed the Rapid 

Land Cover Mapper (RLCM) tool. The RLCM tool is a 

Geographic Information System (GIS) vector/raster 

hybrid approach that lends itself to both multiple 

resolutions and time series mapping. Conceptually, 

the RLCM is based on the traditional dot grid method 

for calculating area, employed by foresters for over a 

century (Schumaher and Chapman, 1972). The RLCM tool 

generates a digital grid of points that overlays an image 

(see top figure). Using standard photo interpretation 

techniques, the interpreter identifies the discrete land 

use and land cover class for each point. The RLCM tool 

facilitates the selection and assignment of the point’s 

land cover class. This is accomplished by simultaneous 

point selection and cascading period classification. 

Simultaneous selection allows the interpreter to select 

many points of a common class and assign them to that 

specific class with one action. Cascading is a method of 

completing the classification of a first time period for a 

given area, then pushing that classification information 

forward or back in time (see figure below). After copying 

the attributed points into another time period, they are 

displayed over images that correspond to the “new” 

time period. The interpretation process is repeated, and 

in this case the previously attributed points are reviewed 

to determine if they should remain unchanged or be 

edited to reflect a change in the land cover. Generally, 

the image analysts began with the most recent period, 

then worked back in time to the earlier periods. This 

resulted in the production of multi-period land use 

and land cover maps and associated statistics that 

characterize the changing landscapes at national and 

regional scales. 

Steps in making a land use and land cover 

map using the RLCM Tool; 1) selecting 

imagery, 2) overlaying a grid of points, 

3) interpreting and attributing, and 

4) making land use and land cover map.

A simplified time series representation 

of three land use and land cover 

interpretations using the RLCM Tool. 

The cubes symbolize the grid points 

that are placed over the imagery, color 

coded by land cover class. The vertical 

lines show the spatial alignment of the 

points through time.
28 Landscapes of West Africa

Land Cover Modification

This atlas presents West Africa’s changing landscapes 

through land use and land cover maps for three periods 

in time. The changes between each period represent 

one of two main types of landscape change: land cover 

conversions and land cover modifications. Land cover 

conversions are the transitions from one land cover or 

use type to another (e.g., forest to agriculture). As the 

maps show (see pages 44–49), this type of change can 

be quite dramatic, such as the loss and fragmentation 

of the Upper Guinean forest (see pages 66–67). 

In land cover modification, the general land cover or 

use type does not change, but there is a change in its 

attributes. This type of change is more subtle but can 

be very significant. An example is the effect of logging 

in a woodland: the land cover is still “woodland,” but 

its quality—the tree density and biodiversity—has 

been diminished by selective tree harvesting. Assessing 

these more subtle land cover modifications generally 

requires high resolution imagery. For example, most of 

the loss in woody biomass found in the various types of 

vegetation cover in Senegal were a result of land cover 

modification rather than the conversion of land cover 

from one class to another (Woomer and others, 2004; 

Tappan and others, 2004). Land cover modification 

is much harder to map and quantify at national and 

regional levels than land cover conversion. The recent, 

widespread availability of high-resolution imagery is 

helping environmental scientists gain a more complete 

picture of land cover modification in West Africa. 

Land cover modification is clearly seen in the pairs of 

satellite images below, which compare two Sahelian 

landscapes in northern Senegal at a time interval 

of 38 and 51 years. The first pair (top images) shows 

a relatively dense tree savanna on a sandy plain in 

December 1965 (Corona, left). The May 2003 image 

(DigitalGlobe, right) shows that the same landscape has 

become an open tree savanna. This area experienced 

high tree mortality during the droughts of the 1970s 

and 1980s, exacerbated by increased browsing by 

livestock as grass cover became scarce. The Ferlo Valley 

Loss of tree cover in a tree savanna landscape adjacent to the Ferlo Valley, Senegal 

Loss of tree cover in a wooded savanna landscape in northern Senegal CHRIS REIJ / WRI
A Window on a Changing World 29

was dry in 1965 (left image) but began to flood in 

1988 when the Diama Dam was constructed on the 

Senegal River. 

The next pair (opposite page , bottom images) shows 

land cover modification on a more complex landscape 

that evolved from ancient sand dunes. This example 

is also from northern Senegal, 25 km southeast of 

Dagana. In December 1965 (Corona, left) trees (black 

points) are scattered throughout continuous grass 

cover, with clusters of trees forming wooded stands 

in many small natural depressions. Half a century later, 

the 2016 image (DigitalGlobe, right) shows that most 

of the trees have disappeared—also from drought and 

livestock pressure—except in the wooded depressions 

where water collects during the brief rainy season. A 

seasonal camp of semi-nomadic Fulani herders is visible 

in the upper left quarter of the image. The stark contrast 

between wooded depressions and the surrounding 

open country has increased with time—a typical 

phenomenon in many landscapes across the Sahel. 

Land modification, however, is not always negative. 

Across West Africa, many examples of positive land 

modification, such as the regeneration of woody cover, 

the increase of biodiversity on cropland, or the use 

of soil and water conservation practices to improve 

cropland productivity, can be cited (see examples 

above, and cases of land restoration on pages 70–71).

Comparative views of the same landscape 

in central Senegal 1994 and 2010 showing 

the regeneration of woody cover after 

years of harvesting shrubs and trees for 

wood fuels.

Comparison of an agricultural landscape 

in Senegal in 1984 and 2004 showing the 

increase in on-farm vegetation including 

hedges, and fruit tree planting to diversify 

production.

Left photo: Aerial view near Madaoua, 

Niger of regeneration of trees along rock 

lines on the contour. Rainfall is captured, 

runoff and erosion are minimized, and 

crop production is increased.

Right photo: Farmer-managed natural 

regeneration in the broad valley near 

Rissiam, northern Burkina Faso. Nearly 

all of the land under the trees is devoted 

to growing cereal crops. 

Left photo: Part of the biodiverse forest 

created by Yacouba Sawadogo, a farmer 

innovator near Ouahigouya, Burkina 

Faso. In 1979, this was a barren plateau 

until he began rehabilitating his land by 

planting trees and capturing rainfall and 

protecting trees on his land.

Right photo: This productive field was 

barren in 1980. Ousséni Kindo, another 

farmer innovator in northern Burkina 

Faso, experimented with techniques to 

establish native grasses and trees while 

cultivating millet among them. 

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS GRAY TAPPAN / USGS GRAY TAPPAN / USGS GRAY TAPPAN / USGS; CHRIS REIJ / WRI
30 Landscapes of West Africa

Changes in land use and land cover result from a myriad 

of factors acting on the land surface. These factors fall 

into two large groups, those originating from human 

activity and those originating from natural forces. 

Among the human factors, the size and growth of the 

human population plays a large role, but it is not the 

only underlying human cause of land cover change. 

The impacts of population growth are amplified or 

attenuated by institutional factors and national and 

regional policies, as well as processes of globalization, 

all of which shape economic opportunities that the 

populations of West Africa respond to in complex and 

interrelated ways that ultimately affect land use and 

land cover patterns (Lambin and others, 2001). For 

example, the progressive integration of West Africa 

into a global market economy has led to expansion of 

foreign investment in the mining and timber industries 

of the Guinean forest countries, which increases the 

rate of forest loss. Structural adjustment programs have 

encouraged agricultural specialization toward a small 

number of cash crops, such as cotton and peanuts in the 

Sahelian countries, which replace a more diverse mix of 

local grains and tubers. Finally, increasing affluence of 

the growing population affects consumption patterns, 

such as the increased demand for processed food, 

meat, and dairy by the wealthy urban populations, 

with repercussions on natural resources and land use 

(Godfray and others, 2010). 

In addition to human factors, natural factors have also 

contributed to changes on the land. With geology and 

landforms stable over long periods of time, climate is 

the most dynamic natural factor to affect land cover at 

annual to decadal time scales. Most importantly, the 

recurrence and persistence of drought conditions in the 

semiarid swaths of West Africa have directly changed 

the land cover by desiccating soils, shrinking water 

bodies, stressing the vegetation, and exposing bare soil 

and sandy substrate to erosion. Indirectly, it has affected 

people’s ability to use the land for crop cultivation and 

for foraging by livestock, forcing them to find other 

ways of securing their livelihoods, which in turn have 

altered the land use and land cover. For example, the 

threat of drought to agriculture in the Sahel pushed 

farmers and pastoralists to migrate from the arid frontier 

toward more humid stretches of land, or into the urban 

areas in search of jobs. In other instances, the combined 

pressures of drought and population increase have 

spurred investments in soil and water conservation, 

and in agricultural intensification in southern Niger and 

central Burkina Faso (Reij, Tappan, and Smale, 2009).

With the understanding that driving forces of land use 

and land cover change interact in complex ways, two 

key underlying drivers of change will be given particular 

attention: (1) population, which determines the demand 

and pressure on land resources, and (2) climate, which 

affects the supply or constraints of land resources. 

Drivers of Land Changes

1.3

Drought in the Sahel Region, Senegal
A Window on a Changing World 3

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE) : GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

With a 2015 population of 367 million (UN, 2015), West 

Africa is home to 5 percent of the world’s population. 

This is a five-fold increase in population since 1950, 

when 73 million people lived in the region, which makes 

West Africa the fastest growing of any of the world’s 

regions. For comparison, the world population has 

increased less than three-fold during the same time 

period. The young age structure of the West African 

population—almost half of West Africans are 15 years

old and younger—assures continued population 

growth into the near and medium future. Assuming a 

medium fertility model, the population of the region is 

projected to exceed one billion by 2059, when almost 

one in 10 of the world’s people will be West African 

(UN, 2015). 

Projected population growth from 1950 to 2100

Age structures of the populations of 

West Africa and the world in 2013

The age structure of West Africa’s current population 

forms the shape of a pyramid with a wide base and 

concave sides, indicating a high birth rate and a 

relatively high death rate, resulting in rapid growth. 

By comparison, the age structure of the global 

population has moved toward a more rectangular 

shape, describing a population that is only slowly 

expanding, with lower birth and death rates and 

more people living to old age. 

STEFANIE HERRMANN / U. OF ARIZONA

Population

Niger, Filingué department

Percentage of Population

Percentage of Population

-
32 Landscapes of West Africa

Population densities by administrative units in West Africa in 2015

West Africa’s population is unevenly distributed 

throughout the region, reflecting differences in the 

physical environment as well as the history of human 

settlement (see map above). In the arid northern part 

of the region, only a small, sparse population can be 

sustained. In the arable regions, where soils are fertile 

and the climate is favorable for crop cultivation, higher 

population densities are found. Thus, the Peanut Basin 

of western Senegal, the Niger-Nigeria border region, 

central Burkina Faso, and southwestern Chad stand 

out by their relatively high rural population densities. 

Settlements are also concentrated in the riverine 

plains of the Senegal and Niger rivers, where perennial 

water availability supports irrigated agriculture of rice 

and high value garden crops. In the densely forested 

southern part of the region, which has historically been 

more difficult to develop, rural population densities are 

generally lower than in the open savanna. However, 

along the coast, population densities are driven up by 

a large number of coastal settlements, including some 

major urban agglomerations. 

RICHARD JULIA

Aerial view of Niamey, Niger in 2006, showing the irrigated fields along the Niger River.

(DATA SOURCE: CIESIN, 2005)
A Window on a Changing World 33

Annual population growth rates 1975–2013 by country and by urban 

agglomeration of over 100,000 inhabitants

The map of population densities (opposite page) shows 

higher population densities in Nigeria than in any other 

West African country. Indeed, almost half of West Africans 

are Nigerian, and with over 172 million inhabitants, 

Nigeria is the most populous country in the entire 

African continent. The remaining 16 countries account 

for the other half of the West African population, with 

Ghana coming in at a distant second (7.5 percent of West 

Africa’s population). What might explain this noticeable 

difference between Nigeria and the rest of West Africa? 

People tend to settle where the climate is clement, the 

soils are fertile, and economic opportunities are present. 

Nigeria encompasses an extensive savanna region, 

without the extreme aridity found in the northern 

countries, and a large delta and coastal plains. Two 

important perennial rivers, the Niger and the Benue, as 

well as their tributaries, assure sufficient water provision. 

While civilizations flourished across the region in the 

15th through 19th centuries, the high concentration of 

kingdoms, empires and particularly city states—such as 

Kano, Katsina, Oyo, Ife, Benin, Nri, Igbo and others—is 

unique to the territory that became modern Nigeria. 

Two out of the three ancient trans-Saharan trade routes 

originating from North Africa and Arabia ended in 

Nigeria, which brought an influx of people to settle and 

trade. As an already very densely populated country 

today, Nigeria provides a preview of the pressures on 

the land resources that other parts of West Africa will 

likely have to face in the future. 

Not only has West Africa’s population been growing 

rapidly at an average annual rate of 2.75 percent, it 

has also become more urban, with some major cities 

recording mean annual growth rates of up to 9 percent. 

A majority of West Africans still live in rural areas, yet the 

urban population has increased from only 8.3 percent 

in 1950 to almost 44 percent in 2015. The changes in 

lifestyle and consumption patterns associated with 

a progressive urbanization of the population affect 

land use and land cover patterns beyond the obvious 

increase of built-up area (Rindfuss and others, 2004). 

Dietary demands of the urban population translate into 

land demands in the urban periphery, in particular for 

the cultivation of high-value, perishable crops, such as 

fruits and vegetables. Part of the wages earned in the 

city reach the rural areas in the form of remittances to 

the homelands of the new urbanites, where they spur 

investments in economic activities that potentially 

affect the land cover, such as through abandonment 

or intensification of agriculture. These are just a few of 

the linkages between population and land use/land 

cover (Lambin and others, 2001).

STEFANIE HERRMANN / U. OF ARIZONA

Kejetia Central Market, Kumasi, Ghana

(DATA SOURCE: UN, 2015)
34 Landscapes of West Africa

Climate

West Africa’s climate is controlled by the interaction 

of two air masses, the influence of which varies 

throughout the year with the north-south movement 

of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Hot, 

dry continental air masses originating from the high 

pressure system above the Sahara Desert give rise to 

dusty Harmattan winds over most of West Africa from 

November to February. In summer, moist equatorial 

air masses originating over the Atlantic Ocean bring 

annual monsoon rains (Nicholson, 2013). 

As a result of these interacting air masses, West Africa’s 

precipitation regime is characterized by latitudinal belts 

of decreasing rainfall and wet season length. At the Gulf 

of Guinea, precipitation is abundant year-round without 

a marked dry season. At higher latitudes, precipitation 

decreases and is limited to a wet season of decreasing 

duration. This latitudinal pattern is somewhat modified 

by altitude, with higher mountain elevations, e.g. the 

Guinean Highlands and the Jos Plateau in central 

Nigeria, receiving more precipitation than lowlands 

of the same latitude. Along the south–north gradient 

of decreasing rainfall, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (5° north 

latitude) records a mean annual rainfall of 1,600 mm; 

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (12° northern latitude) 

700 mm within a 5-month rainy season; and Agadez, 

Niger (18° northern latitude) 165 mm annually in a 

short 2.5-month rainy season. Temperatures in the 

lowlands of West Africa are high throughout the year, 

with annual means usually above 18°C. In the Sahel, 

maximum temperatures can reach above 40°C.

Not only scarcity of rainfall, but also its variability 

and unpredictability become more significant with 

latitude. Thus, year-to-year rainfall variability ranges 

from 10 to 20 percent in the coastal areas to over 40 

percent in the northern Sahel (FAO, 1983). Drought is a 

recurring phenomenon in semiarid West Africa, where 

average rainfall conditions seldom prevail, and rainfall 

is skewed to dryness, i.e., a few heavy rainfall years are 

balanced out by a larger number of below-average 

rainfall years. From the late 1960s through the 1980s, 

the Sahel zone experienced droughts of unprecedented 

spatial extent and duration (Hulme, 2001). These 

droughts followed a period of more favorable rainfall 

in the 1950s and early 1960s, which had encouraged 

government planners and farmers to expand agriculture 

northward (Glantz, 1994). The great Sahelian droughts 

forced the abandonment of agriculture at the arid 

margin, triggered a famine crisis that killed thousands 

of people and their livestock, and has been blamed for 

widespread environmental degradation in the region. 

Mean annual rainfall 1981–2014, with number of months of 50 mm or more of rainfall

(DATA SOURCE: FUNK AND OTHERS, 2015)
A Window on a Changing World 35

Average annual rainfall has recovered some from the 

low point of the early 1970s, however it has not been 

enough to erase the long-term drying trend since 1900 

— the earliest available rainfall records (Nicholson, 

2005). Moreover, for agro-pastoralists not only annual 

rainfall totals are important, but also the frequency 

and distribution of rainfall events throughout the wet 

season. Too much rain at once can damage crops or 

change pasture composition in unfavorable ways. Heavy 

rainstorms also cause severe soil erosion, particularly 

on cleared cultivated land.

The great Sahelian droughts provide the most dramatic 

worldwide example of multi-decadal climate variability 

that has been directly measured. However, for lack 

of an observational rainfall record before the 20th 

century, or sufficient proxy indicators, it remains unclear 

how unique these droughts have been at time scales 

of centuries and millennia (Hulme, 2001). Are they 

part of the normal variability of this semiarid climate, 

or harbingers of human-induced climate change? 

Understanding the climatological processes behind 

the droughts is a prerequisite for attributing them to 

natural or human causes and to eventually predicting 

the impacts of future climate change on rainfall in the 

region. The current understanding is that variations in 

sea surface temperatures in the global oceans play the 

largest role in Sahelian rainfall variability, amplified by 

land cover (Giannini, 2016). Thus, climate is not only 

driving land use and land cover change, but to some 

extent is also driven by it. Particularly at local scales, the 

effects of vegetated versus bare soil on temperatures 

and humidity are quite noticeable, as illustrated in the 

examples of farmer-managed natural regeneration (see 

pages 70–71) (Reij Tappan, and Smale, 2009).

Standardized rainfall anomalies in the Sahel region (10–20oN, 20oW–10oE) derived from station data STEFANIE HERRMANN / U. OF ARIZONA

Dust storm, Winde Mborni, Mauritania, July 2008

(DATA SOURCE: MITCHELL, 2013)
36 Landscapes of West Africa

Predicted rainfall change for the mid- and late 21st centuries

Predicted temperature change for the mid- and late 21st centuries 

Models of projected changes in temperature and annual mean precipitation of West Africa were commissioned by the Intergovernmental 

Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The scenarios predict temperature and precipitation for both the mid-21st century (2046-2065) 

and the late 21st century (2081-2100) relative to the late 20th century (1986-2005), based on two alternative greenhouse gas 

emission scenarios, RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 (RCP stands for Relative Concentration Pathways). Model projections based on these two 

extreme pathways are contrasted here, with RCP2.6 assuming that global greenhouse gas emissions peak between 2010 and 

2020 and decline substantially thereafter, and RCP8.5 assuming that emissions continue to increase throughout the 21st century. 

The projections shown are multi-model averages. The averages tend to level out the considerable variability and disagreement 

between the individual models.

As the maps show, both scenarios predict a warming trend and predominantly positive changes in annual rainfall for most of 

West Africa. While most changes are small and insignificant, a wetter future is predicted for Niger and Chad, whereas the RCP8.5 

scenario indicates a possible drying trend for the western part of West Africa. 

These maps were reproduced for West Africa from data from the IPCC 5th Assessment Report (Niang and others, 2014).
A Window on a Changing World 37

Temperatures over West Africa have increased over 

the last 50 years, in line with an increase in global 

temperatures (Niang and others, 2014). The impact 

of global warming on rainfall in West Africa, however, 

remains notoriously difficult to assess in a climate 

that is susceptible to significant variation at multiple 

time scales. Different climate models, which differ 

in their representation of atmospheric processes, 

show significant variation, and disagreement, in their 

projections of future rainfall in West Africa. While there 

is a high level of confidence that temperatures will 

continue to increase in West Africa (between 3°C and 

6°C above the late 20th century baseline by 2100), 

some models project a drier future, others a wetter 

future, and yet others no significant change in rainfall 

totals (see bottom adjacent figure). An increase in the 

frequency of extreme rainfall events has been observed 

over the past 50 years and is likely to continue into the 

future. Future soil suitability for major crops is expected 

to be affected by climate change; in particular beans, 

maize and banana production might face declines and 

require cropping system transformations (Rippke and 

others, 2016). The coastal countries of West Africa are 

also vulnerable to sea level rise resulting from global 

warming, leading to flooding and coastal erosion. 

Climate variability and change have impacted, and 

are continuing to impact, land cover in West Africa by 

changing the amount and timing of water availability to 

vegetation cover. Land use decision making responds to 

these changes in ways that further alter the land cover, 

from slight modifications of the quality of the land cover 

to outright transformations of the land cover type. 

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

Flooded village along the Niger River south of Niamey in 2012.
38 Landscapes of West Africa

In contrast to the discrete land use and land cover 

classes, land productivity is a continuous variable, which 

represents land cover through vegetation density and 

vigor. Land productivity can indicate the land’s ability to 

support and sustain life and is useful for identifying land 

degradation. A common measure of land productivity 

is derived from time series of the Normalized Difference 

Vegetation Index (NDVI), which is a greenness index 

obtained from satellite-measured reflectances of the 

land. The index represents the differences in reflectance 

between green vegetation and bare ground. It senses 

the presence and vigor of green vegetation using the 

plant chlorophyll-absorbing red and the non-absorbing 

near-infrared (NIR) portions of the electromagnetic 

spectrum. NDVI is calculated as (Tucker, 1979):

NDVI is a numerical measure ranging from 0 (low) to 

1 (high). Because the NDVI is strongly related to the 

absorption of energy for photosynthesis by chlorophyll 

pigments of green plants, it can be used as a proxy for 

the amount of green biomass (Huete and others, 2016). 

On a regional scale, land productivity follows the 

climatic gradient. With the exception of the moist 

coastal regions on the Gulf of Guinea, rainfall is a 

major constraining factor of land productivity in West 

Africa. Rainfall decreases from south to north — so 

does land productivity. Climate is not the only driver 

of land productivity. Soils, topography, land use and 

management also play a role in modulating land 

productivity at finer scales. While land productivity is 

associated with land use and land cover to some extent 

— e.g., the class “bare soil” has consistently very low 

land productivity whereas the class “forest” typically 

has high land productivity — it also cuts across land 

use and land cover classes and captures within-class 

Land Productivity

1.4

Range of land productivity within the land cover class “savanna”

Different land cover types represented by a mean annual NDVI of around 0.45

NDVI = (NIR-red)

(NIR+red)

PHILIPPE BURTINSABINE F AND BERND SHELMUT RESCH AND BABS COLEMAN

SABINE F AND BERND SHELMUT RESCH AND BABS COLEMANHELMUT RESCH AND BABS COLEMAN
A Window on a Changing World 39

Dry versus wet season ground photographs of a tree savanna area in north-central Senegal

Dry versus wet season ground photographs of a wooded savanna in north-central Senegal

Dry versus wet season ground photographs of a woodland in south-central Senegal

variability. Particularly in the land cover class “savanna,” land productivity 

varies widely from place to place.

Land productivity varies not only in space, but also in time. This variability 

in land productivity occurs at different time scales, from seasonal to interannual, in response to the variability in rainfall. Moving from the Gulf 

of Guinea, which receives adequate rainfall for vegetation activity year 

round, to the north, the difference between dry and wet season becomes 

increasingly marked (see pictures below). Thus, in the semiarid Sudan and 

Sahel zones, the vegetation cover appears lush and green during the wet 

season. In the dry season, the herbaceous cover dries out, whereas some 

— but not all — of the woody species retain their green leaves. In addition 

to this seasonal ebb and flow, rainfall and the vigor of the vegetation cover 

also vary between years. As a rule, the lower the long-term mean annual 

rainfall, the more variable and unpredictable it is from year to year (see 

climate, pages 34–37).

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS GRAY TAPPAN / USGS GRAY TAPPAN / USGS
40 Landscapes of West Africa

Land productivity in West Africa

The land productivity map of West Africa was produced 

from 15 years (2001–2015) of 250-m spatial resolution 

MODIS NDVI data. From each year of data, which comprises 

72 observation periods per year, the value of the maximum 

NDVI was retained. The maxima of the 15 years were 

then averaged to create a mean maximum NDVI image. 

This simplistic technique is adequate for eliminating 

many of the atmospheric effects that influence the 

satellite-measured reflectances throughout the years 

and minimizes the impact of the seasonal variability in 

rainfall. The resulting map provides an overview of the 

spatial pattern of land productivity in West Africa and a 

basis for identifying areas of high and low productivity. 

Longitudinal cross section of West Africa showing 

land productivity gradient
A Window on a Changing World 41

Land productivity for three subsets: (1) Kumasi, Ghana, (2) 

Northern Burkina Faso, (3) Central Senegal

While the regional-scale map emphasizes the north-south 

land productivity gradient, three smaller subsets zoom in 

on finer-scale patterns. Subset 1 highlights the stark contrast 

in land productivity between the built-up area of the city of 

Kumasi in Ghana and the surrounding forest zone. Subset 2 

shows a dune-interdune landscape aligned east-to-west in 

northern Burkina Faso, in which the lower-lying interdune 

spaces are occupied by unproductive steppes in contrast to 

the much more productive open savannas on the sandy soils 

that cap the stabilized dunes. Subset 3 illustrates the impact 

of land management on land productivity at three large sylvopastoral reserves in central Senegal (Doli, Mbégué and Siné 

Saloum), which form higher productivity areas against the 

surrounding agricultural land that blur where agriculture is 

encroaching into the reserves.
The 1975, 2000, and 2013 West Africa land use and 

land cover maps presented in the following pages tell 

a complex story of change—a story that we are only 

now able to visualize for the first time. While we cannot 

do justice here to everything that the multi-period 

maps show, we can point out some of the main trends 

at the regional level. 

Large areas of northern Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and 

Chad fall within the Sahara Desert. In this arid landscape, 

land cover and vegetation are quite stable over time. For 

this reason, only the southern parts of these countries 

were mapped. 

In 1975, natural habitats of the Sahelian and Sudanian 

Regions such as steppe, sahelian short grass savanna, 

and sudanian savanna were still the dominant land 

cover classes across West Africa, representing 18.5, 15, 

and 32.2 percent of the mapped area, respectively (see 

1975 land cover map, pages 44–45). From north to south, 

vegetation of the semiarid regions gradually transitions 

into the more forested landscape of the Upper Guinean 

countries (from Guinea to Togo) and southern Nigeria. 

In the 1970s, the extent of West African forest was about 

131,000 sq km (2.7 percent of the mapped area), often 

interspersed with tracts of degraded forest totaling an 

additional 168,000 sq km (3.4 percent of the mapped 

area). Cropland was seen widely scattered among the 

natural landscapes, covering 10.7 percent of the area. 

Two agricultural regions stood out, the Peanut Basin of 

Senegal and the Grain Belt of northern Nigeria, whose 

landscapes were almost totally devoted to cropland.

Fueled by high demographic growth—population 

grew from 120,000,000 to 334,500,000 inhabitants in 

38 years—and a growing demand for food, agricultural 

expansion accounts for the most spectacular form of 

landscape change. Cropland expanded rapidly, initially 

along the country’s main transportation routes, now 

pervading the whole region. The fastest average 

annual rates of cropland expansion over the 38-year 

period were found in Togo, Benin, Chad, Mauritania, 

and Burkina Faso. Between 1975 and 2013, the area 

covered by crops doubled in West Africa, reaching a 

total of 1,100,000 sq km, or 22.4 percent, of the land 

surface. In every country, agriculture is exerting pressure 

on the natural landscapes, replacing and fragmenting 

savannas, woodlands, and forests. Only scattered 

protected areas are spared from the tide of change 

and stand out against the agricultural landscape. These 

protected areas are particularly visible in Burkina Faso, 

Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. Chad and Liberia still 

maintain great expanses of unbroken wilderness. But 

change has begun here too.

Another important land cover change in West Africa 

is the loss of forest. The forests of the southern tier 

countries have become fragmented and degraded 

where they occur outside of protected areas. Between 

1975 and 2013, forest cover was reduced by 37 percent. 

Land Use and Land Cover Trends 

42 Landscapes of West Africa

1.5

Wooded savanna landscape interspersed with settlements and cropland in the Kédougou region, Senegal
A Window on a Changing World 43

Today, Liberia has the greatest extent of forest of any country, 

covering about 37 percent of the national area. To the east, Côte 

d’Ivoire lost 60 percent (22,000 sq km) of its forest in 38 years, 

Ghana lost 24 percent (4,000 sq km), and Nigeria lost 45 percent 

(9,570 sq km). In Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Togo, little remains 

of the once-extensive forests.

In addition to the changes of large geographic extent, 

changes among some of the smaller area land cover types 

are also significant due to their environmental importance. In 

Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and northern Sahel, the droughts of the 

1970s and 1980s degraded or reduced some of the savannas 

and steppes, removing protective cover and destabilizing the 

sandy soils. This resulted in a 47 percent 

increase in sandy areas, or 49,000 sq km. 

Moreover, driven by population growth, 

the area devoted to human settlements 

increased by 140 percent in West Africa. 

Most of this urbanization occurred in the 

coastal  region. 

West African countries have lost—and 

are still losing—large extents of their 

natural land cover classes, replaced by 

a heavily human-influenced landscape 

dominated by agriculture.

Large area classes

0

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

Sahelian short Steppe Agriculture

grass savanna

Savanna

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

Medium area classes

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

Wetland – Sandy area

oodplain

Gallery 

forest

Degraded Woodland Forest

forest

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,000

Agriculture Thicket Settlements

in shallows 

and recession

Cropland Plantation

and 

fallow 

with oil 

palms

Irrigated 

agriculture

Swamp Mangrove

forest

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

Small area classes

SUZANNE COTILLON / SGT
44 Landscapes of West Africa

West Africa Land Use and Land Cover in 1975

White areas in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana represent data gaps caused by persistent cloud cover.
A Window on a Changing World 45
46 Landscapes of West Africa

West Africa Land Use and Land Cover in 2000
A Window on a Changing World 47
48 Landscapes of West Africa

West Africa Land Use and Land Cover in 2013
A Window on a Changing World 49
50 Landscapes of West Africa

Land Use and Land Cover Classes: Definitions and Visual Presentation

The land use and land cover maps presented in this atlas 

are based on a classification system inspired largely from 

the “Yangambi Classification,” well known in West Africa 

since 1956, when it was introduced as a standardized 

guide to the nomenclature of vegetation types of intertropical Africa, particularly West and Central Africa 

(Trochain (1957), Monod (1963), PNGIM (undated), 

Bâ and others (1997), PGRN (2001) and Adam (1966)). 

The Yangambi Classification has strongly influenced 

the mapping and preparation of vegetation maps in 

many countries over the past half century, and has been 

inspirational to a number of national nomenclatures 

currently in use. Its nomenclature, and the definitions 

of the various land cover or vegetation types, have 

guided the present mapping effort. Since land use 

and land cover maps integrate both vegetated and 

non-vegetated surfaces, the Yangambi classification 

applies mainly to the descriptions and understanding 

of vegetated land cover types. Thus, the 24 classes of 

land use and land cover presented in this atlas integrate 

both Yangambi classes for the vegetated surfaces, and 

other classes commonly used in West Africa to represent 

various land uses. 

Forêt / Forest 

Dense, closed canopy formation 

of evergreen or semi-evergreen 

broadleaf vegetation with a multiple 

strata structure that includes scattered 

emergent trees. Upper stratum of 

trees over 30 m tall. Understory 

composed of evergreen or semievergreen shrubs; herbaceous cover 

is discontinuous. 

Forêt galerie & Formation 

ripicole / Gallery forest & 

Riparian forest

Forest formations forming a band 

or corridor of dense vegetation 

along permanent or temporary 

watercourses; generally closed 

canopy and similar in structure 

to forest; their width, extent, and 

luxuriance depend on the width, and 

depth of the valleys they follow, as 

well as the depth and dynamics of the 

water table. Riparian forest is similar 

in structure but is found bordering 

the edges of streams and rivers.

Forêt dégradée / 

Degraded forest

Dense, evergreen broadleaf forest 

with closed or partially closed canopy 

whose integrity has been degraded by 

logging or other forms of exploitation. 

Degraded forest can also be immature 

forest, or forest in various stages of 

regrowth after disturbance. Trees 10 

to 30 m tall. 
A Window on a Changing World 51

Forêt claire / Woodland

Open formations of small to medium 

height trees; tree height over 10 m 

and tree cover generally between 

50 and 75 percent; canopies are 

often contiguous, with open areas 

between trees; grass understory 

can be scattered to dense, often 

associated with other herbaceous 

plants.

Mangrove

Coastal forests of stilted shrubs or 

trees bordering the ocean or coastal 

estuaries, composed of one or several 

mangrove species.

Forêt marécageuse / 

Swamp forest

Open to dense forests associated 

with temporarily or permanently 

waterlogged soils; these forests 

are generally found in natural 

depressions, seasonally inundated.

Fourré / Thicket

Dense stand of shrubs, often thorny, 

forming generally impenetrable 

cover, with minimal or no herbaceous 

ground cover.

Plantation

Regular stands of trees planted for 

the purpose of producing food, 

beverages, vegetable oils, raw 

materials for industry, wood, or for 

protection against wind and water 

erosion.
52 Landscapes of West Africa

Savane / Savanna

Herbaceous vegetation with mainly 

grasses that generally exceed 80 cm 

in height; dominated by annual and 

perennial grasses typically associated 

with the Sudan and Guinea zones; 

ground cover often consumed by 

annual fires; woody vegetation is 

usually present. The savanna class 

includes several major types or subclasses, based on density of shrubs 

and trees; the land use/land cover 

maps do not distinguish between 

shrub savanna, tree savanna, and 

wooded savanna; nevertheless, it is 

useful to define them: 

Savane arbustive / Shrub savanna

Scattered shrubs dominate the woody vegetation, with continuous herbaceous cover usually dominated by 

grasses; woody cover between 1 and 25 percent.

Savane arborée / Tree savanna

Scattered trees and shrubs with a continuous herbaceous understory usually dominated by grasses; woody cover 

between 1 and 25 percent.

Savane boisée / Wooded savanna 

Shrubs and trees in an open formation with a continuous herbaceous understory usually dominated by tall grasses; 

woody cover between 25 and 50 percent.

Savane herbacée / 

Herbaceous savanna 

Continuous herbaceous ground 

cover; trees and shrubs normally 

absent; this class is represented on 

the land use / land cover maps.

Savane sahélienne / 

Sahelian short grass 

savanna

Scattered trees and shrubs (or only 

shrubs) with a continuous herbaceous 

understory usually dominated by 

annual grasses generally associated 

with the Sahelian zone; woody cover 

between 1 and 25 percent.

Bowé

Flat, open surfaces that generally 

occur as lateritic plateaus; the skeletal, 

ferruginous soils form a hardened, 

impenetrable surface, generally 

absent of woody vegetation, but 

supporting varying quantities of 

herbaceous cover during the rainy 

season.
A Window on a Changing World 53

Steppe 

Open, discontinuous herbaceous 

ground cover, often mixed with 

shrubs and trees; insufficient cover 

to carry fire; scattered annual grasses 

accompanied by widely spaced 

perennials.

Surfaces sableuses / 

Sandy area

Beach sand or shifting mounds of 

sand, formed by wind; active dunes.

Sols dénudés / Bare soil

Land with little or no vegetation cover, 

exposing the soil; examples include 

eroded slopes, gravel plains, sebkhas, 

and badlands.

Terrains rocheux / 

Rocky land

Areas of rocky surfaces or outcrops, 

consisting of rocky peaks, batholiths, 

talus slopes, crest lines, cliffs, 

conglomerates, etc.

Habitations / Settlements

Built up areas comprising human 

communities in a village, town or city.
54 Landscapes of West Africa

Zone de culture / 

Agriculture

Cultivated areas, with crops 

dependent on rainfall.

Cultures des bas-fonds et 

de décrue / Agriculture in 

shallows and recession

Cultivated areas in depressions 

or along river banks where crop 

development occurs as the waters 

recede during the dry season.

Cultures irriguées / 

Irrigated agriculture

Cultivated areas where crops receive 

water through an irrigation system to 

support their growth without relying 

on rainfall.

Cultures et jachères sous 

palmier à huile / Cropland 

and fallow with oil palms

Cultivated areas, with scattered oil 

palms in the fields; crops are mainly 

dependent on rainfall.

W National Park, Niger
Carrière / Open mine

Open pit where rock material is mined 

Plans d’eau / Water bodies 

Any area with permanent or semipermanent surface water.

Prairie marécageuse 

– vallée inondable / 

Wetland – floodplain

Herbaceous or aquatic vegetation 

in permanent or semi-permanent 

wetlands and swamps.

A Window on a Changing World 55

PHOTO (BOTTOM): GRAY TAPPAN / USGS
56 Landscapes of West Africa

Special Landscapes of West Africa

The landscapes of West Africa are very diverse, with 

countless combinations of vegetation, geomorphology 

and land use. Maps of land cover must simplify this 

diversity into a manageable set of land cover classes. 

This grouping together of landscapes with much 

in common facilitates mapping of land cover and 

measuring of land cover change but masks some of the 

unique and fascinating diversity in the process. Within 

the general land cover classes, such as savanna, many 

sub-types have been defined for West Africa, some of 

them covering many thousands of square kilometers. 

A small number of such vegetation sub-types defined 

in the Yangambi classification system (Trochain, 1957) 

are highlighted below. These six examples capture 

some of the diversity of West African landscapes that 

hide within broader classes like savanna, steppe, forest 

and wetland. 

Tiger Bush

There are several types of banded vegetation patterns in West Africa, of which the best known 

example is the tiger bush. It is difficult to appreciate on the ground, but clear to see from 

the air. This pattern is composed of regularly spaced densely vegetated bands interspersed 

with bare areas. The pattern is reminiscent of a tiger’s fur, thus it is commonly called tiger 

bush. These formations often extend over several square kilometers on plateaus. In West 

Africa, tiger bush landscapes are found in the Gourma region in Mali, in northern Burkina 

Faso, and in southwestern Niger. They are found almost exclusively on ferruginous plateaus 

with medium-textured soils and little or no sand. Tiger bush develops on sites with semiarid 

climate, internal drainage, underlying sedimentary geology, and shallow slope (Tongway and 

others, 2001). Scientists still speculate as to why they form. Some suggest they are relatively 

new, forming in recent centuries. Others suggest they formed over thousands of years. Most 

agree that wind and water are the causal agents, with water being the predominant factor. 

The development of vegetative bands is thought to be related to small obstructions to the 

sheet-flow of water across these hard-surfaced plateaus, trapping sediments (and seeds), 

and localized water infiltration (Tongway and others, 2001). 

In many areas, tiger bush vegetation shows evidence of degradation and even disappearance 

in just the past three or four decades. This is particularly true in southwestern Niger. The 

prolonged drought of the 1970s and 1980s was likely a contributing factor, but not nearly as 

Spotted bush

Spotted bush is another type of vegetation cover distributed in a pattern that is quite 

distinct from the air. It is composed of shrubs and small trees in a “spotted” distribution of 

concentrated vegetation areas interspersed with bare areas. 

Spotted bush is similar to tiger bush, also occurring on plateaus and uplands in the Sahel 

Region. It also occurs on areas of medium-textured soils, with little or no sand cover. Spotted 

bush occurs where the slope gradients are very shallow—generally less than 0.2 percent 

gradient (Tongway and others, 2001). Spotted bush is more common than tiger bush. It occurs 

over tens of thousands of square kilometers in Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Mauritania. 

On the land use and land cover maps, it is often included in the steppe class because of 

the discontinuous aspect of the ground cover, but it can also occur in the Sahel short grass 

savanna class when the proportion of grass and shrub cover is high relative to the bare areas. 

Spotted bush with termite mounds

Termite mound spotted bush is another patterned type of vegetation cover. Like the spotted 

bush, it is composed of shrubs and small trees in a “spotted” distribution, except that the 

bare areas are associated with both active and abandoned termite mounds. Termites build 

large, complex structures that significantly alter soil texture, structure, and nutrients. They 

alter the surrounding hydrology and vegetation structure. Termite mounds in West Africa 

tend to be large and bare, though some are found with certain species of shrubs. They 

may reach up to 7 m in height, and over 10 m in diameter at the base, often with a much 

larger erosional outwash pediment. This pediment is the bare spot clearly seen from the 

aerial view. Termite mound spotted bush covers tens of thousands of square kilometers in 

Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad. 

important as the intensive harvesting of tiger bush shrubs 

and trees for domestic energy needs. Some restoration 

of tiger bush is being done through various projects in 

Niger. On the land use and land cover maps, it is generally 

included in the steppe class because of the discontinuous 

aspect of ground cover. 
A Window on a Changing World 57

Wooded savanna with bamboo 

This land cover is a type of wooded savanna with an understory dominated by savanna 

bamboo commonly called Bindura bamboo (Oxytenanthera abyssinica). Bindura bamboo 

often grows in dense, tall stands under the open tree canopy and tends to occur in localized 

areas. In West Africa it is found in the Sudanian Region but is also widespread across Africa 

from Senegal to Ethiopia, and south to Tanzania and Mozambique. Bindura bamboo is 

widely used for building materials, textiles and fibers, food, wood fuel, and traditional 

medicine. Its natural habitat is under threat as wooded savannas decline from land use 

pressure across West Africa. 

Badlands and eroded landscapes

Badlands are highly eroded surfaces, included under the bare soil land cover class. They are 

predominantly the result of water erosion, usually driven by land use pressures that have 

removed some or all of the protective vegetation cover in the recent past. These pressures 

include high concentrations of livestock and overgrazing, disturbances from construction 

such as new roads, and clearing of vegetation for agriculture. When combined with land 

that has a slight to moderate slope, the removal of vegetation cover can create conditions 

for the erosive power of water to remove the topsoil, creating deep gullies and degraded 

landscapes or “badlands” (Tappan and others, 2004). This phenomenon has spread quickly 

in many areas across the Sahel and Sudanian regions in recent decades, as seen in the pair 

of satellite images showing the Tiangol Lougguéré valley in northeastern Senegal in 1965 

and 2015. The bright patches are eroded surfaces that have lost most of their vegetation 

cover along gently sloping valleys. These images exemplify the process of desertification — 

defined as land degradation in arid, semiarid, and sub-humid areas resulting from various 

factors, including climatic variations and human activities (UNCCD, 1994). 

Forest Islands

Half a century of satellite imagery shows that the contiguous blocks of forest in southern 

Guinea have been diminished by land use pressures, yet many hundreds of small forest 

islands have persisted through time. Forest islands are scattered among open savannas of 

south-central Guinea, particularly in the Kissidougou Region. They are generally circular, and 

most have a village at their center. There is evidence that for over a century many people 

have been misreading these landscapes—believing that these forest islands were the last 

relics of a vast, dense forest that once covered this region (Fairhead and Leach, 1996). This 

view of widespread deforestation prevailed throughout the colonial period and continues 

to be widely held in Guinea to this day. However, numerous accounts from late 19th century 

colonial reports speak not of a forest but rather of a savanna landscape. Village elders living 

within these forest islands also shed light on these landscapes—telling us that the forest 

islands are not relics of deforestation, but old forests established by earlier generations in 

a savanna landscape. The remote sensing record confirms this view, beginning with aerial 

photo coverage from 1952, which provides solid evidence of a savanna landscape with 

scattered forest islands—much the same as it looks today (Fairhead and Leach, 1996). 

The three pairs of satellite images at right show examples of forest islands in 1969 and 

2015, exhibiting remarkable stability over time. These are just a few among the hundreds 

of forest islands that persist in this region. The concentration of forest islands in Guinea 

is remarkable, but not unique in West Africa. They can be found in all of the southern 

tier countries. Among these, Benin stands out for its nearly 3,000 sacred forests (Sinsin 

and Kampmann, 2010)—many of which resemble the forest islands of Guinea. Most are 

associated with a village, as seen in these oblique aerial views. The forests become sacred 

if they protect a sacred site or a sacred spring. Sacred forests can also be the place of 

initiation, benediction, and malediction. These forests are not completely closed to the 

local population, but usually require authorization from the forest guards before extracting 

forest products. The forests provide timber, firewood, medicinal plants, edible fruits, and 

game (Sinsin and Kampmann, 2010). 

ALL AERIAL AND LANDSCAPE PHOTOS: GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

Forest islands in southern Benin.
58 Landscapes of West Africa

Clearing of a wooded savanna for cropland, southern Senegal 
A Window on a Changing World 59

Crops Bénin Burkina  

Faso

Cabo  

Verde

Côte  

d'Ivoire Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-­Bissau Liberia Mali Mauri-­tania Niger Nigeria Senegal Sierra  Leone Tchad Togo

Millet 1% 19% 0% 1% 30% 3% 8% 3% 0% 30% 3% 43% 6% 34% 2% 24% 3%

Sorghum 3% 27% 0% 1% 8% 4% 1% 4% 0% 22% 42% 19% 11% 6% 2% 26% 13%

Maize 31% 12% 46% 4% 9% 15% 14% 3% 0% 11% 5% 0% 12% 5% 2% 7% 32%

Cassava 9% 0% 1% 5% 1% 13% 4% 1% 11% 0% 0% 0% 12% 1% 22% 1% 10%

Cow  peas 0% 18% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 1% 0% 4% 10% 30% 7% 5% 0% 0% 0%

Rice 2% 2% 0% 5% 16% 3% 27% 22% 42% 11% 9% 0% 6% 5% 41% 4% 4%

Yams 7% 0% 0% 11% 0% 6% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 9% 0% 0% 1% 4%

Groundnuts 5% 6% 0% 1% 29% 5% 6% 6% 1% 6% 0% 5% 6% 37% 6% 12% 3%

Cocoa 0% 0% 0% 32% 0% 24% 0% 0% 10% 0% 0% 0% 3% 0% 3% 0% 6%

Oil,  palm  fruit 1% 0% 0% 4% 1% 5% 9% 2% 3% 0% 0% 0% 7% 0% 2% 0% 1%

Seed  cotton 9% 8% 0% 3% 0% 0% 1% 1% 0% 7% 0% 0% 1% 1% 0% 5% 5%

Cashew  nuts 15% 1% 0% 12% 0% 1% 0% 44% 0% 0% 0% 0% 1% 1% 0% 0% 0%

Sugar  cane 0% 0% 2% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 4% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Pulses 1% 0% 40% 0% 3% 4% 2% 1% 1% 0% 15% 0% 0% 0% 7% 1% 1%

Tomatoes 1% 0% 2% 0% 0% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Natural  rubber 0% 0% 0% 2% 0% 0% 0% 0% 13% 0% 0% 0% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Beans,  dry 4% 0% 0% 1% 0% 3% 0% 0% 0% 0% 3% 0% 0% 0% 0% 3% 13%

Sesame  seed 0% 2% 0% 0% 2% 0% 0% 0% 0% 1% 0% 1% 1% 0% 0% 3% 0%

Plantains 0% 0% 0% 6% 0% 5% 3% 3% 4% 0% 0% 0% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Coconuts 4% 0% 3% 0% 0% 0% 0% 2% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Fonio 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 9% 0% 0% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Peas 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 8% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Crop 

Crop  rank  by  country

Agricultural Expansion Across West Africa

West Africa is composed of a wide variety of ecosystems 

and an equally high number of food production systems. 

Agriculture is the basic driver of West Africa’s economy, 

on which the majority of people depend for their 

livelihood (Gyasi and Uitto, 1997). Most farms are small, 

typically 1 to 5 hectares. Although the small size of farms 

reflects a scarcity of land in heavily populated areas 

as in parts of Nigeria, it is also a result of the limited 

technology available to rural households (Stock, 2012).

West African agriculture ranges from nomadic 

pastoralism in the far north to root-crop and tree-crop 

systems in the south. In general, the crop-producing 

areas are roughly horizontal belts following bioclimatic 

zones (Bossard, 2009). In the Sahelian zone, millet and 

sorghum are the predominant crops, transitioning to 

maize, groundnuts, and cowpeas farther south in the 

Sudanian zone. These food crops are among the top five 

harvested crops in the Sahelian countries — Mauritania, 

Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad. Root crops 

such as cassava and yams are found mostly across 

the Guinean zone, especially in Sierra Leone, Ghana, 

Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire. Finally, tree crops such as 

cocoa, palm trees, or cashew trees are found in the 

Guineo-Congolian zone. In this humid climate, rice is 

also one of the most harvested crops in terms of area; 

it ranks first in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Rice 

is the most rapidly growing staple food in West Africa 

and constitutes a major part of the population’s diet. 

The crop production figures in the table below reflect 

the strong correlation of crop distribution patterns 

with the climate zones. 

Fueled by high population growth and a growing 

demand for food, agricultural expansion accounts for 

most land cover change across West Africa. In 1975, 

cropland was widely scattered among the natural 

landscapes, covering 10.7 percent of the mapped 

area (see 1975 land cover map pages 44–45). In the 

next several decades, cropland has expanded rapidly 

and now pervades the whole region. By 2013, the 

area covered by cultivated areas doubled, reaching a 

total of 1,100,000 sq km, or 22.4 percent of the land 

surface (see 2013 land cover map pages 48–49). In 

every country, agriculture has been exerting pressure 

on the natural landscapes, replacing and fragmenting 

savannas, woodlands, wetlands, and forests. 

Across the Sahel, agriculture expanded into most of the 

suitable soils that were occupied by the natural Sahelian 

savanna, and cut into the traditional pastoral areas of 

northern Mali, Niger, and Chad. Niger’s vast south-central 

agricultural zone, already heavily cultivated in 1975, 

became fully saturated with cropland and expanded 

eastward into the pastoral zone. In Senegal, cropland 

spread into the central and southern wooded savannas 

and woodlands, creating a new patchwork of farmland 

and settlements. Meanwhile, Senegal’s Peanut Basin 

is also notable by the extent of cropland loss, with 

large areas being put into long-term fallow, mapped 

as savanna. This is one of the manifestations of the 

agriculture crisis as cultivation is abandoned, young 

men and women leaving the land to seek opportunities 

in urban areas. Mauritania and Togo stand out with 

high annual rates of agriculture expansion, 7 and 

Top 5 harvested crops per country in West Africa (as a percent of country 

total harvested area, based on 2010–2013 average)

Cotton field in Senegal

Rice fields in Senegal

Millet field in Senegal

(DATA SOURCE: FAOSTAT, 2015)

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS SUZANNE COTILLON/SGT SUZANNE COTILLON/SGT
60 Landscapes of West Africa

Agriculture expansion between 1975 and 2013 and bioclimatic zones of West Africa*

* includes rainfed agriculture, irrigated agriculture, plantations, agriculture in shallows and recession, and cropland and fallow with oil palms.

6.4 percent per year on average, respectively. Indeed, 

in 1975 agriculture represented only 0.2 percent of 

southern Mauritania, but cultivated area expanded by 

more than 3 times in the past four decades. In Togo, 

cropland, which already covered about 10 percent of 

the country area in 1975, was also multiplied by three 

— to cover 34 percent of the land by 2013. The core 

of agriculture expansion, however, occurred within 

the Sudanian zone where climate is more suited for a 

large variety of crops. From southwestern Senegal to 

southern Chad, cropland has expanded — replacing 

biodiverse savannas, woodlands, and gallery forests. The 

most dramatic change occurred in Burkina Faso where 

cropland became the dominant land cover, reaching 

39 percent of the national area in 2013. In northern 

Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, central Nigeria, and 

southern Chad, the pattern and extent of cropland 

profoundly modified and fragmented the landscape. 

West Africa’s Sudanian zone is rapidly transforming into 

human-crafted landscapes leaving scattered islands of 

semi-natural vegetation cover. In southern Chad, notably 

in the Logone Basin, cultivated areas are establishing 

a foothold in the savannas and woodlands.

The growing agricultural footprint appears to be 

slower and more scattered in the Guinean and GuineoCongolian zones, with the exception of the southern 

regions of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, and Benin, 

where cropland and plantations already dominated 

the landscape in 1975. Togo and Benin have seen some 

of the fastest rates of agricultural spread; these two 

countries are in first and third place, respectively, in 

terms of average annual agricultural expansion rates 

between 1975 and 2013. Nigeria stands out as having 

the highest percentage of cultivated land in West Africa, 

with 41.5 percent of its land area devoted to agriculture 

in 2013. In the Guinean and Guineo-Congolian climate 

zones, which are more humid, the spread of cultivated 

Annual rate of agriculture expansion in West African countries 

(1975–2013 average) 

Cropland of peanuts and millet near Koungheul, Senegal.
A Window on a Changing World 61

areas has exerted great pressure on the 

remaining forests. Forests have become 

fragmented and degraded where they 

occur outside of protected areas. 

The change in cultivated area masks an 

evolution in the agricultural systems 

as well. In the early 1970s, cash crops 

(coffee, cocoa, cotton, groundnuts, oil 

palm, and rubber) were promoted as a 

means of involving West African farmers 

in the global commercial economy and 

ensuring a supply of tropical products for 

European markets and industry (Stock, 

2012). After 1975, the area devoted to cash 

crops continued to increase and became 

even larger in the late 2000s (see graph). 

Cash crops, however, often competed with 

food crops such as sorghum and millet, 

and per capita food production has been 

decreasing in the region (Stock, 2012).

Across West Africa, there is a tug-of-war 

between the need to protect the remaining 

natural landscapes—biodiverse forests, 

wooded savannas, and grazing areas 

important to the livelihoods of agropastoralists—and the need to increase 

agricultural output rapidly to meet 

increasing demand for food and fiber. 

In many places, the days of agricultural 

“extensification” are ending as arable land 

available to expand farming disappears. 

The land frontier is closing, making 

intensification—producing more food 

on the same surface area—a critical 

agricultural and environmental goal. 

Intensification can be accomplished in a 

way that meets food and fiber supply goals 

and helps the environment on-farm and 

off. Sustainably intensifying farmland use 

can also protect the commons — forests, 

savannas, wetlands, steppes. Degradation 

of farmlands and forests undermines the 

national economies. Protecting farmlands 

is thus crucial to farm productivity, and 

protecting the commons is crucial to 

maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem 

services on which African societies depend.

Trends in harvested area by crop in West Africa, 

from 1975 to 2013

Conversion of wooded savanna to agriculture (millet and peanut, post harvest) 

in central Senegal, south of Kaffrine

1994 2010

Rubber plantation in Ghana

Slash-and-burn in Sierra Leone

Dry season gardening in Niger

(DATA SOURCE: FAOSTAT, 2015)

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE) : GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

GRAY TAPPAN / USGSGRAY TAPPAN / USGS GRAY TAPPAN / USGS GRAY TAPPAN / USGS GRAY TAPPAN / USGS
62 Landscapes of West Africa

1

 First Liberian Civil War — 1989–1996; 

 Second Liberian Civil War — 1999–2003

2

 Sierra Leone Civil War — 1991–2002

3

 Casamance Conflict — 1982–2014

Settlements Growth

In the past 50 years, West Africa has been experiencing 

intensive urbanization, which has affected the region’s 

largest and smallest urban centers (Cour and Snrech, 

1998). In 1975, the distribution and pattern of West 

Africa’s settlements were little changed compared 

to their historical size and extent. These settlements 

—built up areas comprising human communities in 

a village, town, or city—were located near land most 

favorably suited to subsistence cereal farming and to the 

trans-Saharan trade routes, the region’s main source of 

wealth in the past (Moriconi-Ebrard, Harre, and Heinrigs, 

2016). As a result, the Sudanian and Sahelian zones were 

relatively densely populated, especially the Peanut Basin 

of Senegal, the central plateau of Burkina Faso, and the 

Niger–Nigeria agricultural region. Other settlement 

zones were developed along the coasts of Côte d’Ivoire, 

Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria, as trade in gold and 

slaves, and eventually tropical products got under 

way (Cour and Snrech, 1998). Independence and the 

development of market economies, however, brought 

about a drastic change in the economic landscape, which 

influenced the settlement pattern of the region. New 

road networks in the region as well as the emergence of 

the industrial sector in the cities set in motion a massive 

shift in the West African population toward large urban 

areas (Moriconi-Ebrard, Harre, and Heinrigs, 2016).

Settlement growth is a useful proxy for analyzing 

population growth and population distribution. Land 

use maps show that settled or built-up areas increased by 

140 percent in West Africa between 1975 and 2013—to 

occupy 36,400 sq km by 2013 (0.7 percent of the land 

surface). The settlements distribution map (opposite 

page) indicates both sprawl of existing urban centers 

(“top-down metropolisation”) and an increase in the 

number of small towns (“bottom-up urbanization”) 

(Beauchemin, 2005) (see image pairs, pages 64–65). 

Since 1975, settlements have expanded westward and 

southward—from the inland to the coast, but also from 

rural to urban areas, creating major secondary cities, 

especially across the Sahel. 

In 1975, urban areas were confined mainly to the coast 

of the Gulf of Guinea. By 2013 West Africa’s settlements 

network had grown denser and expanded throughout 

the entire region, including the Sahara Desert where 

towns have sprung up across arid areas of Niger, Mali, 

Mauritania, and Chad despite an overall low population 

density in these countries. Across the region, numerous 

towns have grown into large urban centersor secondary 

towns like Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), Bouaké 

(Côte d’Ivoire), Touba (Senegal), Kumasi (Ghana), and 

several large cities in Nigeria. The number of small 

agglomerations has also multiplied spectacularly across 

the region.

In the coastal countries, settlements sprawled around the 

main urban areas and their immediate hinterland. This 

dramatic coastal urban expansion is particularly visible 

from Accra (Ghana) to Lagos (Nigeria). In this coastal 

corridor, population has grown fast and population 

density is the highest in the West African region. With 

the exception of the small countries of The Gambia 

and Cabo Verde where settlements are concentrated 

in one large metropolis, the Gulf of Guinea countries 

are the most urbanized in the region, with settlements 

occupying between 1 percent (Benin) and 2 percent 

(Nigeria) of their national territory in 2013 (see graph). 

In the western part of the Atlantic coast, some areas 

remain relatively underpopulated and also underurbanized. The prolonged political uprisings and 

conflicts in Liberia1 and Sierra Leone2, as well as the 

Casamance3 conflict in Senegal, still hinder trade and 

the movement of people (Moriconi-Ebrard, Harre, and 

Heinrigs, 2016). During these conflicts, economic growth 

and infrastructure development were impeded, and 

part of the population migrated not only toward rural 

areas but also to neighboring countries (especially 

Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire).

In the recent decade (2000–2013), settlements have 

greatly expanded along several axes perpendicular to the 

coastline—inwards from the coast, such as Dakar–Touba, 

Accra–Kumasi, or Lagos–Ibadan, and also following 

Percentage of settlements area by country in 1975*, 2000, and 2013

Dogon village in Mali

MICHIEL KUPERS

*No 1975 data for Cabo Verde
A Window on a Changing World 63

the major north-south routes, such as Maradi–Kano, 

and Abijdan–Ouagadougou. In the landlocked Sahel 

countries, large cities are sparser but new clusters and 

major regional hubs, such as Bamako and Ouagadougou, 

have emerged. Many new settlements also appeared 

along the major rivers in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, 

Niger, and Chad. Because these countries have important 

agricultural resources to meet the growing demands 

of the regional market (cereals, fruits and vegetables, 

intensive livestock farming), the long east-west corridor 

from N’Djamena to Dakar constitutes a strategic area for 

regional trade and a very dynamic region for population 

flow and settlement in West Africa (Konseiga, 2005). 

Recent migration flows have been observed toward 

western Burkina Faso, a phenomenon that is accelerated 

by the success of cotton production and the urbanization 

of secondary cities, such as Bobo-Dioulasso.

Looking at each country individually, Mauritania and 

Burkina Faso stand out with the highest settlement 

growth rates, with an average of 23 and 7.7 percent per 

year, respectively. Mauritania’s high settlement growth 

rate can be explained by the very rapid urbanization of 

the capital Nouakchott following independence (see 

pages 154–155). In Burkina Faso also, the expansion 

of the capital Ouagadougou accounts for most of the 

country’s growth in urban population and settlement 

area (see page 64). On the other hand, due to the 

conflicts they underwent, Sierra Leone and Liberia have 

the slowest average annual settlements growth rate 

over the past 40 years. 

Current settlement patterns in West Africa are the result 

of various environmental, historical, and sociopolitical 

factors that have impacted each country individually and 

the region as a whole. West Africa will, for a long time to 

come, continue to experience strong population growth 

that will induce important intra-regional migration flows 

and rapid urbanization (Konseiga, 2005). However, recent 

(2000–2013) population growth, especially urban growth, 

has been slowing down. While cities are a necessity for 

economic development, they are not without numerous 

and daunting problems. Managing urban growth, 

including providing infrastructure and adequate services 

for an increasing number of citizens, must be considered 

a priority of public policy (Bossard, 2009).

Distribution of settlements in 1975 and 2013 based on a systematic sample of points spaced 2 km apart

Average annual settlements growth rate* by country between 1975 and 2013

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

Mindelo, Cabo Verde

* The rate at which the area covered by 

settlements—built up areas comprising 

human communities in a village, town, or 

city —increased in each country over the 

38-year period.
64 Landscapes of West Africa

In the 1973 image (above, left), Ouagadougou (in pink) 

occupied only 85 sq km with most of the surrounding 

land covered by savanna (the dark patches are burn 

scars after bush fires) and cropland. The 2013 image 

(above, right) shows how urbanization radiated out 

from the city center (purple and pink in the image) 

displacing farms and savanna, leaving primarily cropland 

surrounding the expanded footprint of the city. In 

addition, areas of vegetation, visible within the city 

limits in the 1973 image have been reduced by more 

intense development in 2013. In 1973, the airport lies 

fairly close to the city’s outskirts. In 2013, continued 

urbanization has engulfed the airport and continues to 

expand mostly southward and eastward. The extensive 

urban growth of Ouagadougou in the last 30–35 years 

was mainly due to rural to urban migration following 

the droughts of the 1970–1980s and to the arrival 

of many foreign immigrants, as well as Burkinabe 

from the neighboring countries—especially Côte 

d’Ivoire—that were undergoing political unrest in the 

late 1990s (Kelder, 2011). These people mostly settled 

in Ouagadougou and its surroundings in the hope of 

finding work (De Jong and others, 2000).

Top-down metropolisation: the rapid expansion of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Aerial view of Ouagadougou
A Window on a Changing World 65

In the 1986 image (above, left), this area of southern 

Côte d’Ivoire was mostly covered by savanna and 

degraded forest, and only a few settlements were 

present (pink areas). The 2014 image (above, right) 

shows the expansion of the existing towns but also 

the emergence of hundreds of small settlements and 

roads within the degraded forest, creating a dense 

settlement network. Plantations are also visible in the 

2014 image (in bright green). The increase in cultivated 

land and the need for labor, especially for the laborintensive farming systems needed to grow coffee and 

cocoa, was the principal factor driving the dynamics 

of settlement and migration processes in southern 

Côte d’Ivoire (Adepoju, 2003). The densification of the 

urban network and the fast growth of secondary cities 

into larger urban areas reduced rural migration to the 

largest urban centers, like Abidjan. The same bottomup urbanization phenomenon is also visible in Ghana 

and Nigeria.

Bottom-up urbanization: the multiplication of small towns in southern Côte d’Ivoire

Aerial view of growing rural settlements in southern Benin

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE) : GRAY TAPPAN / USGS
66 Landscapes of West Africa

1 Mittermeier and others(1999) and Myers and others (2000) estimated the extent of the Guinean forest (from Guinea to 

Cameroon) at 1,261,970 sq km. Only Upper Guinean forest countries are considered in this analysis (from Guinea to Togo).

2

 Estimate calculated from the forest extent values given by Unwin for each of the Upper Guinean forest countries.

Dense and degraded forest extent in the Upper 

Guinean countries

The Upper Guinean forest of West Africa, identified over 20 years 

ago as a “global biodiversity hotspot” due to its exceptional 

concentrations of endemic species and exceptional loss of habitats, 

encompasses all of the lowland forests of West Africa (Mittermeier 

and others, 1999; Myers and others, 2000). The forest ecosystem 

extends from southern Guinea into eastern Sierra Leone, through 

Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, southern Ghana, and across southwestern 

Togo. In southeastern Ghana, a savanna corridor known as the 

Dahomey Gap interrupts the Upper Guinean forest ecosystem 

(Salzmann and Hoelzmann, 2005). One outlier in the Dahomey Gap 

is the forest along the Ghana-Togo border highlands.

The maps of the Upper Guinean forest show two forest stages:

• The forest class is characterized by West Africa’s dense tropical 

evergreen rain forest and moist deciduous forest, and a closed 

canopy cover (White, 1983). It occurs mainly along the coast 

where rainfall is higher. Of all the Upper Guinean countries, 

only Liberia lies entirely within the moist forest zone. About 50 

percent of the remaining Upper Guinean forest is contained 

within Liberia. 

• Degraded forests were once dense, deciduous forests, now 

modified and fragmented by human activity. They occur 

mainly in the off-reserve areas and are particularly visible in 

Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana. 

Originally, the Upper Guinean forest consisted of dense forest that 

covered an estimated 680,000 sq km1 (Mittermeier and others, 

1999; Myers, 2000). Using the West Africa rainfall isohyets as a 

general reference, as well as the extent and pattern of the forest 

depicted on the 1975 map, the probable limits of the Upper Guinean 

forest (prior to 1900) have been delineated (see map on opposite 

page). In 1975, many remnant or relic patches of dense forest still 

remained. The assumption was that the forest patches seen in 

1975 were remnants of an earlier, near continuous forest. With this 

approach, the estimate of the forest area prior to 1900 reaches about 

360,650 sq km, which still represents a conservative assessment 

of the original extent of the Upper Guinean forest—the actual 

area may have been even greater. Furthermore, according to the 

data collected by Unwin (1920)2

 , the extent of forest in the Upper 

Guinean forest countries in 1920 was approximately 216,000 sq 

km, which supports the 1900 estimate.

The maps of the forest extent show that most of the forest removal 

seems to have occurred before 1975, with a loss of 84 percent 

of the original forest extent. The historical forest ecosystem has 

been transformed to a series of forest fragments separated by 

agricultural communities and degraded forested lands. Between 

1975 and 2013, forest removal for wood products, plantations, 

farming and other uses was still ongoing, and resulted in the loss 

of 25 percent (58,000  sq km) of the forest (all classes considered). 

It is believed that Liberia is the only country in West Africa that was 

once entirely covered with rain forests, yet less than half remains 

today (Bakarr and others, 2004). Of the intact forest remaining in 

the Upper Guinean forest, Guinea contains 6 percent, Sierra Leone 

The Deforestation of the Upper Guinean Forest

1975 2000 2013

(sq km) (sq km) (sq km)

109,000 84,000 71,000

120,100 108,000 100,500
A Window on a Changing World 67

4 percent, Liberia 50 percent, Côte d’Ivoire 21 percent, 

Ghana 17 percent, and Togo 2 percent. In 2013, the 

Upper Guinean forest countries retained only about 

71,000 sq km of forest cover, and only 32,000 sq km 

are located in national parks, classified forests, nature 

reserves, and wildlife sanctuaries (IUCN and UNEPWCMC, 2016). The remaining forest cover constitutes 

the last testimony to the species-rich forests that used 

to blanket most of the southern part of the region. While 

the IUCN has defined six protected area management 

categories based on primary management objectives, 

in practice protected area management differs greatly 

from country to country. Outside of the dense forest 

patches, degraded forest also continues to decrease in 

area, dropping from 120,100 to 100,500 sq km between 

1975 and 2013, a loss of 16 percent of their area. Gallery 

forests, which form closed canopy corridors along rivers 

and intermittent drainage networks, are sparse and 

quite rare across the Upper Guinean countries. They 

represent the most biologically rich habitats in the 

savanna zones of West Africa and are also threatened 

by degradation and deforestation.

Presently, the Upper Guinean forest is a highly 

fragmented system and remains one of the most 

severely threatened forest systems in the world. 

This region is a high global priority for biodiversity 

conservation, but also extractive industries, and 

other key global commodities such as rubber, cocoa, 

and oil palm. Deforestation through unregulated 

logging and slash-and-burn agriculture is the major 

threat to the forest ecosystem, and is intensified by 

increasing population. By 2013, 17 percent (38,800 

sq km) of the 1975 dense and degraded forest had 

been converted to agriculture (including conversion 

to plantations). Other direct threats to the forest in 

this area include mining, bushmeat hunting, water 

pollution, and coastal development. Indirect threats 

to these ecosystems, such as poverty, migration and 

urbanization, political instability, unprotected borders 

(both land and water), inadequate and uneven policies, 

and lack of regional conservation planning, contribute 

to the continuous pressure on the Upper Guinean 

forest in both unprotected and protected areas. The 

largest blocks of forests now protected in Liberia, 

Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana are still under considerable 

pressure from human encroachment that is continuing 

to fragment and degrade the remaining blocks of this 

high biodiversity ecosystem.

0 

100,000 

200,000 

300,000 

400,000 

500,000 

600,000 

700,000 

Area (sq km)

Original extent of the Upper Guinean forest Loss of 47% Loss of 68% 

Loss of 84% 

Loss of 88% 

Loss of 90% 

(Mittermeier 

and others,1999) 

1900 1920 1975 

(Unwin, 1920) 

Original 2000 2013 

Evolution of forest area in the Upper Guinean countries, from its 

probable original extent to 2013

Upper Guinean forest change from 1975 to 2013
68 Landscapes of West Africa

Mangrove Changes 

Mangroves are coastal forests that grow where ocean 

water, freshwater, and land meet. They are among the 

planet’s most productive and complex ecosystems, 

thriving in salty and brackish conditions that would 

kill most other plants (Wetlands International, 2012). 

Mangrove species have evolved clever mechanisms to 

enable them to cope with high concentrations of salt 

and the regular inundation of their root systems by 

incoming tides (Corcoran, Ravilious, and Skuja, 2007).

Throughout the Sahel and West Africa, the livelihoods 

of coastal populations depend heavily on access to 

natural resources. Mangroves are integral to many 

of those resources, providing wood and non-wood 

forest products, coastal protection, conservation of 

biological diversity, provision of habitat, spawning 

grounds and nutrients for a variety of fish and shellfish, 

and salt production (Corcoran, Ravilious, and Skuja, 

2007). Mangroves play an essential role in West Africa’s 

coastal fisheries, which contribute $400 million annually 

to the regional economy (USAID, 2014). In spite of 

these important roles, mangroves are experiencing 

deforestation and are a heavily threatened ecosystem 

throughout the region.

Mangroves are found in 10 of the 17 countries of West 

Africa, from Senegal to Nigeria. Some very small stands 

of mangroves can also be found in Mauritania and Togo, 

but their extent was too small to be mapped at the scale 

of this project. Nigeria contains the most extensive 

mangrove ecosystem of any country in West Africa, 

comprising nearly 50 percent of the total mangroves 

of the region. About 18 percent of the area identified 

as mangrove falls within designated national and 

international protected areas. However, only a small 

number of the designated protected areas are actively 

managed (Corcoran, Ravilious, and Skuja, 2007). 

In some places, mangroves grow as far as 100 km inland, 

due to strong tidal influences on rivers such as The 

Gambia and the Casamance Rivers in Senegal, the 

Gêba River in Guinea-Bissau, and the Niger Delta in 

Nigeria (Corcoran, Ravilious, and Skuja, 2007). Similarly, 

where there are strong riverine influences into the 

ocean, islands affected by freshwater influxes provide 

an environment for mangrove growth, like in the Bijagos 

Archipelago of Guinea Bissau (AFROL, 2002). The overall 

regional trend from 1975 to 2013 indicates a decline in 

mangrove area of 4.6 percent, a net loss of 950 sq km. 

Nigeria had the greatest loss of mangroves between 

1975 and 2013 (368 sq km), followed by Senegal and 

Guinea-Bissau (288 sq km and 220 sq km, respectively). 

Ten additional countries also show a decrease, but four 

countries—Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, and Sierra 

Leone—appear to have either no change or an overall 

increase in mangrove area over the 38-year period. 

Encouragingly, following reforestation efforts, Guinea, 

The Gambia, and Senegal show a gain of mangrove 

cover from 2000 to 2013.

West Africa’s coastlines have some of the highest and 

most rapidly growing populations. Many communities 

rely on mangrove wood as a primary fuel source for 

curing fish and other purposes, and urban expansion 

and intensifying demands for charcoal, fuel wood, and 

land for agriculture are growing drivers of mangrove 

Distribution and changes in mangrove area in 

West Africa between 1975 and 2013

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS
A Window on a Changing World 69

deforestation and degradation (USAID, 2014). These 

factors— combined with rising sea levels, erosion from 

extreme weather, and more intense storm surges—

represent significant and growing threats to mangroves 

(Corcoran, Ravilious, and Skuja, 2007). 

At the regional scale, efforts have increased to save 

mangrove forests from further destruction. Many 

national governments have passed legislation and 

signed international conventions, including the 

Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on 

Biodiversity, the Convention on International Trade of 

Endangered Species, the Convention on Ozone Layer 

and the Ramsar Convention on the Conservation of 

Wetlands (Wetlands International, 2012). Mangrove 

restoration efforts have been conducted in almost 

all the coastal nations along the Gulf of Guinea to 

help communities restore and better manage 

their mangroves.

Since the 2000s, large-scale reforestation campaigns have been initiated 

and operated by non-governmental organizations operating in Senegal 

(e.g., IUCN, Oceanium). Results have been spectacular: between 2006 

and 2013, 140 sq km of mangrove forests were replanted, mostly in 

Casamance, but also along Senegal’s Saloum Region (Cormier-Salem 

and Panfili, 2016). The pair of high-resolution images above shows 

successful mangrove restoration along the Koular Bolon estuary in 

the commune of Keur Saloum in Senegal.

Example of mangrove restoration in Senegal

Mangrove area in West Africa by country in 1975, 2000, and 2013 (in sq km) Area (sq km)

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

Nigeria Benin Ghana Côte d'Ivoire Liberia Sierra Leone Guinea Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013
70 Landscapes of West Africa

Landscape Restoration and Re-greening

West Africa’s population is expected to 

double by 2050, increasing the demands 

on already limited land, water, and forest 

resources. The region’s landscapes are already 

affected by degradation, particularly in the 

fast growing agricultural lands where natural 

vegetation cover has been removed, and 

fragile soils have been exposed to wind 

and water erosion. Since 1975, West African 

forests have declined from about 131,000 

sq km to just 83,000 sq km. Much of that 

deforestation was driven by agricultural 

expansion, which doubled in area between 

1975 and 2013, and now extends over 

1,100,000 sq km — larger than the size of 

Mauritania. Poor management of agricultural 

land contributes further to deteriorating 

landscapes. With so much of the natural 

habitat being replaced and fragmented by 

agriculture — and the increased degradation 

that is often associated with it — there is 

a critical need to restore degraded and 

deforested land at scale. While degraded 

savannas and other natural landscapes can 

be targeted for restoration, this also applies 

to agricultural lands where so much of the 

vegetation cover has been removed and 

biodiversity has been decimated. 

Much of the 1,100,000 sq km currently in 

agriculture can benefit from restoration 

—greener landscapes with a mosaic of 

vegetation cover types provide benefits that 

boost agricultural productivity, improve food 

and water security, increase biodiversity, 

boost resilience to climate change, reduce 

disaster risk, and improve soil fertility.

There are reasons to be optimistic that 

restoration at scale can be achieved. A large 

area of the semiarid Sahel, centered on Niger 

but also including parts of Mali and Burkina 

Faso, has shown a remarkable transformation 

over the past 30 years. Landscapes that 

were once denuded are now home to highdensity on-farm trees, which help improve 

soil fertility and produce fodder for livestock. 

Several simple techniques used by farmers 

in Niger have been unleashed on a large 

scale due to the empowerment of local 

groups and communities. The general term 

for these techniques is “re-greening” — the 

transformation of degraded landscapes into 

productive and resilient farmland through 

widespread adoption of agroforestry and 

related sustainable land management 

practices (Reij and Winterbottom, 2015). 

There are several techniques for integrating 

trees into agricultural landscapes. One of 

the most successful and beneficial is the 

practice known as farmer-managed natural 

regeneration (FMNR). In Niger, farmers use 

FMNR to regenerate and multiply valuable 

trees whose roots already lay underneath 

their land, encouraging tree growth in their 

fields. Niger farmers have improved about 5 

million hectares (or 50,000 sq km) of land— 

now producing more than 500,000 additional 

tons of cereals per year (Reij and others, 2009). 

As a result of FMNR, vast areas of southern 

Niger are greener and more tree-covered (see 

pages 162–163). Agricultural income is up, 

and food security has been enhanced, even 

in drought years. The FMNR approach has 

increased resiliency and decreased Niger’s 

dependency on external food aid. 

In 2015, the World Resources Institute (WRI) 

published a report on the steps needed 

to scale up re-greening to a wider area, 

providing a practical approach to landscape 

restoration (Reij and Winterbottom, 2015). 

The report focuses primarily on re-greening 

of agricultural lands through a range of 

processes. These include the development 

of new agroforestry systems by farmers who 

manage natural regeneration of shrubs and 

trees, the rejuvenation of old agroforestry 

parklands, the management of natural 

regeneration on abandoned cropland and 

degraded land, and improved management 

of grazing lands by pastoralists through 

protection and regeneration of trees and 

shrubs that are sources of browsing for 

livestock. The WRI considers farmer-managed 

natural regeneration to be one of the most 

promising approaches to re-greening in the 

Sahel. Re-greening can also be applied to the 

Sudanian and Guinean Regions. 

Contrary to first impressions, the re-greening 

that has occurred across parts of Burkina Faso, 

Mali, and Niger is not the result of massive 

tree-planting efforts. Rather, it has largely 

Field trees among millet fields north of Tahoua, Niger

Native acacia trees planted along terraces on the 

Ader-Doutchi Plateau, Niger 

Winterthorn (Faidherbia albida) trees creating a 

parkland among peanut fields, western Senegal 

An aerial view of a dense tree parkland on cropland

near Bambey, Senegal 

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS CHRIS REIJ / WRI GRAY TAPPAN / USGS JEFF POVOLNY
A Window on a Changing World 71

occurred thanks to the actions of farmers who 

have protected and managed the natural 

regeneration of trees and bushes, primarily 

on cultivated land. Hundreds of thousands of 

farmers have invested in protecting natural 

regeneration, increasing the number of onfarm trees. They have done so mainly for 

economic reasons, with the knowledge that 

re-greening improves soil fertility, increases 

crop yields, and enhances household food 

security (Yamba and Sambo, 2012; Reij and 

others, 2009; Botoni and Reij, 2009).

Re-greening delivers real economic benefits 

to farmers and communities. However, there 

are many areas across the agricultural lands of 

West Africa where it is not practiced, although 

the potential exists on most landscapes. 

Despite the successes we see in Niger and 

beyond, development practitioners need 

a framework for scaling up re-greening 

successes. The WRI report fills that void by 

suggesting a six-step framework for scaling 

up re-greening: 

• Identify and analyze existing regreening successes

• Build a grassroots movement for 

re-greening and mobilize partner 

organizations

• Address policy and legal issues and 

improve the enabling conditions for 

re-greening

• Develop and implement a 

communications strategy to 

systematically expand the use of all 

types of media

• Develop or strengthen agroforestry 

value chains to enable farmers to 

capitalize on the role of the market 

in scaling up re-greening

• Expand research activities to fill gaps 

in knowledge about re-greening

Scaling up re-greening requires major efforts 

on the part of national governments as well 

as farmers. National policy makers need to 

be informed about the existing successes 

and associated benefits. They need to ensure 

that agricultural development policies and 

forestry legislation induces millions of 

farmers to invest in on-farm trees. National 

and international policy makers will need 

to be convinced that it is economically 

rational to invest in re-greening — and that 

will require sound economic data. Farmers, 

too, must be convinced of the benefits of 

farmer-managed natural regeneration before 

they take it up as a farming practice. The 

stakes are high. Land degradation directly 

affects the livelihoods of millions and erodes 

ecosystem services that fulfill basic needs of 

life. There is an urgent need to work toward 

landscape re-greening, which can positively 

impact millions of rural people in just a few 

years, and build an environment that is more 

resilient to climate change. 

The WRI report (Reij and Winterbottom, 

2015) summarizes the major benefits 

of  re-greening:

• Trees help restore, maintain, and 

improve soil fertility by maintaining 

or increasing soil organic matter.

• Trees help solve the household energy 

crisis by providing fuelwood, which 

reduces the burden on women.

• Trees provide poles for construction 

and manufacture of furniture and tools, 

as well as fences for gardens.

• Re-greening practices improve 

household food security, and fruit 

and leaves have a positive impact on 

nutrition.

• Trees are assets that provide “insurance 

and banking services,” which can be 

drawn on in crop-failure years and 

times of need.

• Many tree species in agroforestry 

systems produce nutritious fodder.

• Trees increase the total value produced 

by a farming system and help reduce 

rural poverty.

• Trees reduce wind speed and wind 

erosion.

• The shade of trees reduces soil 

surface temperatures and lowers 

evapotranspiration.

• Trees contribute to biodiversity and 

the restoration of ecosystem services 

in agricultural landscapes.

• Increasing the number of trees in the 

landscape helps mitigate climate 

change by sequestering carbon. 

Aerial view of winterthorn (Faidherbia albida) trees 

among rice paddies near Ziguinchor, Senegal. The trees 

are protected by farmers.

Landscape restoration through afforestation on the 

Island of Santo Antão, Cabo Verde.

Farmer managed natural regeneration provides farmers 

with fodder for their livestock; south of Zinder, Niger

Dense tree parklands near Tahoua, Niger allow year 

round browsing by livestock

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS GRAY TAPPAN / USGS CHRIS REIJ / WRI MICHAEL FITZGERALD
72 Landscapes of West Africa
A Window on a Changing World 73

ChapterII

Country Profiles, Land Use 

and Land Cover, and Trends
Republic of

Benin

Benin, formerly known as Dahomey, is characterized by a 

great diversity of landscapes and ecosystems. Indeed, the 

Pendjari National Park and the W Regional Park, located 

in northern Benin, are two of the most protected and 

biodiverse semiarid grassland ecosystems in West Africa. The 

mountainous region of the northwest constitutes the water 

reservoir for the Republics of Benin and Niger. In contrast, 

the central part of the country forms a large complex of 

plateaus covered by a mosaic of savannas, gallery forests, 

woodland, and cropland. Agriculture is a major part of 

Benin’s economy, and Benin is one of Africa’s largest cotton 

producers. In the south, the landscape is very distinct with 

immense palm groves scattered across the fertile plateau 

of the Terre de Barre. The coastal region is characterized by 

lagoons and marshes formed by the three main rivers of the 

country flowing into the coastal sandy barriers. The largest 

lagoon, Nokoué Lake, separates Benin’s two largest cities, 

Cotonou and Porto-Novo. More than half of the population is 

concentrated in the south on only one-tenth of the country’s 

land (BBC, 2015). As the birthplace of voodoo and home to 

42 distinct ethnic groups, Benin is steeped in a rich cultural 

diversity and a complex history.

Total Surface Area: 112,622 km

2

Estimated Population in 2013: 10,600,000

Environmental Highlights:

• Deforestation

• Susceptible to drought in the north

• Land degradation

• Stability of the protected areas

• High biodiversity

74 Landscapes of West Africa

Gallery forest in a savanna landscape

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION
A Window on a Changing World 75

The southern part of Benin is characterized by the coastal Zone Fluviolagunaire (ZFL), made of lagoons and marshes and surrounded by 

the Terre de Barre (TB), a fertile plateau made of iron clay cut with 

depressions and often covered by immense palm groves. This plateau 

is endowed with moisture from the surrounding lagoons and has a high 

bioproductivity. Central Benin, however, consists of the large Pénéplaine 

bénino-togolaise (PBS and PBN). The agropastoral regions of northern 

Benin (ZAA and ZAB) form a heavily populated agricultural landscape. 

The Pendjari Plain (PEN), which spreads north into Burkina Faso and 

Niger, is isolated from the central plains by the mountainous Chaine 

de l’Atacora (CA).

Ecoregions

Shaded Relief

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

A village in northern Benin at the base of the Atacora mountain range.

Ecoregions and Topography

PHOTO (CHAPTER 2): GRAY TAPPAN/USGS; MICHIEL KUPERS, ROBERT WATREL/SDSU; SUZANNE COTILLON / SGT; MELODY MCNEIL/USAID; ERIN WESSLING

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): GRAY TAPPAN/USGS

ROBERT WATREL/SDSU
76 Landscapes of West Africa

The most obvious change in land cover is the major expansion of agricultural land across most 

regions of Benin. Agricultural areas (including plantations and irrigated agriculture) progressed 

from 9.2 to 27.1 percent of the total country area, or an increase of over 5 percent (about 600 sq 

km) per year between 1975 and 2013. In northern Benin, much of the Pendjari Plain (PEN) and 

the Northern Pénéplaine bénino-togolaise Plain (PBN) has been spared from these landscape 

transformations owing to the complex of protected areas in that ecoregion. Rainfed agriculture 

expansion tends to follow the main transportation arteries. One major axis of development 

has been the north-south highway from Parakou to Kandi to Malanville. The highest levels 

of agricultural progression occurred farther south in the Pénéplaine Bénino-togolaise Sud 

(PBS), along the Dassa-Savé axis. Furthermore, Benin’s agriculture is characterized by cropland 

associated with oil palm trees. Although they already covered most of the Terre de Barre (TB) 

plateau by 1975, oil palms farmland increased by about 28 percent over the 38-year period. 

Associated with agricultural expansion is the considerable fragmentation of Benin’s diverse 

remaining savannas that range from open tree savannas in the north to wooded savannas 

in the south. Even though savanna area decreased by 23 percent since 1975, it remains the 

dominant land cover type in Benin and still covers more than half of the country.

A century or more ago, much of southern Benin was still covered in dense, biologically diverse 

forest. Since then, Benin has lost nearly all of that forest cover with only about 700 sq km 

remaining in 1975. By 2013, 58 percent of the 1975 forest cover had been lost, leaving only 0.2 

Wooded savanna being cleared for agriculture percent of the country covered in dense forest. Similarly, degraded forest nearly vanished and 

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends GRAY TAPPAN / USGS
A Window on a Changing World 77

woodland regressed by 70 percent. Another important forest class 

found in Benin is the gallery forest, which is the most biologically 

rich habitat in the savanna zones of the central and northern plains. 

While gallery forests are limited to a narrow strip of dense canopy 

trees along the river systems, their total area greatly exceeds that of 

the few remaining dense forests. In 1975, the gallery forests covered 

about 6,200 sq km, but they decreased to 4,500 sq km in 2013, a 

decline of 27 percent.

In a country where most people obtain their subsistence from land 

resources, population growth is a driving factor of land cover change. 

Benin’s population tripled between 1975 and 2013, increasing from 

3,263,000 to 10,600,000. As a result, the surface area of villages, towns 

and cities has expanded by 241 percent. Urban and agricultural 

landscapes have extended to the detriment of Benin’s natural 

ecosystems, such as savannas, forests, and woodland, which have 

drastically decreased over the years. Agriculture, the first form of 

economic activity occupying a majority of the active population, 

constitutes an essential factor in land degradation and can have 

major impacts on environmental sustainability.

Large area classes

Small area classes

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

Cropland Agriculture

and fallow with 

oil palms

Savanna Gallery Forest

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

AREA (SQ KM)

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

Swamp Plantation Settlements

forest

Degraded 

forest

Woodland Forest

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS
78 Landscapes of West Africa

Agricultural encroachment on the protected forest of 

Ouénou Bénou

Fears about irreversible deforestation and fuel wood shortages prompted the colonial and later national governments 

of West Africa to set up protected forests across the region. The Ouénou Bénou Forest Reserve is one such example 

from the woody savanna zone of northern Benin. An area of 300 sq km was set aside in 1943, in which land use 

rights were restricted to the collection of dead wood and wild fruits. Strict measures of forest protection were 

enforced initially; however, under the pressure of a fast growing population, linking environmental conservation 

with ensuring people’s livelihoods has become a challenge. Shortcomings in the implementation of forestry laws 

have been exacerbated by an underfunded forestry department and a lack of qualified staff and surveillance 

personnel. As a result, protected forests have been subject to uncontrolled bush fires, illegal exploitation of wood, 

and clearing for agriculture.

Wooded savanna in the protected forest of Ouénou Bénou

FÉLIX HOUETO/CENATEL
A Window on a Changing World 79

Landsat imagery from 1986 and 2015 shows the encroachment of farmers’ 

fields (light colored patches) both outside and inside of the protected 

forest of Ouénou Bénou. Inside the forest reserve, virtually no agriculture 

(less than 5 percent) was visible in 1986. By 2015, the protected forest had 

been massively encroached, with more than 50 percent of its area cleared 

for farming. This land cover transformation affected gallery forests located 

along the drainage network as well as wooded savannas. It has largely 

been driven by an agricultural policy aimed at increasing agricultural 

production at any price, and a lack of coordination between the agriculture 

and forestry departments. Incoming migrant farmers were encouraged to 

cultivate in the forest reserve, where soils were still fertile.

The population of the rural communities of Bembèrèkè and Sinendé, 

the majority of which practice subsistence agriculture, are aware of the 

environmental cost of the deforestation: a loss of certain woody species 

that are used in traditional medicine, increased soil erosion, and progressive 

impoverishment of soils. On the other hand, they also draw some benefits 

from the agricultural expansion. The increased agricultural production has 

positively impacted food security, and the cultivation of export crops, in 

particular cotton, created income opportunities for some. In order to allow 

for a more sustainable exploitation of the lands, which support livelihoods 

without depleting tree and forestry resources, a new forest management 

approach is needed.

Cultivation of sorghum in the protected forest of Ouénou Bénou

FÉLIX HOUETO/CENATEL
80 Landscapes of West Africa

The expansion of cashew plantations in the commune of Tchaourou

Benin’s population has more than tripled since the 1950s (UN, 2015). In Central Benin this steep population growth 

has been caused by both high birth rates and an influx of migrants who have been drawn to the area ever since 

the French colonial regime introduced labor-intensive cash crops, such as tobacco, cotton, and groundnut. The 

migrants have contributed to the economic development of the area by providing a steady supply of labor, but at 

the same time their presence has added to the pressure on the savanna ecosystem. Deforestation from clearing 

the natural woodlands for farming has been common throughout this region. 

A comparison of Landsat imagery from 1986 and 2015 shows a dramatic decrease in natural savanna and woodlands 

(darker greens) surrounding Tchaourou. Even inside the protected forests of Tchatchou, Tchaourou and Toui-Kilibo, 

which had already experienced some minor clearing, the area of wooded savanna has been decimated. The land 

cover maps (see pages 76–77) measure a decline in savanna from 72 percent of the study area in the 1970s to less 
A Window on a Changing World 81

than 45 percent by 2015. During the same period agriculture has grown 

by four times to cover over 44 percent of the study area. Agricultural 

landscapes, including rainfed cropland and plantations, now dominate. 

Within the agriculture areas, however, the expansion of cashew plantations 

has helped to mitigate the loss of woody cover and biomass, somewhat 

offsetting the loss of trees from deforestation. The right half of the 2003 

inset image (top of left page) shows some remaining forest cover within the 

Tchatchou Gokana Forest Reserve. In contrast, by the time of the 2012 inset 

image (top of right page) there are more cashew trees outside the reserve 

than natural tree cover within it. The proportion of cashew plantations has 

risen greatly as a percent of the land area in 2013. Like other afforestation 

activities, cashew plantations protect against soil erosion, contribute to 

increasing soil fertility, and create a cooler microclimate. 

Several factors have contributed to the success of the cashew economy. 

Many small producers received monetary support to invest in cashew 

cultivation as part of the national development strategy of promoting 

export-oriented economic sectors. The large and growing rural population 

provides a continuous supply of labor. Cashew nuts are in high demand 

on the global market, and Benin’s market shares have increased to make 

it the 5th largest producer worldwide (US Department of State, 2015). 

The cashew tree is well adapted to the environment in Central Benin. It 

requires very little input and can thrive even on poor soils. Hence, it is very 

well suited for the rehabilitation of degraded lands. 

Cashew fruit

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS
82 Landscapes of West Africa

Environmental Highlights:

• Deforestation due to agricultural 

expansion

• Fragmentation of natural habitats

• Large number of reservoirs

•	 Agricultural production diversification

• Widespread adoption of soil and water 

conservation practices

Burkina Faso, (named Upper Volta until 1984) is a landlocked country that spans 

across the semiarid Sahel and the more humid Sudan bioclimatic zone. Burkina 

Faso is culturally rich, but limited in its endowment of natural resources. As in many 

other countries in the region, rural-to-urban migration has spurred the growth of 

urban areas. However, agriculture still accounts for 32 percent of the country’s gross 

domestic product (GDP) and employs about 80 percent of the population. In the 

north, where rainfall averages 300–400 mm per year and is limited to a short wet 

season, animal husbandry is the main livelihood. Rainfall is somewhat higher across 

the Central Plateau, where agriculture has been the dominant activity for centuries. 

Cotton is the main cash crop; however, livestock production is also an important 

source of income. In order to reduce its vulnerability to droughts and water shortages, 

Burkina Faso has built many dams and levees along major rivers and their tributaries. 

These reservoirs meet the water needs of the urban population and provide for 

irrigation of horticultural crops during the dry season, contributing to the country’s 

agricultural diversity. In addition, Burkina Faso has successfully attracted foreign 

investments and has experienced a rise in gold prospecting and production. With 

Total Surface Area: 274,400 km2

Estimated Population in 2013: 17,085,000

Burkina Faso

rapid population growth (over 3 percent per year), Burkina Faso 

faces major challenges in reaching a balance between preserving 

its natural resources and feeding its growing population. Despite 

explosive cropland expansion into remaining natural landscapes, 

recent successes in land management and increased agricultural 

productivity are encouraging.

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION
A Window on a Changing World 83

Shaded Relief

Ecoregions

Burkina Faso is fairly flat, with an extensive peneplain that covers about 

three quarters of the country; elevations range from 250 to 400 m. The 

Koutiala Plateau (PK), a sandstone block situated in the country’s southwest, 

is the highest and most rugged part of the country. Several rivers cross 

Burkina Faso; all are tributaries of one of three major rivers: the Volta, the 

Comoé, and the Niger. 

The large northern ecoregions, Liptako Sahel (LIP), Gondo-Mondoro 

(GM), and Gourma Malien (GR), belong to the Sahelian Region and are 

dominated by shrub savanna and steppe. Moving south, the Plateaus 

of Samo, Gourmantché (PG), and the Nord Plateau Mossi (NPM – North 

Mossi Plateau) dominate the north-central part of the country, where 

population density is high. The Mossi people have been farming here for 

generations, almost exclusively planting millet and sorghum, particularly 

in the numerous valleys and low-lying areas (Marchal, 1977; Dugué, 1993). 

The southern ecoregions, from the Pendjari plains (PEN) in the east, to the 

Bwa Plateau and Comoé Poni Basin (PONI) in the southwest, cover a wide 

bioclimatic gradient. With rainfall varying from 650 mm to over 1,000  mm, 

these ecoregions extend over the more humid Sudanian Region. The more 

favorable climate and permanent rivers make most of Burkina Faso quite 

suitable to agriculture, with cash crops becoming increasingly important. 

Ecoregion and Topography

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

Village of Oursi on the edge of the Mare d’Oursi, a wetland 

of international importance for Palearctic bird migrations.

RICHARD JULIA
84 Landscapes of West Africa

The most obvious change in Burkina Faso’s 

land cover is the major expansion of croplands. 

In 1975, when the population was just over 

6.1 million, savannas were still the dominant 

landscape. Even then, agricultural development 

was beginning to fragment the wooded 

savannas in central areas of the country. 

Agricultural expansion started along the main 

roadways. Similarly, agriculture was increasing 

along the Ouagadougou-Pama corridor in 

the southeast, and small isolated patches of 

cropland were appearing among extensive 

natural areas. However, a large portion of 

the country’s southern ecoregions remained 

relatively untouched. The majority of protected 

areas could not yet be distinguished from the 

surrounding natural savanna landscapes. 

In 2013, the population of Burkina Faso reached 

17 million and changes in land cover shown 

by the maps are striking. Burkina Faso’s natural 

landscapes have been rapidly altered by human 

activity. Conversion into croplands represents a 

major transformation, leaving few remnants of 

the former vegetation structure and diversity. 

In the north, steppe areas have remained fairly 

stable because this land cover class occurs in 

the more arid Sahel, where more marginal 

soils and lower rainfall severely limit crop 

cultivation. In 1975, 82.5 percent of Burkina 

Faso’s land was still covered by natural land 

cover classes (forest, gallery forest, savanna, 

steppe, or rocky land). In 2013, only 57.4 

percent of the country’s land was occupied 

by these land cover classes. Between 1975 and 

2013, savannas (Sahelian and Sudanian) shrank 

by 39 percent. The country’s land area covered 

by rainfed agriculture increased from only 

15 percent in 1975 to 39 percent in 2013, an 

overall increase of 160 percent. This agricultural 

expansion exceeds 4 percent per year on 

average, which corresponds to 1,720 sq km 

of cropland added each year. 

Agricultural areas increased only slightly in the 

north and central plateau, where unfavorable 

rainfall and rocky soils have kept agricultural 

expansion to a minimum, but the other 

two-thirds of the country has experienced 

considerable agricultural development. Tree 

and wooded savannas and the gallery forests 

of the Sudanian zone have been heavily altered 

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends

The village of Gourounsi in the south, with its walls adorned by frescoes. 

ROBERT WATREL/SDSU
A Window on a Changing World 85

to make room for rainfed crops. The progression of croplands 

across Burkina Faso during the last four decades has replaced 

natural landscapes with crop fields and fallows. The only natural 

landscapes of significant size are restricted to protected areas, and 

these now stand in sharp contrast against the dominant surrounding 

agricultural landscape. In 2013, Burkina Faso ranked second in West 

Africa behind Nigeria as the most agricultural country (in percent of 

land covered by crops). Burkina Faso is close to reaching the point 

where human-shaped landscapes cover over half of the country. 

It seems possible that, in the near future, savannas, woodlands, 

and forests may only exist in isolated, protected areas that will no 

longer be connected by natural corridors. 

Another critical land cover class is gallery forest. Gallery forests are 

easily spotted because they stand out from the surrounding savanna 

vegetation. Although gallery forests are limited to a narrow strip of 

dense tree cover along streams, their overall area widely exceeds 

the few remnants of forest (only 48 sq km in 2013). In 1975, gallery 

forest occupied 7,000 sq km, or about 2.6 percent of the Burkinabe 

land area. Agricultural expansion decreased this to about 5,000 sq 

km in 2013, which corresponds to a 30 percent reduction within 

38 years. Gallery forests host a wide variety of plant and animal 

species, making them a conservation priority. 

Large area classes

Small area classes

0

30,000

60,000

90,000

120,000

150,000

Sahelian short Agriculture

grass savanna

Savanna Steppe

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

AREA (SQ KM)

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

Irrigated 

Agriculture

Gallery Forest Settlements

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS
86 Landscapes of West Africa

The Mare aux Hippopotames National Park and Biosphere Reserve

The Mare aux Hippopotames National Park was designated as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1987 and a Ramsar 

site in 1990. It is a natural habitat that has remained fairly intact thanks to community protection efforts. This park 

is a crucial ecosystem for the preservation of regional biodiversity and for local people who rely on its resources. 

Yet the reserve faces increasing pressure due to a growing population and resulting agricultural expansion, which 

together threaten its ecological integrity.

Located in the Houet province about 60 km north of Bobo-Dioulasso, the Mare aux Hippopotames is in the Sudanian 

bioclimatic region, with annual rainfall approaching 1,000 mm. Overall, the reserve encompasses 192 sq km, of 

which 1.40 sq km is covered by a permanent water body that can reach 6.60 sq km during flooding periods. The 

reserve is well known for its freshwater lake (“mare” in French), linked to a network of swamps and floodplains 

and fed by the Volta Noire River. 

This complex of wetlands has high ecological value. In addition to its importance as a wintering ground for migrating 

birds, the Mare aux Hippopotames helps to recharge the water table, prevent or control floods, control erosion, and 

maintain a more moderate climate. The lake’s diverse habitats abound in wildlife unique to the region, including the 

famous hippopotamuses that inhabit the lake. Protection efforts have increased the number of hippopotamuses 
A Window on a Changing World 87

from about 30 animals in 2006 to about 100 in 2010 (SP/CONEDD, 2012). 

Other mammals also live in the reserve, especially elephant, bushbuck, 

and roan antelope. The reserve also contains 17 sq km of gallery forest 

and 110 sq km of tree and shrub savannas.

For local people, the reserve serves as a fishery and provides critical 

resources, such as fruits, honey, wood fuel and ecotourism (about 1,000 

visitors per year) (Pagen, 2006). The satellite image from 1972 shows the 

beginning of agriculture encroachment into savannas. Croplands appear 

as light patches; the dark spots are burn scars from natural bush fires. In 

1972, the reserve boundaries are hardly discernable within the surrounding 

savanna. By 2013, the Mare aux Hippopotames reserve’s natural savannas 

sharply contrast with the widespread transformation to agriculture. At 

least for now, the reserve boundaries are being respected by farmers. 

However, careful management and monitoring will be needed to preserve 

this ecosystem into the future.

JAMES ROWLAND/USGS

Aerial view of the Mare aux Hippopotames area
88 Landscapes of West Africa

Land rehabilitation and community forests on Burkina Faso’s 

Central Plateau

The landscapes of the northern Central Plateau are known for their harshness, dominated by rocky plateaus and 

unproductive soils. Despite this, approximately 50 percent of Burkina Faso’s rural population lives here, coping 

with unreliable rainfall. The major droughts of the 1970s and 1980s exacerbated the difficult living conditions of 

rural people across this region, compelling many farm families to leave their villages and to settle in regions of 

higher rainfall to the south. 

Faced with this situation, many villagers took initiatives to fight against environmental degradation and to 

improve rural living conditions. Few would have predicted that nearly 30 years after the last great drought, with 

a population density roughly double what it was then, that we would see many examples of land rehabilitation, 

including productive farming on formerly barren plateaus. Surprisingly, we also see scattered community-managed 

forests that show the potential of what can be done across the Sahel. Here, we present two examples of the many 

successes in land management on the Central Plateau.

The first site is an example of a farmer innovator, Ali Ouédraogo, who in 1983 began rehabilitating degraded, 

barren land west of Gourcy (see image pair above). The comparison of a 1984 aerial photograph and a 2010 

satellite image clearly shows the dramatic results of Ali’s work. The barren, laterite landscape (at the center and 

left of center of the photo) is the site of Ali’s future fields. His efforts to rehabilitate this barren land had only just 

begun. Ali was trained in the layout and construction of contour stone bunds by the Oxfam-funded Agroforestry 

Project (Reij and Waters-Bayer, 2001). He soon discovered that trees started growing alongside the bunds in his 

fields because their seeds were deposited there by the runoff water. He protected this natural regeneration, and 

from 1986 onwards he decided to stimulate the establishment of trees. To grow his crops, he placed seeds in 

 A comparison of a 1984 aerial photograph (left) and a 2010 satellite image (right) showing the dramatic rehabilitation of barren land by farmer innovator Ali Ouédraogo. 

Two recent views of Ali Ouédraogo’s fields 

with tree regeneration along the rock lines 

he constructed beginning in 1983. 

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

INSTITUT GÉOGRAPHIQUE DU BURKINA FASO
A Window on a Changing World 89

thousands of planting pits (also known as “zaï”) —the revival of an old practice which also contributed to obtaining 

good yields of millet, sorghum and cowpea. In 2010, 26 years after Ali’s initial efforts, the barren land had been 

transformed into productive cropland accompanied by a diverse tree parkland. Ali’s fields and trees dominate 

the central part of the image, completely rehabilitating the laterite surfaces (top right, opposite page). The zebra 

stripe pattern is a testament to the vigorous regeneration of trees that take advantage of the favorable microenvironment created by his rock lines, which trap soil and seeds, and enhance water infiltration. Practices such as 

these have helped rehabilitate between 2,000 and 3,000 sq km of land and produce an additional 80,000 tons of 

food per year (Reij, Tappan and Smale, 2009). 

The second site is one of dozens of community-managed forests widely scattered across the dry landscapes of 

northern Burkina Faso (see image pair above). These forests provide much inspiration, for they prove that forests 

can and do thrive in the harsh Sahelian environment. One of these community forests is associated with the village 

of Pouima, near Gourcy. The forest covers about 4.6 hectares, forming a dense woodland of indigenous trees and 

shrubs characteristic of the Sahel. The forest is quite old, and has been protected and managed by the villagers for 

at least several generations. A comparison of an aerial photograph taken in 1984 with a satellite image acquired 

in 2013 shows that the forest has increased in area. 

The villagers of Pouima say that the forest continues to benefit from the protection placed upon it by their ancestors. 

They inherited the forest, and they feel that they must preserve it for future generations. It continues to serve the 

community in many ways. Fruit and firewood can be collected only by the older women in the village. However, 

anyone from the village may harvest fruit when it is ripe. No cutting of wood is allowed. The forest also serves as 

a site for sacrificial ceremonies, which explains the respect people have for it.

Recent views of the interior of the Pouima 

community forest.

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

Comparison of a 1984 aerial photograph (left) with a 2013 satellite image (right) showing the village of Pouima (right center), its community forest, and its agricultural parklands. INSTITUT GÉOGRAPHIQUE DU BURKINA FASO
90 Landscapes of West Africa

Photo caption

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

Located approximately 600 km from the 

West African mainland, Cabo Verde is a 

volcanic archipelago that consists of 10 

larger islands and several uninhabited 

islets, divided into two ensembles: the 

leeward islands (Sotavento) in the south 

and the windward islands (Barlavento) 

in the north, depending on whether the 

islands are more or less affected by the 

trade winds from the northeast (Eklund and 

Kronhamn, 2002). Before being discovered 

by the Portuguese in 1456, the Cabo Verde 

islands were uninhabited. Today, a majority 

of inhabitants are of mixed Portuguese and 

African ancestry, and Cabo Verde is known 

for its Creole Portuguese-African culture 

and morna music. The climate is tropical 

dry and rainfall is limited and quite erratic, 

with an average of less than 300 mm per 

year. The landscapes of this archipelago are 

very diverse, formed by volcanic activity 

8 million to 20 million years ago. In the 

mid-20th century, major afforestation and 

soil and water conservation efforts were 

undertaken to restore degraded land. The 

land of the western mountainous islands 

has undergone extensive conversion that 

transformed the dry steppe habitat to a 

heavily human-influenced landscape. Dense 

forest now covers some of the highest 

elevations and the more humid windwardfacing slopes, while woodlands have been 

established on some of the drier areas. The 

potential for agriculture is extremely varied, 

hampered by aridity, extreme topography, 

and unequal land ownership.

Total Surface Area: 4,033 km2

Estimated Population in 2013: 

507,000

Republic of 

Cabo Verde

Environmental Highlights:

• Soil erosion

• Desertification

• Successful afforestation

• Extensive use of agroforestry

• Thriving and expanding tourist trade

90 Landscapes of West Africa

Arid landscape in Cabo Verde

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION
91

Topography

A Window on a Changing World

Shaded Relief

The mountainous islands of Brava, Santiago, Fogo, 

Santo Antão and São Nicolau—all with peaks over 

1,000 m—are rocky, with relatively productive 

volcanic soils in deep valleys that support various 

kinds of agriculture. These islands have the longest 

histories of human habitation and densest populations 

in the archipelago. The rugged landscapes consist of 

high peaks, ridges, plateaus and valleys. The elevations 

are high enough (the highest point is Mount Fogo at 

2,829 m) to produce a strong orographic effect with 

few, but intense, precipitation events (Mannaerts and 

Gabriels, 2000). The mountains catch enough moisture 

to support grassland as well as intensive agriculture 

in a succession of altitudinal zones. In contrast, Maio, 

Boa Vista, and Sal, lying to the east, are flat, highly 

eroded desert islands with an arid climate marked 

by year-round exposure to dry winds blowing off 

the Sahara. Open steppe, bare soil, and long sandy 

beaches are the predominant land cover types. Their 

economy is primarily based on salt extraction and 

animal husbandry. 

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

Forest on the mountain slopes of Santo Antão

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): GRAY TAPPAN/USGS
92 Landscapes of West Africa

Centuries of land alteration to expand 

agricultural production has created a highly 

engineered, complex mosaic of land use in 

Cabo Verde. A few early records describe the 

original vegetation of the islands. Grasses 

and shrubs likely constituted the vegetative 

communities of the arid lowlands. The more 

humid highlands probably consisted of woody 

shrubs interspersed with herbaceous species, 

and a handful of tree species colonizing the 

most favorable waterways. Closed-canopy 

forests likely never existed (Benton, 2013). 

After the Portuguese colonization, the land 

underwent vast land use changes. Intensive 

agricultural practices, livestock (primarily 

goats), and other introduced plant and animal 

species greatly altered the native vegetation 

and decimated the native tree populations. 

The reduction of natural vegetation in many 

areas also contributed to soil erosion. By the 

early 20th century many parts of the islands 

were heavily degraded.

Afforestation and soil and water conservation 

efforts to restore degraded land were begun 

in earnest in the mid-20th century by the 

Portuguese (Benton, 2013). From 1928 to 

1975, Cabo Verde gained about 30 sq km of 

afforested areas, mostly in Santo Antão, Fogo, 

and São Nicolau (WOCAT, 2015; Lopes and 

Santos, 2010). Both the mountainous parts of 

the islands and the arid and semiarid zones 

benefited from the afforestation programs. 

After Cabo Verde’s independence in 1975, 

critical forest regulations were established 

and the expansion of forests continued. These 

afforestation efforts were already highly 

visible on the landscape in 2000. The earliest 

plantations (Pinus spp., Cupressus spp., and 

Eucalyptus spp.) on the highlands of Santo 

Antão and São Vicente have become dense 

forests and woodlands on the highest slopes, 

where cultivation is not possible. These forests 

are still expanding. Forest area increased by 

21 percent (6 sq km), and woodland by 24 

percent (34 sq km), between 2000 and 2013. 

The more recent afforestation projects of the 

last two decades have focused mainly on 

the drier lands of the Sotavento islands (i.e. 

Santiago, Maio, and Brava). The main species 

being planted were Prosopis juliflora, Acacia 

spp. and Ziziphus mauritiana, all well adapted 

to the arid climate. A total of 248 sq km of 

plantations were mapped in 2000, decreasing 

The land use and land cover maps characterize the 

landscapes at a resolution of 500 m. They are based on 

visual interpretation of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal 

Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and highresolution images, from 2000 and 2013. No comparable 

sources of imagery were available to complete a map 

for the 1975 period.

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends

Agriculture in the ribeiras, Santiago
A Window on a Changing World 93

slightly to 243 sq km in 2013. As the young trees matured and 

their canopies coalesced, the plantations take on a woodland 

appearance. The succession of some plantations into woodlands 

accounts for the decrease in plantation area. 

The arid zones of the lower elevations—all the flat islands such as 

Sal, Boa Vista, and Maio, and the pediments of the mountainous 

islands—account for over half the Cabo Verde’s land area. These 

areas, predominantly bare, steppe, or shrubland, remained largely 

stable from 2000 to 2013. Suitability for agriculture is very low but 

better suited to pastoral or silvo-pastoral use. However, steppe 

and shrubland areas decreased 2 and 5 percent, respectively, 

between 2000 and 2013, mostly because of restoration projects 

that converted certain areas to plantation or woodland.

In 2000, agriculture covered 423 sq km over the whole archipelago, 

about 10 percent of the country area. Cropland increased by only 

8 sq km from 2000 to 2013. Cultivated areas, however, are not 

evenly distributed among the islands. Santo Antão and Santiago 

are the most cultivated islands, with more than 70 percent of the 

total farmed land of Cabo Verde. Irrigated agriculture was mostly 

found on Santiago island in the ribeiras—valleys where ephemeral 

streams have created steep hillsides, at times with nearly vertical 

walls. In spite of climatic hazards and rugged terrain, agriculture 

is the main activity in the archipelago, occupying more than half 

of the workforce. 

Large area classes

Small area classes

Cabo Verde has a semiarid shrubland land cover class that 

is unique to these islands. It is characterized by shrubs 

and bushes scattered on discontinuous grassland cover 

(shrubs and bush cover between 25 and 50 percent). 

Shrublands are mostly located on the more humid 

northern slopes of the mountainous islands or along 

the ribeiras.

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

Steppe Shrubland Agriculture

1975 2000 2013

AREA (SQ KM)

LAND COVER

n/a

1975 2000 2013

n/a

1975 2000 2013

n/a

YEARS

0

50

100

150

200

250

Plantation Forest Settlements Woodland

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

n/a n/a n/a n/a
94 Landscapes of West Africa

The successful large-scale afforestation of Santo Antão 

and Santiago Islands 

Santo Antão and Santiago are the two largest islands of the archipelago of Cabo Verde (991 sq km and 754 sq km, 

respectively). Following the colonization of the islands in the late 1400s, the fragile environment of these relatively 

recent volcanic mountains, associated with the arid and semiarid sahelian climate, underwent severe deterioration 

(Spaak, 1990). The land degradation problems led to large afforestation programs after independence in 1975, 

which restored more than 800 sq km of land and drastically changed the landscape of Cabo Verde.

Santo Antão and Santiago islands are characterized by a dramatic landscape with steep slopes, associated with 

a strong orographic effect. Their soils are generally young, shallow, and very susceptible to erosion. The climate 

varies from humid to arid, with a short rainy season from August to October and periodic multi-year droughts. 

Rainfall varies widely from place to place and year to year, ranging anywhere from 50 to 1400 mm (Eklund and 

Kronhamn, 2002).

Since the 1980s, afforestation has focused mainly on the arid zones of Santiago and Santo Antão, where the annual 

rate of afforestation was 57 sq km (Santiago received about 80 percent, or 45 sq km). This was a big step toward 

land restoration (Eklund and Kronhamn, 2002). The goals of all afforestation efforts were to 1) provide soil erosion 

control by mechanical and vegetative methods; 2) increase infiltration, fog capture, and water availability; 3) increase 

biodiversity and vegetative cover; and 4) increase economic aspects of forests such as firewood, employment, 

Ground pictures showing the afforestation 

on Santo Antão island between 1950 (left) 

and 2012 (right) (Agua das Caldeiras).

A comparison of two satellite images showing the dramatic afforestation on the slopes of Santo Antão Island. ANONYMOUS, 1960

SCOTT BENTON
A Window on a Changing World 95

or timber (Benton, 2013). Over the past 40 years, this afforestation has contributed to a general rehabilitation 

of vegetation cover, combating desertification, meeting energy needs, forage production and development of 

agrosilvopastoral systems, while at the same time contributing to a significant increase in the diversity of the 

landscape in Cabo Verde (Lopes and Santos, 2010). The former degraded areas of Santiago and Santo Antão islands 

are now covered by a dense forest in the mountainous parts, and woodland in the drier areas.

The first image pair (see opposite page) shows an example of afforestation on a humid highland in Santo Antão. In 

2003 (left), forest and woodland already existed on some of the slopes and highland areas, resulting from earlier 

afforestation projects in the 1970–1980s. In the early 2000s, new plantations were implemented on slopes but the 

trees were not visible yet in 2003. In 2014, however, the forest became denser and new woodland and growing 

plantations appeared on the lower slopes. Afforestation continues and several programs have been implemented 

in the late 2000s, especially in Santiago and Maio, but not to the same extent as before. 

In the second image pair (above), high-resolution images show the afforestation on arid land in Santiago (8 km 

northwest of Praia). In 2002, an afforestation project had just started to restore the degraded steppe. The trees might 

have been planted but are not visible in the imagery. In 2014, the whole area was covered by dense plantations. 

Today, 67 percent of the total reforested area in Cabo Verde is located in Santo Antão or Santiago, and represents 

7 percent1 of the country area (about 300 sq km). The afforestation also had a great impact on the local population. 

Forests are perceived to provide numerous benefits to communities, especially to the poorer rural interior of the 

island. Since the beginning of the afforestation program, major positive changes in vegetation, land use, and 

infrastructure can be observed. 

Afforestation is one of the key technologies to address the fragility of ecosystems. It provides better protection 

against erosion and makes better use of rainfall in order to maintain the sustainability of agricultural systems 

(WOCAT, 2015). The forests of Cabo Verde present an enduring example of positive land use change in West Africa. 

They are heavily utilized by the local population to meet many needs and are viewed favorably. Simple changes 

in forest management practices can improve biodiversity conservation and increase economic activity. Many 

valuable lessons learned in Santo Antão and Santiago can be applied in other West African afforestation projects. 

A comparison of two satellite images showing the afforestation on the drylands of Santiago Island. 

GRAY TAPPAN /USGS

1

 This number represents the area 

that successfully was reforested and 

is now covered by forest, woodland, or 

new plantations. It does not take into 

account the agroforestry plantations in 

areas of agricultural potential.
Republic of

Côte d’Ivoire

Côte d’Ivoire borders the Gulf of Guinea with 515 km of 

coastline fringed by a network of large lagoons. The northern 

and southern halves of Côte d’Ivoire present two distinct 

landscapes: a seasonally wet-and-dry savanna landscape 

typical of the Sudanian zone in the north, and in the south, 

humid tropical Guinean and Guineo-Congolian landscapes 

with a variety of evergreen vegetation types. The southern 

part of the country was once entirely covered by dense 

tropical forest, but is now dominated by a mosaic of 

plantations, degraded forest, and cropland, along with 

patches of remaining dense forest. Until recent decades, 

there were greater stands of useful timber in Côte d’Ivoire 

than in any other West African country. The area covered 

by rain forest was halved between 1900 and 1960, and 

that trend has continued—most of the forest has now 

disappeared. The Taï National Park, in southwestern Côte 

d’Ivoire, constitutes the largest intact relic of old tropical 

forest in West Africa and was listed as a World Heritage 

Site in 1982. 

Côte d’Ivoire has a climate system that is common to all the 

Gulf of Guinea countries, with two clear rainfall seasons on 

the coast, transitioning to one rainy season in the north. 

Soils are particularly fertile and agriculturally productive, 

even in the northern semiarid savanna. Côte d’Ivoire is 

one of the world’s largest producers of cocoa and coffee. 

The richness of this country is not only based on the land 

but also on the people—Côte d’Ivoire is home to 68 ethnic 

groups, contributing to a wide diversity of customs and art.

Total Surface Area: 322,463 sq km

Estimated Population in 2013: 21,622,000

Environmental Highlights:

• Deforestation

• Land degradation

• Largest intact tract of primary forest

• Second highest number of 

chimpanzees among West African 

countries

96 Landscapes of West Africa

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

Cropland at the bottom of a forested hills in southern Côte d’Ivoire
A Window on a Changing World 97

Ecoregions and Topography

Shaded Relief

Ecoregions

The southern part of Côte d’Ivoire is characterized by broad plains, 

dissected by three main rivers, the Sassandra, the Bandama, and 

the Komoé (also spelled Comoé). These plains and their productive 

soils were once forested, but are now heavily used for agriculture 

and plantations. The center of the country is a transition zone 

between forest and savanna. Most of the savannas are being 

encroached upon by rainfed agriculture, especially in the north, 

along the borders with Mali and Burkina Faso. In northwestern 

Côte d’Ivoire, several highlands rise from the surrounding plateau. 

This mountainous region is part of the Guinean Highlands that 

extend from the southern Fouta Djallon through southeastern 

Guinea, northern Sierra Leone and Liberia, and adjacent areas of 

Côte d’Ivoire.

Dense forest in southern Côte d’Ivoire

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): GRAY TAPPAN / USGS
98 Landscapes of West Africa

Land use and land cover in Côte d’Ivoire have changed dramatically 

over the 38-year period between 1975 and 2013. Most striking has 

been the expansion of agriculture, with a net increase of 84 percent 

(31,600 sq km). Agriculture spread almost everywhere in Côte d’Ivoire, 

with the exception of the northeast, where the boundary of Comoé 

National Park is well respected and the savanna protected. 

In the southern half of the country, rainfall is higher and the soils more 

productive, making it the center of production for most of the export 

crops, such as coffee and cocoa. Palm, coconut trees, and rubber 

tree plantations increased by 160 percent (10,420 sq km), mostly in 

the southern and central parts of the country. In the northern half 

of Côte d’Ivoire, subsistence and cash crops such as cotton, sugar, 

starches, and rice greatly increased, fragmenting the large expanses 

of woodland and savannas.

Because a large part of the population in Côte d’Ivoire obtains its 

subsistence from farming, agricultural expansion was mostly driven 

by population growth. Population increased steadily from 6.6 million 

in 1975 to 21.6 million in 2013, a rise of 227 percent. On the land cover 

maps, the area occupied by settlements—towns and cities—doubled 

from 1975 to 2013. This national average, however, masks an uneven 

distribution, with much of the population concentrated in the farmand-forest patchwork region in the south. 

Expansion of agricultural lands was not without consequences on 

the forested landscape. Indeed, the continuous deforestation to clear 

for cultivation is one of the most dramatic and possibly irreversible 

events in Côte d’Ivoire. In the past, most of the timber harvest occurred 

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends

Pineapple crop in Côte d’Ivoire

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS
A Window on a Changing World 99

within the reserved forests that counted for 40 percent of the 

total forest of the country (14,500 sq km). However, excessive 

extraction over the past 38 years has led to their depletion, and 

reserved forests lost almost 70 percent of their forest coverage. In 

addition, timber theft and illegal logging are widespread and are 

the primary reasons for the degradation of natural forests. Forests 

and gallery forests, as well as woodland outside protected areas, 

are all heavily degraded. By 2013, Côte d’Ivoire had lost nearly 60 

percent of the 37,300 sq km of dense tropical forests that existed 

in 1975. Similarly, degraded forest decreased by 28 percent and 

woodland area declined by 48 percent. Another important forest 

class is the gallery forest—dense ribbons of biologically rich forest 

that follow watercourses and river systems up into the Sudanian 

zone savannas in the north. While they are limited to narrow 

strips of dense forest, their total area covers almost 5 percent of 

the country. In 1975, the gallery forests represented 17,100 sq km. 

This figure decreased to 14,130 sq km in 2013. 

Despite recent forest management efforts taken by the government, 

such as halting illicit harvesting, promoting reforestation, 

reformation of logging activities, increasing the protected areas, 

and encouraging private investments in forestry, expansion of 

agricultural lands driven by an increasing population remains 

the key driver to deforestation in Côte d’Ivoire (Ehuitché, 2015).

Large area classes

Small area classes

0

30,000

60,000

90,000

120,000

150,000

Degraded Agriculture

Forest

Savanna

1975 2000 2013

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,000

Forest Gallery Forest Woodland Settlements Plantation

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS
100 Landscapes of West Africa

Protecting the ecological integrity of Comoé National Park

Located in northeastern Côte d’Ivoire, 30 km south of the Burkina Faso border, Comoé National Park covers about 

11,500 sq km. Comoé National Park was established in 1968 and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 

1983. Due to its location and vast area dedicated to the conservation of natural resources, this park is an ecological 

unit of particular importance. Comoé National Park contains a remarkable variety of habitats, ranging from open 

savannas and woodland to wetland and gallery forests, normally only found much farther south (UNESCO, 2015).

In the 1970s, the Park’s natural landscapes could hardly be distinguished from the surrounding savannas and 

woodlands, with the exception of the northeast boundary where agriculture had already started to expand between 

the park and the Burkina Faso border (UNEP-WCMC, 2014). By 2014, the park boundary clearly stands out from the 

growing agricultural landscapes around it. Despite increasing pressure from agriculture expansion and urbanization, 

the park’s natural habitats have remained relatively intact. However, in 2003, Comoé National Park was added to the 

list of World Heritage Sites in Danger due to poaching, overgrazing by cattle, and breakdown of management owing 

to civil conflict (UNEP-WCMC, 2014). To reduce these problems, checkpoints and patrol posts were implemented 
A Window on a Changing World 101

around the park boundary, and only two zones are open for tourism. An 

evaluation by UNESCO recommended an efficient surveillance system 

throughout the park and the establishment of participatory management 

with local communities to diminish the pressures and impacts associated 

with the management of areas located on the periphery (UNESCO, 2015).

Currently, Comoé National Park is a rare sanctuary for a variety of West 

African species, including the western chimpanzee, the African wild dog, 

and the African elephant. It is also one of the few remaining natural areas 

in the region that is large enough to ensure the ecological integrity of 

the species that live there. Despite the clearly established and defined 

boundaries, additional management measures will be needed to protect 

the unique park ecosystems in their entirety in the long term.

PETER HOWARD / AFRICAN NATURAL HERITAGE

View of the Comoé River in the Comoé National Park
102 Landscapes of West Africa

Marahoué National Park: a protected area on the edge of existence

Marahoué was designated as a national park in 1968, after being previously established as a wildlife reserve in 1956. 

The park covers 1,010 sq km in central Côte d’Ivoire. Marahoué lies on the northern edge of West Africa’s Upper 

Guinean forest and was especially unique for its range of habitat types and great diversity of fauna (Schulenberg 

and others, 1999). 

As a transition zone between the savannas and the tropical rain forest, the park was an important center of 

biodiversity due to the presence of species from both savanna and forest-type habitats. The variety of environments 

in Marahoué also provided refuge for several rare and endangered species, including forest elephants, primates, 

and a wide variety of birds (Schulenberg and others, 1999). Prior to its establishment as a national park, several 

cacao plantations and cropland had already encroached within its boundary, covering about 3 percent of the park 

area by 1975. The remaining vegetation of Marahoué National Park was composed of approximately 60 percent 

forest, 15 percent degraded forest, 5 percent gallery forest, and 17 percent mosaic of savannas and thickets.

In recent decades, Côte d’Ivoire has experienced some of the highest rates of deforestation seen anywhere 

in Africa. The non-eviction of farmers within the national park exacerbated human pressure on its resources, 

especially near the eastern and northern boundary. This human pressure is also related to the proximity of 

the city of Yamoussoukro and the Kossou dam (Denis, 2015). Wildlife and other park resources were subject to 

exploitation by human populations from adjacent villages and towns, mainly for game meat, wood and land for 

agriculture. Many people continue to cultivate and extend large cocoa plantations within the park boundaries, 
A Window on a Changing World 103

even though it is illegal (Schulenberg and others, 1999). By 2014, the forest 

had totally disappeared and only few vestiges of degraded forest and gallery 

forest remained (12 percent and 4 percent of the park area, respectively). 

Agriculture and plantations had replaced natural habitats and covered 

about 15 percent of the park area. Although the land cover appears green 

and lush in the 2014 Landsat image, intensive deforestation had converted 

most of the forested habitats to savanna and thicket that now represent 67 

percent of the Marahoué National Park area (see inset above).

Human pressure has left wide swaths of land inhospitable to most park 

wildlife, and today Marahoué National Park is characterized by a sharp 

deterioration in its natural resources. Human pressures, years of continuous 

poaching and the development of plantations have significantly reduced 

the number of animals within the park boundary (Denis, 2015). As habitat 

shrinks, species such as the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) were almost 

totally eradicated, and others, such as the elephants, had to be relocated 

to avoid conflicts with farmers (AFP, 2014).

ROBERT WATREL/SDSU
Photo caption

MELISSA MATHIS/SGT

104 Landscapes of West Africa

Environmental Highlights:

•	 Overfishing

• Coastal erosion

• Deforestation

• Rapid urbanization

• Tourism, bird watching

The Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, with an extent of about 

330 km east to west, and less than 50 km north to south. It is a former British colony, 

forming an enclave within Senegal, a former French colony. The Gambia is one of 

the most densely populated countries in West Africa. The highest concentration of 

people is around the increasingly urbanized landscape spreading outward from 

The Gambia’s capital, Banjul. The city is built on a small peninsula tucked between 

mangrove-lined estuaries and the broad mouth of the Gambia River, which rises out 

of the Fouta Djallon Highlands of Guinea. With its natural port, Banjul is an important 

trading post between West Africa and the world. The main ethnic groups are the 

Mandinka, the Wolof and the Fula.

The Gambia’s economy is dominated by agriculture. About two-thirds of the population 

is engaged in raising livestock or growing crops, such as rice, maize, millet, sorghum, 

and cassava. Small-scale manufacturing includes processing peanuts, fish, and hides. 

The country lies within the Sudanian climatic region, with a distinct short rainy 

season and a long dry season. The Gambia has also found a niche in tourism, taking 

advantage of its beautiful beaches, warm water, and nature retreats. It is well known 

for bird watching, with over 540 species of birds recorded (Barlow and Wacher, 1997). 

Total Surface Area: 11,295 km2

Estimated Population in 2013: 1,867,000

Republic of 

The Gambia NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

The distinct boundary between a wetland in the tidal zone and surrounding wooded savanna. 

Malachite kingfisher
A Window on a Changing World 105

Photo caption

Ecoregions and Topography

Photo caption

Shaded Relief

Ecoregions

The Gambia lies entirely within the drainage basin of the Gambia River, a 

basin that extends well into Senegal and Guinea. The river’s channel only 

descends10 m as it flows from The Gambia’s eastern border to its mouth 

at Banjul. The river’s flow is very seasonal, and sea water intrudes some 

200 km upriver during the dry season. The land is also flat, especially in 

the western half. In the eastern part of The Gambia, the river carves a 

meandering path through laterite-capped plateaus; terraces and shallow 

valleys characterize the terrain. The highest point is Red Rock, at only 53 

m above sea level. 

The Gambia’s five ecoregions are all transboundary areas that have their 

counterparts in Senegal. The Gambia River forms a natural boundary 

between the northern ecoregions and the one in the south—the South 

Bank Zone (SB). Over a century ago, most of the country was blanketed 

by Sudanian woodlands, wooded savannas, and gallery forests. Today, 

most of the more wooded landscapes are found on the south side of 

the river, where the South Bank Zone extends seamlessly into Senegal’s 

Casamance (CAS) ecoregion. The woodlands nearer the coast are denser 

and have much higher biodiversity than those in the east. 

Major systems of mangroves and mudflats are found along the coast near 

the mouth of the river, extending nearly half way up the length of the 

country. These constitute the Estuary Zone (EZ), an ecoregion that extends 

well into the Saloum River complex in Senegal. North of the Gambia River, 

three ecoregions reflect the varying degrees of human transformation 

of natural landscapes into agricultural ones. The North Bank Agricultural 

Zone (NBA) is almost entirely devoted to groundnut, millet, and maize 

cultivation on sandy soils. The Agricultural Expansion Zone (AEZ) is a mix 

of broad cultivated valleys among laterite plateaus with shrub and tree 

savannas. In the east, the Eastern Transition Zone (ETZ) is more sparsely 

populated, and the predominance of lateritic plateaus has spared the 

region from the more intensive human pressures of the western regions. 

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 

2010 (GMTED 2010)

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): GRAY TAPPAN /USGS

A beach near Banjul
106 Landscapes of West Africa

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends

Until the middle of the 20th century, The Gambia’s 

landscapes were extensively wooded, as part 

of the broad Sudanian wooded savannas that 

sweep across this latitude of West Africa. Today, 

vegetation density and diversity increases from 

east to west, as well as from the relatively drier 

north to the moister south. The Gambia’s land 

cover has changed dramatically. The first change 

is the expansion of agriculture as the savannas are 

cleared for farming. The second is the rapid urban 

sprawl of Greater Banjul and beyond.

Among The Gambia’s semi-natural landscapes, 

savanna—which ranges from open shrub and 

tree savanna to dense wooded savanna—is still 

the predominant class by area. However, the maps 

show that it is giving way to agriculture. In 1975, 

savanna occupied 51.3 percent of the total land 

area, whereas in 2013 it occupied 43.4 percent. In 

the eastern and southern regions of the country, 

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

Aerial view of a village on the bank of the upper Gambia River
A Window on a Changing World 107

Large area classes

Small area classes

the savanna land cover is also becoming more fragmented as 

village lands devoted to agriculture coalesce. 

The Gambia’s forests offer a more mixed picture of change. 

Majestic gallery forests (and fringing riparian forests along humid 

bottomlands) once lined most of the streams and drainage ways. 

They often occur on deeper soils with shallow water tables. These 

areas are also favored for rice cultivation and other uses. As a 

result, gallery forests are being seriously depleted by clearing, or 

degraded by selective logging of large trees for high value wood. 

In 1975, 324 sq km of gallery forest were mapped. By 2013, only 

185 sq km remained, a loss of over 42 percent. In contrast, The 

Gambia’s mangrove forests have been fairly stable, with a slight 

increase in area from 602 sq km in 1975 to 654 sq km in 2013 (see 

mangrove regeneration story, page 69). 

With the French introduction of groundnuts as a cash crop in 

Senegal in the 1800s, the production of groundnuts gradually 

spread across the border into western The Gambia. The northern 

half of The Gambia was the first to embrace large-scale groundnut 

cultivation because of its proximity to the major groundnut 

producing region of Senegal. By the 1930s, this area had become 

The Gambia’s main agricultural region. Patches of savanna used for 

grazing and forest resources were still present, as seen in the 1975 

map. By 2013, The Gambia’s western portion, north of the river, 

had become almost continuously cultivated, and the traditional 

system of bush fallow largely abandoned. Agricultural expansion 

continues in all regions. In the east, where it was once found mainly 

on deeper soils in valleys, rainfed cultivation has now expanded 

into the terraces and plateaus. At the national level, agriculture 

in 1975 was found on 21 percent of The Gambia’s land area. The 

area increased to 23.9 percent in 2000, and 28.1 percent in 2013. 

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

Wetland – Mangrove Agriculture

oodplain

Savanna

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013

AREA (SQ KM)

YEARS

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Irrigated Settlements

agriculture

Herbaceous 

savanna

Gallery Forest

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

AREA (SQ KM)
108 Landscapes of West Africa

The urban sprawl of Greater Banjul

Banjul is the capital and the largest city in The Gambia. In the 1960s the built up area of the city and surrounding 

towns covered only St. Mary’s Island and a small part of the north end of the cape area. The villages that would 

later grow and be absorbed into the Greater Banjul metropolitan area (many outlined in red) across the rest of 

the cape were separated by areas of farming and savanna woodland in the 1968 Corona image. Over the next 

four decades the urban development spread west and south across the cape, swallowing up villages, farms and 

woodlands as it grew. By 1990 the population had reached roughly half a million for the area shown in the images 

above. By the time of the 2016 image, it had grown to an estimated 1.39 million (CIESIN, 2005).

The rapidly growing population presents a serious challenge to sustainable use of The Gambia’s land resources 

(FAO, 2010). The sprawling urban growth (seen as brighter areas in the images) between 1968 and 2016 is needed to 

house Greater Banjul’s rapidly growing population, but displaces other essential land uses. Demand for agricultural 

products grows with the population and drives conversion of natural landscapes to farm fields. Roughly 97 percent 
A Window on a Changing World 109

of The Gambia’s household energy is from fuel wood (UNDP, 2012). In 

addition to loss of wooded areas, the pressure on remaining forests has 

led to their serious degradation (UNDP, 2012). 

The land use and land cover maps (see pages 106–107) show that the settled 

areas have grown from less than 8 percent of the image area in 1975 to 

about 29 percent of that area in 2013. During the same time, the area of 

savanna has been cut in half, going from about 43 percent of the image in 

1975 to just over 18 percent in 2013. Some agricultural areas were lost to 

the expanding urban footprint as well, but because some of the savanna 

was converted to agriculture the overall area being farmed in the images 

shown above was slightly greater in 2013 than in 1975. 

The remaining patches of wooded savanna are clearly visible in the 

2016 image (dark patches in the inland areas) as are the mangroves 

of Tanbi Wetland National Park and the Makasutu Culture Forest. The 

Gambian Forestry Department has emphasized community management 

of forests for over two decades as a way to build stronger buy-in from 

local communities to meet goals, which include a long-term target of 

maintaining a minimum of 30 percent permanent forest cover (Thoma 

and Camara, 2005). The Gambia has an established ecotourism trade 

that depends on healthy natural areas for its survival and growth, giving 

them a stake in preserving the remaining forested areas and mangroves 

as well (Wally, 2001). Balancing the pressure to meet short-term needs of 

a growing population against the long-term goals of sustainable land use 

will challenge The Gambia over the decades ahead.
110

Photo caption

110 Landscapes of West Africa

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

Environmental Highlights:

• Significant inventory of Upper

 Guinean biodiversity

• Largest artificial lake (by area) in

 the world

• Ecotourism

• Deforestation

• Pollution from mining

Ghana is situated in the center of the Gold Coast of Africa 

and has a 535-km-long shoreline that includes lagoons 

and mangrove forests. The country’s tropical climate varies 

from a Sudanian type climate in the north with a short rainy 

season, to the high rainfall regime of the forested Guinean 

and Guineo-Congolian Regions in the southwest. The export 

of cocoa has traditionally dominated the economy of Ghana, 

and today it is one of the world’s largest exporters of cocoa. 

Agriculture remains a major economic sector, providing 

income for nearly half of Ghanaians. The country is endowed 

with rich natural resources. Timber, gold, diamonds, bauxite, 

manganese, and oil contribute to making Ghana among 

the wealthier nations in West Africa. While its economy is 

one of the most successful in the region, it remains heavily 

dependent on international finance. Ghana, like most West 

African countries, has daunting environmental challenges 

since its economic development depends directly on 

natural resources. Large tracts of forest have been cleared 

to support increasing cocoa production. Mining is causing 

localized land degradation and water pollution. A quarter of 

its people are concentrated along the narrow coastal zone. 

Total Surface Area: 238,533 km2

Estimated Population in 2013: 26,164,000

Ghana

Republic of

Grassy coastal plain in the western region, Ghana
A Window on a Changing World 111

Photo caption

Ecoregions and Topography

Shaded Relief

Ecoregions

With elevations that range from sea level to 885 m on Mount Afadjato, 

Ghana’s physical terrain is composed primarily of low plains, punctuated 

with several uplands and a major plateau in the south-central part of 

the country. Ghana is home to Lake Volta, the world’s largest artificial 

lake by area (8,482 sq km). In the north, the three Sudan Savanna 

ecoregions (WSS, CSS, and ESS) characterize the relatively dry northern 

climate with its single rainy season, open tree savannas, and scattered 

rainfed croplands. Moving south, the Closed Guinea Savanna (CGS) 

has extensive wooded savannas characteristic of the Guinean Region. 

In the adjacent Open Guinea Savanna (OGS) ecoregion, farmlands are 

expanding rapidly into the wooded savannas. In central Ghana, the 

Main, Eastern, and Central Transitional Zones (MTZ, CTZ, and ETZ) share 

common elements of a transitional climate with two rainy seasons and 

transitional forest-savanna vegetation. To the southeast, the Akwapim 

Togo Mountains (ATM) make up Ghana’s highland ecoregion. It derives 

its main character from the rugged mountain chain and lush forested 

vegetation cover. This region still harbors much wildlife and offers great 

potential for ecotourism. The Deciduous Forest (DF) ecoregion in the 

southwest is Ghana’s largest ecoregion, with deciduous tropical forests 

scattered among a number of biological reserves. In the south, the 

Tropical Forest Zone (TFZ) is Ghana’s wettest ecoregion, with remnants of 

its biologically diverse evergreen rain forest. Finally, the Coastal Savanna 

(CS) ecoregion is highly distinguished by its relatively low rainfall in two 

seasons, high population density, grassland savanna vegetation, and 

coastal geomorphology that includes tidal flats and lagoons. ERIC LANDWEHR/SDSU

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

Canopy walk at Kakum National Park

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): GRAY TAPPAN /USGS
112 Landscapes of West Africa

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends

The most obvious land cover change in Ghana is the major increase in agricultural land 

in all regions of the country. However, the largest increases can be seen in the northeast, 

east-central, and southwestern regions of Ghana. This rate of agricultural expansion is 

unprecedented in the country’s history, overrunning many of the other land cover types, 

including Ghana’s savannas, woodlands, and forests. From 1975 to 2000, agricultural lands 

expanded from 13 to 28 percent of Ghana’s total area and continued to extend rapidly, 

reaching 32 percent of Ghana’s land area in 2013. This expansion has significance beyond 

the simple area numbers. Agricultural lands often represent a radical transformation from 

a diverse variety of vegetation types and natural habitats to crop-dominated landscapes. 

In Ghana, savannas experienced a large loss, from about 51 to 40 percent of the total land 

area from 1975 to 2013. The formerly uninterrupted savanna landscapes of the Central 

Sudan Savanna, Main Transitional Zone, and Central Transitional Zone are now highly 

fragmented, with large tracts of natural habitat broken into myriad patches of farmland, 

reducing habitat suitability for many types of wildlife.

Another important land cover change in Ghana is the degradation of forest. The forest class 

(represented primarily by Ghana’s dense evergreen rain forest and moist deciduous forest) 

shows a small decline in area from about 16,400 sq km in 1975 to 15,500 sq km in 2000, a 

reduction of 5 percent. This decline accelerated rapidly between 2000 and 2013, as forests 

were reduced by an additional 20 percent, to 12,400 sq km in 2013. The degraded forest, 

which occurs mainly in the off-reserve areas, represents a vegetation type that was derived 

from the dense and deciduous forests, modified by human activity. The traditional slashand-burn method of agriculture, logging, annual wildfires, and recently commissioned open 

cast mining are the major disturbing factors that have diminished vegetation extent and 

composition in the southern ecoregions. Degraded forests continued to decrease in area, 

losing 17 percent of their cover between 1975 and 2013. The expansion of cocoa farms, 

ROBERT WATREL/SDSU

White areas in the 1975 map represent data gaps caused by persistent cloud cover.

Fishermen boats on the beach
A Window on a Changing World 113

Large area classes

Small area classes

other crops, and fallow lands was the primary driver of the decline 

in degraded forest area. The gallery forest, which represents the 

most biologically rich habitat in the savanna zones of central and 

northern Ghana, also experienced a decline that has accelerated, 

mainly because of clear-cutting for agriculture, from 6,200 sq km 

in 1975 to 3,750 sq km in 2013. If we add all forest classes together, 

we see a significant decline of 25 percent of forests over the 38-year 

period. However, historical imagery confirms that a much larger 

loss of forest occurred during the 1960s. What remains today is 

primarily contained in the biological reserves. Ghana continues 

to lose its forest resources at an unsustainable rate.

Ghana’s rapid population growth is reflected in the rapid expansion 

of the Settlements land cover class. From 1,460 sq km in 1975, 

urban areas expanded to 2,560 sq km in 2000 and 3,830 sq km 

in 2013, a 161 percent increase over 38 years. The greater Accra 

metropolitan area has about 4 million people, Kumasi just over 

2 million, and Tamale about 370,000 (GSS, 2013). 

0

30,000

60,000

90,000

120,000

150,000

Degraded Forest Agriculture

Forest

Savanna

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

AREA (SQ KM)

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

Gallery Forest Irrigated Agriculture Plantation Settlements

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS
114 Landscapes of West Africa

Urbanization and deforestation in the Greater Kumasi area

Kumasi is the second largest city in Ghana, after the capital Accra, and functions as the administrative, commercial, 

industrial, and cultural center of the Ashanti region. Owing to considerable rural-urban migration driven by the 

growth of industries and commercial activities in and around the city, the population of Kumasi has increased 

sharply over the past four decades. The census of 1970 reported 346,000 inhabitants, surpassing 1 million by 2000 

and over 2 million in 2013 (GSS, 2013). 

The comparison of a Corona satellite image from 1966 with a Landsat image from 2014 shows the expansion 

of built-up area from 60 sq km in 1966 to over 400 sq km in 2014, in parallel with the population growth in the 

Kumasi metropolis. The influence of the city on land cover change reaches far beyond the immediate peri-urban 

area. While agriculture, mostly in the form of shifting cultivation, was certainly present in greater Kumasi in 1966, 

by 2014 the forest and woody savanna has become considerably more fragmented within a radius of at least 50 

km of the urban fringe, creating a fine mosaic of cultivated land and degraded forest. 

The Bobiri Forest Reserve, 20 km east of Kumasi, illustrates the contrast between this mosaic and a continuous 

forest canopy. In 1966, the forest reserve completely blended in with its surroundings. Although it contains nearly 

50 sq km of forest, the reserve is far from pristine. It has already been actively exploited for timber, and its more 

accessible parts are known to be moderately to severely degraded. By 2014, fairly large clearings for cultivation 
A Window on a Changing World 115

and palm wine tapper camps are visible inside the reserve. Locals 

collect firewood, and the felling of small trees is not uncommon. 

On the positive side, the reserve also includes significant sections 

of intact high canopy forest and hosts a forest arboretum with 

about 100 indigenous tree species. The reserve also has a butterfly 

sanctuary with 340 butterfly species, which is managed according 

to an ecotourism plan for the benefit of local communities. 

Between 1966 and 2014 in the Bandai Hills, a contiguous area of 

degraded forest of 130 sq km has been cleared for cultivation to 

the northeast of the town of Agogo, leaving a visible footprint 

in the 2014 Landsat image. However, deforestation is not a new 

phenomenon in Ghana. Encroachment of agriculture into forest 

has accelerated dramatically in recent years, but historical research 

has shown that much of the forest inside and outside of reserves 

is not primary, but regenerated secondary forest on previously 

cultivated and depopulated lands. 

Bobiri Forest Reserve Bandai Hills ROBERT WATREL/SDSU

Central Kumasi
116 Landscapes of West Africa

Small reservoirs as engines for local development in the Upper 

East region of Ghana

Northern Ghana trails the rest of the country in terms of wealth, not least because of its environmental challenges 

— low mean annual rainfall (about 900 mm per year), frequent droughts, and shallow soils susceptible to erosion. 

Given its dry climate and a high incidence of rural poverty, it is also considered the part of Ghana most vulnerable 

to climate change. Nonetheless, population densities are relatively high and growing, particularly in the Upper 

East region, where most people work in agriculture. While rates of out-migration are among the highest in Ghana 

at over 20 percent, birth rates are also above the national average. At the same time, northern savanna regions 

have served as receiving areas for Fulani migrants from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. Thus, the population of the 

Upper East region has more than doubled from almost 500,000 in 1960 to over a million in 2010. 

Due to the precarious environmental situation and high pressure on resources, the Upper East region has long been 

a focus of development interventions in natural resource management. Already in colonial times, protected areas 

had been set aside and timber plantations of local tree species established, in particular Ceiba and Anogeissus. 

Several small-scale water reservoirs also date from that period, when they were created to help meet the dry season 

water needs of the rural population. Since then, donor-funded projects have rehabilitated the old reservoirs and 

constructed new ones (Snyder and others, 2013). Today, 149 small reservoirs and 129 dugouts can be counted 

in the Upper East region. They provide a source of water for livestock, domestic use, dry season irrigation, and 
A Window on a Changing World 117

fish production. A total area of nearly 9 sq km is irrigated by these systems. The water surfaces 

appear as small blue patches in the images, and an increase in number and size can be observed 

between 1986 and 2013. They are not to be confused with the larger irregular dark surfaces, which 

are temporary and represent areas recently burned and charred by grass fires. 

A close-up view at higher resolution of the community of Bugri shows land use around the 

reservoir, which has a surface area of almost 10 ha and is one of the more important reservoirs (see 

inset). Downstream from the dam, reservoir water benefits fruit trees and allows for dry season 

cultivation of a variety of garden crops (onions, peppers, tomatoes). A portion of the dry season 

crops are sold on the market, whereas wet season crops such as maize, millet, beans and rice are 

mainly grown for household consumption. The ability to have two or three growing seasons per 

year, to keep more livestock and to sell produce on the market has made the communities with 

access to reservoirs more food secure and better off than neighboring communities without 

reservoirs (Namara, Nyamadi, and Barry, 2011). Tree densities were found to be higher and tree 

species more diverse in communities with reservoirs, since the availability of alternative and more 

sustainable sources of income has lessened the pressure on tree resources. An additional benefit 

that appears to have arisen from the presence of reservoirs is a strengthening of local governance 

and institutions, as these communal structures require collective management and have hence 

encouraged community organization.

STEFANIE HERRMANN / U. OF ARIZONA

Farmer watering onions and leafy winter crops 

using calabashes.
Environmental Highlights:

• Deforestation

• Soil erosion

• Forest remnants

• West African “water tower”

• Wealth in minerals, precious metals, 

 and diamonds

Guinea extends southeast in a crescent from the Atlantic 

coast of West Africa. Its topography varies from coastal 

plains to inland mountains that account for about 60 

percent of the land area. Several of the region’s major 

rivers, in particular the Niger, Senegal, and Gambia, all 

originate from these highlands, making Guinea the 

“water tower” of West Africa. These rivers drain vast 

arable plains, and upstream offer important potential 

for hydroelectric energy. Guinea’s forests are now mostly 

limited to a few mountainous areas in the south (Ziama 

and Nimba), and to gallery forests along watercourses. 

Guinean landscapes also have the largest extent of 

lateritic plateaus, called bowé, creating natural clearings 

of treeless meadows. They are a common feature in 

the north and west of the country. In addition, Guinea 

is endowed with huge deposits of mineral resources. 

It has the largest deposits of bauxite and iron ore in 

the world and is a gold and diamond producer. Thanks 

to these mineral resources, Guinea has the potential 

of being one of Africa’s richest countries. Its Atlantic 

shoreline supports a large-scale fishing industry and has 

developed large commercial harbors, such as Conakry 

and Kamsar. 

Total Surface Area: 245,857 km2

Estimated population in 2013: 11,949,000

Republic of 

Guinea

118 Landscapes of West Africa

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

High plateaus bordering the coastal plain of western Guinea
A Window on a Changing World 119

Ecoregions

Shaded Relief

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

In western Guinea, two ecoregions characterize 

some 300 km of Atlantic coastline and coastal 

plains — the Plaines Côtières (PC – Coastal Plains) 

and Zones de mangroves (ZM – Mangrove Zones). 

Eastward of the coastal lowlands the land rises, 

at times in the form of spectacular escarpments, 

into two major ecoregions, the Plateaux de Basse 

Guinée (PBG – Lower Guinea Plateaus) and the 

Zone de Savane et de Montagne (ZSM – Savanna 

and Mountain Zone). Guinea’s famous interior 

highlands are captured in two ecoregions, the 

scenic Massifs Montagneux du Fouta Djallon 

(MMFD – Mountainous Blocks of Fouta Djallon) and 

the Contrefort du Fouta Djallon (CFD – the Foothills 

of the Fouta Djallon). Both the MMFD and the CFD 

are made of rugged high plateaus, often capped 

by laterite (bowé), and dissected by deep valleys. 

Most of Guinea’s rivers originate here, fed by the 

abundant rainfall of the highlands. Descending 

to the east, the Niger River and its tributaries have 

fashioned the low, rolling landscapes of the Haut 

Bassin du Niger (HBN – Upper Niger Basin) with its 

broad plateaus and alluvial plains once covered 

by extensive savannas and gallery forests. This 

relatively dry part of Guinea falls into the Sudanian 

climate zone. The south part of the country is home 

to Guinea’s forest zone (ZPF – Zone Pré-Forestière 

and PF – Zone Forestière), whose ecoregion names 

derive from the Upper Guinean forest that formerly 

covered large swaths of this region. The Zone 

Forestière is made of a ridge, which is a spur of the 

Fouta Djallon highland, extending as far south as 

Mount Nimba (1,752 m). The forest is now limited 

to the high valleys and eastern flanks of these 

mountainous zones (CM). Although prone to 

erosion on steeper slopes, the soils of the Zone 

Forestière are highly fertile, supporting cultivation 

of food and cash crops, such as coffee, tea, cocoa 

and rubber. 

Ecoregions and Topography

Bowé with characteristic mushroom-shaped 

termite mounds

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): GRAY TAPPAN /USGS
120 Landscapes of West Africa

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends

Despite a significant reduction in land area 

since 1975, savannas still dominate the Guinean 

landscape, accounting for 54 percent of the 

national land surface. Savanna loss is mainly 

due to agricultural expansion, with cropland 

area having doubled over 38 years. Driven by 

population growth, the mean rate of agricultural 

expansion rose dramatically from 1.3 percent per 

year during the 1975–2000 period to 4.7 percent 

per year between 2000 and 2013. However, 

agriculture expansion was not equal throughout 

the country. Southern ecoregions, especially the 

Zone Forestière (ZF – Forest Zone), the eastern 

Zone Pré-Forestière (ZPF – pre-forest Zone), and 

the Fouta Djallon massif have experienced the 

greatest expansion. In these zones, the practice 

of slash-and-burn on steep slopes increases their 

vulnerability to erosion. However, agricultural 

practices, such as terrace cropping and rock lines 

have helped to mitigate soil erosion. Farther 

westward, on the Plateaux de Basse-Guinée 

(PBG – Lower Guinea Plateaus), in the Zone de 

Savanes et de Montagnes (ZMS – Savana and 

Mountain Zone), and in the ecoregion of the 

Socle Précambrien (SP – Precambrian Shield) 

where soils are rocky, non-productive, and 

relatively unsuitable to cultivation, agricultural 

development is limited to alluvial valleys and low 

plateaus. Irrigated agriculture has also doubled 

since 1975, especially in the Plaines Agricoles 

du Bassin du Niger (PABN – Agricultural Plains 

of the Niger Basin), which lend themselves to 

rice cultivation.

Between 1975 and 2013, forest areas decreased 

by about 33 percent to only 4,440 sq km, found 

mainly in the Zone Forestière (ZF – Forest 

Zone). One major cause of this reduction is the 

significant population growth resulting from a 

heavy migration from the north and from a huge 

influx of refugees from Sierra Leone, Liberia, 

and Côte d’Ivoire. Non-protected forest areas 

have been severely degraded by uncontrolled 

logging for both local and commercial uses, 

and by slash-and-burn cultivation. While 

Guinea’s national forests are receding, there 

is remarkable stability among Guinea’s forest 

“islands” (Fairhead and Leach, 1994). Many 

hundreds of forest islands — areas of high forest 

around villages—have been encouraged and 

managed by villagers for centuries. Several 

ethnic groups in the forest-savanna transition 
A Window on a Changing World 121

Large area classes

Small area classes

zone maintain these multi-purpose forest islands 

(see page 57). Woodlands and gallery forests, 

with a land surface three times higher than 

that of dense forests, have not experienced the 

same high level of deforestation as Guinea’s 

dense forests. Woodlands and gallery forests are 

found in all regions of Guinea and their surface 

area has only decreased by 0.5 and 2.7 percent, 

respectively, over the 38 years. 

Bowé — laterite-capped plateaus that 

characterize much of Guinea’s landscapes — 

accounts for 13 percent of Guinea’s land surface. 

Naturally, bowé are very stable over time. While 

unsuited to cultivation, these treeless grasslands 

serve as important water catchment areas and 

as pasture for livestock.

The land area of large industrial mines has tripled 

between 2000 and 2013, increasing from 40 

sq km to 130 sq km. They are testimony to the 

development of Guinea’s growing industrial 

mining sector. Although local-scale artisanal 

mining is difficult to map at a national scale, it 

has also intensified as the price of gold has risen, 

and has a significant impact on the environment.

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

Savanna Bowé Woodland Gallery forest Agriculture

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

Irrigated Settlements

Agriculture

Forest Open Mine

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013

AREA (SQ KM)

n/a

YEARS
122 Landscapes of West Africa

The Ziama Massif: A relic of the diminishing Upper Guinean 

forest ecosystem

The Ziama Massif is part of the Guinean Highlands region; elevations rise nearly 1,400 m above sea level. This 

mountain range is characterized by rugged terrain with valleys, plateaus, rocky peaks, cliffs, and granite outcrops. 

Mean annual precipitation varies from 1,700 mm to 2,000 mm. The vegetation communities on the massif include 

savanna, primary dense mountain forest, secondary mountain forest, as well as woodland in the northern valleys, 

plains and swamps. The massif supports a great diversity of Guinean zone tree species.

This highly biodiverse area, with a great number of threatened mammal species (chimpanzee, Diana monkey, 

pygmy hippopotamus, elephant) and a large diversity of plant species, is one of only four biosphere reserves in 

Guinea. The Ziama Massif was designated a forest reserve under French colonial rule in 1932, in an effort to stop 

“savannization,” the perceived advance of the savanna from the north. After independence, however, the new 

state-run economy put major emphasis on agricultural development, with biodiversity conservation given very 

low priority. As a result, farmers cultivated many of the protected areas established in the colonial period. In 1981, 

the Ziama Massif was made a Biosphere Reserve. In order to better engage local support, conservation is enforced 

with decreasing intensity outward from the core and allows increasing rural development activity in the buffer 

and transition areas (Fairhead and Leach, 1994). 
A Window on a Changing World 123

As in the case of the Kangari Hills in Sierra Leone (see pages 188–189), the conservationists’ view of a 

supposedly “pristine” forest stands in contradiction to evidence of abandoned village sites and detailed 

written and oral accounts of a prosperous agricultural landscape in the mid-19th century, accounts that 

have shaped local perceptions. Clashes between subsistence needs of a growing population—29,000 

people in 23 villages in and at the margins of the reserve, and in the town of Sérédou—and long-term 

conservation interests have been exacerbated by the slow start of promised rural development activities 

in the buffer zone (Fairhead and Leach, 1994). It is unknown to what extent the management plan 

for timber extraction and agroforestry in the buffer zone is being followed, or to what extent shifting 

agriculturalists and refugees are exploiting and encroaching the reserve (Brugiere and Kormos, 2009). 

The Landsat images of the Ziama Massif and surrounding area from 1973 and 2013 show relatively stable 

forest cover inside the Biosphere Reserve. In 1973, agriculture was already present around the reserve, 

but the surrounding landscape was still wooded and dominated by natural habitats. By 2013, farmland 

replaced most of the savanna and woodland outside of the reserve boundary. Agriculture started to 

encroach on the outskirts of the Ziama Massif, especially in the northern part around Sérédou (see 

inset). With rates of population growth of 2.6 percent per year, an influx of refugees from neighboring 

countries, and the predominance of itinerant agriculture, there is a need for careful planning and 

multi-stakeholder management in order to preserve this hotspot of biodiversity.

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS Ziama Massif Biosphere Reserve 
124 Landscapes of West Africa

Sustainable forest management in Guinea

The remaining forests and woodlands of Guinea play a critical role in preserving biodiversity in West Africa. A 

number of these forests are found in Guinea’s highlands, known as the “water tower” of West Africa because they 

provide a source of water to many of the region’s rivers, including the Niger, Senegal, and Gambia Rivers. Many 

of Guinea’s forest reserves have become degraded as a result of population pressure, slash-and-burn agriculture, 

and uncontrolled burning. To combat forest degradation, Guinea has adopted a new, more effective approach 

to forest management. Since 1993, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Direction 

Nationale des Eaux et Forêts de la République de Guinée (DNEF– Water and Forest National Office of Guinea) have 

worked together on co-forest management in four forest reserves within the Fouta Djallon highlands of central 

and northern Guinea. Under this decentralized approach, the DNEF and communities adjacent to these forests 

enter into a legal contract for the management of the reserves by the local communities. The premise is that if 

local communities are provided with the authority (and associated benefits) to manage a forest, then the forest 

will be managed more sustainably. In each case, DNEF forestry agents assisted forest communities in developing a 

management plan. Consistent with this plan, villagers are often allowed to use sections of the forest for agricultural 

production or other limited uses. In some cases, both the DNEF forestry agents and the forest communities have 

worked together to prevent the illegal cutting of forests. One of the DNEF forest agents interviewed said, “We are 

now educators, not policemen.” 

But what has been the real impact of over two decades of co-forest management on these forests? To help answer 

this question, USAID and the DNEF teamed up with the USGS to look at actual forest conditions on the ground 
A Window on a Changing World 125

and use satellite images to see how they’ve changed over time. USGS used a nearly 50-year historical record 

of satellite images to assess the extent of forest cover and its biophysical condition within the four forests 

reserves in which USAID and the DNEF have been working. Two of those reserves—Balayan Souroumba and 

Sincery Oursa—are shown in the images above (the others were Nyalama and Souti-Yanfou). 

The scientists analyzed satellite imagery from 1969, 1987, 2007, and 2015 to assess forest resource trends 

over time. No one necessarily expected to see positive changes in the forest, but the results from the USGS 

time-series image analysis were surprising and encouraging. The extent and condition of all four of the forest 

reserves have remained quite stable, and in some areas have improved over the past two decades. 

Both forest reserves show a significant increase in tree density over the years. Indeed, tree cover is much denser 

now than in 1967 (see insets). Local forest agents attribute this to the benefits of co-forest management, 

particularly to improved fire management through early prescribed burning. They also credit relocation of 

villages and fields from the interior to the periphery of the reserve, tree planting, and the development of a 

plan for the sustainable management and regeneration of timber.

The local DNEF forestry agents speak positively regarding the benefits of Guinea’s co-forest management 

approach: “We are proud of the interventions of the projects. We can increase the forests of Guinea—we 

see a way forward. Our victory is if the experiences of co-management are shared and used elsewhere.” The 

Guinea government is doing just that. The Guinean government’s forestry and decentralization policies now 

favor a co-management approach for all of the nation’s forest reserves. 

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

Balayan Souroumba Forest Reserve
126

Photo caption

126 Landscapes of West Africa

Environmental Highlights:

• Deforestation

• Overfishing

• Diverse mangrove ecosystem

• Ecological richness of the 

 Bijagos Archipelago

Total Surface Area: 36,120 km2

Estimated Population in 2013: 1,757,000

At just over 36,000 sq km in area, Guinea-Bissau is one of 

the smallest West African countries. Most of its generally 

flat terrain averages just 20 to 30 m above sea level, with 

low-lying plateaus in the east rising to 150 m. Guinea 

Bissau has an intricate shoreline on the Atlantic Ocean, with 

numerous estuaries that penetrate inland. Coastal valleys 

flood regularly, making them conducive to rice cultivation. 

Half of the population of this former Portuguese colony is 

found in the coastal zone and has been living for centuries 

in a tight relationship with the mangrove ecosystem and 

its rich fisheries. Not far offshore, the Bijagos Archipelago, 

which includes 18 islands and numerous islets, is regarded 

as one of the world’s most beautiful island groups. Listed 

in 1966 by UNESCO as a biosphere reserve, the Bijagos 

Archipelago provides a refuge for abundant marine flora 

and fauna, including sea turtles and sea hippopotamuses. 

Some of the islands are also protected as a National Park 

and as a Community Marine Protected Area. The Bijagos 

Archipelago is economically important for tourism, fishing, 

and exploitation of native palm trees. Guinea-Bissau’s 

economy also depends on farming and agro-pastoral 

activities, as well as on logging for timber. The country ranks 

fourth in Africa for cashew nut production, with exports 

from cashews accounting for 60 percent of the national 

income (FAOstat, 2015). 

Republic of

Guinea-Bissau

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

Rice fields and fringing forest
A Window on a Changing World 127

Ecoregions

Shaded Relief

Photo caption

Ecoregions and Topography

The Bijagos Archipelago constitutes the first of five ecoregions—the 

Zone Insulaire de Guinée-Bissau (ZI-GB – Guinea-Bissau Island Zone). 

On the mainland, two distinctive ecoregions make up the coastal area. 

The first is the Zone des Estuaires de Guinée-Bissau (E-GB – Estuaries 

of Guinea-Bissau) where the narrow land-water interface presents a 

complex system of estuaries, lined with mangrove forests, tidal flats, 

and herbaceous savanna fringed with palm groves. Just inland is the 

Zone Côtière de Guinée-Bissau (ZC-GB – Guinea-Bissau Coastal Zone), a 

low, rolling plain and broad valleys devoted in large part to agriculture, 

carved out of remnants of Sudanian and Guinean Zone woodlands. 

In the northeast is the Zone Soudanienne de Guinée-Bissau (ZS-GB – 

Guinea-Bissau Sudanian Zone), a transition zone of wooded savannas 

on ancient bedrock between the high Fouta Djallon in Guinea and the 

coastal lowlands. In the southeast lies the relatively remote Zone de 

Colline de Boé (ZCB – Boé Hill or Upland Zone), a dissected upland 

capped by extensive laterite soils and herbaceous bowé formations. 

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

JBDODANE / CC BY-NC 2.0

Wetland and mangrove forest in Guinea-Bissau

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): GRAY TAPPAN /USGS
128 Landscapes of West Africa

In Guinea-Bissau, savannas dominate the land cover, 

accounting for about 45 percent of the country’s land 

surface. Although the total savanna land surface has 

remained nearly unchanged, the underlying dynamic 

is not so simple. Agricultural areas have doubled since 

1975. Covering 13 percent of the national land surface 

in 2013, agriculture has become the second most 

extensive land cover class. Clearing for cultivation 

has encroached into natural habitats in all of GuineaBissau’s ecoregions except the Zone de Colline de Boé 

(ZCB – Boé Hill or Upland Zone). Whereas agricultural 

expansion explains the loss of about 2,500 sq km 

of savannas (or 16 percent of their 1975 total land 

surface), the degradation of woodlands and forests from 

logging and clearing has produced open landscapes 

that take on the characteristics of tree and wooded 

savannas, increasing the area mapped as savanna in 

the same period. Deforestation for wood production 

is responsible for 65 percent of forest habitat losses 

(forests, woodlands, gallery forests), or 1,700 sq km of 

forest that have become savannas in 2013. 

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends

Mangroves and estuaries
A Window on a Changing World 129

Large area classes

Small area classes

Agriculture in shallows and recession, in particular rice 

cultivation, colonizes alluvial floodplains in the Zone des 

Estuaires (E-GB – Estuary Zone) and the Zone Côtière (ZC-GB 

– Coastal Zone). Rice cultivated areas have slightly increased in 

Guinea-Bissau since 1975, encroaching into wetlands, gallery 

forest and mangroves.

Whether from clearing for cultivation, local harvesting of 

wood, or for external commercial markets, the forest resources 

have been heavily degraded by rapid exploitation. The rate 

of deforestation has increased from about 2 percent per year 

between 1975 and 2000 to 3.9 percent over the 2000 to 2013 

period. Overall, Guinea-Bissau lost about 77 percent of its forests 

between 1975 and 2013; only 180 sq km remain, mainly in the 

south near the Guinea border. Likewise, woodlands regressed 

by 35 percent over the 38 years, a loss of 1,750 sq km. 

Mangroves are one of the major land cover classes in GuineaBissau, accounting for over 9 percent of the country’s land 

surface. This fragile ecosystem is critical to coastal people who 

take advantage of its rich fisheries and wood resources. They 

also use the tidal flats for traditional rice cultivation (Corcoran, 

Ravilious, and Skuja, 2007). Between 1975 and 2013, mangroves 

decreased by 6.4 percent, or 220 sq km. 

Bowé, lateritic landscapes that characterize Guinean plateaus, 

cover 3.2 percent of the country’s land surface and are mainly 

found in the Colline de Boé (ZCB – Boé Hill or Upland Zone) 

ecoregions. These rocky, impenetrable soils are usually devoid 

of woody vegetation but support a herbaceous cover during 

the rainy season. As a result, bowé is one of the most stable 

landscapes in Guinea-Bissau. Bowé is ill-suited to agriculture 

but conducive to grazing.

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

Woodland Mangrove Agriculture Savanna

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013

AREA (SQ KM)

YEARS

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

Agriculture in 

shallows and 

recession

Gallery forest Bowé Forest Settlement

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): GRAY TAPPAN /USGS
130 Landscapes of West Africa

Coastal erosion in northwestern 

Guinea-Bissau

Coastal erosion is a major environmental problem throughout 

West Africa, but some stretches of the coastline are more severely 

affected than others. In northwestern Guinea Bissau, coastal zones 

have eroded rapidly over the past few decades. In Varela, the 

shoreline has retreated by up to 700 m inland in the past 40 years 

(see inset above). Both rising sea levels and the destruction of 

mangrove forests, which act as natural barriers, have been blamed 

for the loss of land. The loss of mangrove forests is especially 

visible around Kabrousse and along the coast south of Varela; 

mangroves have been harvested as fuel wood for smoking fish 

and for other household needs. 

As a result of coastal erosion, trees and infrastructure have been 

disappearing gradually. Towns and villages located close to the 

shoreline, where most of the economic activity takes place, are 

likewise threatened. The ruins of a tourist resort, built in the 

1980s, stand as a poignant reminder of the forces of the rising 

Trees uprooted by the action of the waves, further 

destabilizing the coastline.

ALEXANDRE CABRAL
A Window on a Changing World 131

tides (see adjacent pictures). Biodiversity of the coastal ecosystem is also at 

risk. The habitats of marine turtles and the African manatee, both of whom 

depend on mangrove forests and sea grass beds, have been shrinking. 

Saltwater intrusions associated with sea level rise present another threat 

to the coastal ecosystem. 

Due to the severity of coastal erosion in this location, Varela beach was 

selected as a pilot site for the United Nations’ Adaptation to Climate Change 

in Coastal Zones of West Africa project (UNESCO, 2012). In the course of the 

project, afforestation and rehabilitation of tourism potential were carried 

out with the help of the local population, and a biodiversity library was 

established in the Varela Environmental Audit School. Studies were also 

conducted of Varela’s coastal biodiversity and ecological and economic 

vulnerability to erosion. 

Coastal erosion in Varela is expected to increase due to the sea level rise 

of over 10 cm since 1950. Hence, preparedness—protection of existing 

natural barriers, monitoring of the coastline, and creation of alternative 

income opportunities is paramount (Nicholls and Cazenave, 2010). 

Crumbling foundations of a tourist resort on the beach. 

I. NIANG I. NIANG
132

Photo caption

132 Landscapes of West Africa

Liberia, the “Land of the Free”, was established as a homeland 

for freed African-American slaves in the 19th century and 

was the first African country to gain independence. The 

coastal country is characterized by humid, tropical climate 

with mean rainfall ranging from 2,000 mm farthest inland 

to over 5,000 mm at the coast. Liberia contains the largest 

part (50 percent) of the remaining Upper Guinean rain 

forest in West Africa, which is an important hotspot of 

global biodiversity. Liberia’s forests contain approximately 

225 timber species and are home to a rich diversity of 

mammals, birds, reptiles and insects (CIFOR, 2005). According 

to recent assessments (FAO, 2014), less than 5 percent of 

Liberia’s forests are considered primary forests (no clearly 

visible indications of human activity); the vast majority are 

regenerated forests (native species, but with indication of 

human activity). While Liberia’s forests are recognized as 

a top conservation priority in the entire region, there are 

currently only two actively protected areas—Sapo National 

Park and the East Nimba Nature Reserve—and eight forest 

reserves. This conservation goal, however, competes with 

extractive economic activities, such as mining and logging, 

which account for large portions of Liberia’s export income. 

Total Surface Area: 111,369 km2

Estimated Population in 2013: 4,294,000

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

Republic of 

Liberia

Environmental Highlights:

• Most forested country in West Africa

• Significant reservoir of biodiversity

• Endangered species hunted for bush 

meat (poaching)

• Deforestation

• Pollution and waste management

View of the Mount Nimba foothills and the railway used to transport the iron ore
A Window on a Changing World 133

Ecoregions

Photo caption

Ecoregions and Topography

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

A PERFECT HEART / FOTER.COM / CC BY-NC-SA

Liberia’s landscapes range from flat coastal lowlands with mangroves 

and swamps, to rolling hills and plateaus further inland, and low 

mountains in the northeast. The Nimba Mountain range, partially 

protected as a Nature Reserve, stretches along the Guinea border. The 

Coastal Plains (CP) are covered by a mosaic of savannas, degraded forest 

and agriculture. In contrast, the hills of the Montane Forest Zone (MFZ) 

and Tropical Forest (TF) ecoregions are mostly covered by dense rain 

forests. Within the Montane Forest Zone (MFZ), Mount Wuteve reaches 

a maximum of 1,380 m, the nation’s highest point. This mountain range 

is surrounded by the less densely forested Wooded Plateaus (WPt), 

where woodland and degraded forest dominate. The Bong Interior 

Plateau (BIP) encompasses most of Liberia’s arable land.

Shaded Relief

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): JBDODANE / FLICKR .COM / CC BY-NC 2.0

Village in Liberia
134 Landscapes of West Africa

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends

Liberia stands out as the most forested country in West 

Africa. In 2013, forest covered two-thirds of Liberia’s 

land surface, of which less than half (44 percent) was 

mapped as degraded forest, followed by agriculture (13 

percent of the land surface) and savanna (11 percent). 

Smaller land cover classes include thicket (3 percent), 

gallery forest (2 percent) and plantations (1.5 percent). 

The remaining land cover classes each occupy less than 

1 percent of Liberia’s land surface. 

The overall rate of change in land use and land cover 

has accelerated from 0.5 percent per year between 

1975 and 2000—slightly below regional average—to 

1.3 percent per year between 2000 and 2013, which is 

above the regional average for this time period. While 

the civil wars (1989–1996 and 1999–2003) slowed 

down development and as a result land use change, 

the post-conflict years have seen a surge in land cover 

transformation. 

The most important trajectories of land use and land 

cover change have been associated with loss of forest 

cover: 3,000 sq km of forest were lost between 1975 and 

2000, and another 3,500 sq km between 2000 and 2013, 

Rubber plantation, Liberia

JBDODANE / FLICKR.COM / CC BY-NC 2.0
A Window on a Changing World 135

which represents an overall loss of 15 percent of the 1975 forest 

coverage. Most of the forest loss occurred in the eastern part of 

the country, in the Tropical Forest Zone (TFZ). Dense forest was 

mostly converted into degraded forest, savanna, agriculture 

and thicket, as a result of selective logging and slash-and-burn 

agriculture. Due to the highly dynamic nature of these land use 

strategies and the rapid re-growth of vegetation after clearing 

in this humid tropical environment, the land cover classes of 

agriculture, degraded forest and savanna show both gains and 

losses. On the other hand, dense forest, which takes the longest 

time to fully regenerate, has seen almost exclusively losses. 

While several of the smaller land cover classes have seen higher 

losses as a percentage of their 1975 coverage, the 15 percent loss 

of forest is by far the largest in terms of actual area lost (6,600 

sq km) and is the most significant because of the importance of 

this remnant of Upper Guinean rain forest. Loss of woodlands 

has been even more dramatic, with a 98 percent loss since 1975, 

mostly replaced by thickets whose area has grown tenfold during 

the same time period. Since 2000, agriculture and irrigated 

agriculture have also expanded rapidly, along with agroforestry 

(plantations) and mining, all experiencing a revival since the 

end of Liberia’s civil war in 2003. 

Large area classes

Small area classes

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

Woodland Settlements Plantation Thicket

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013

AREA (SQ KM)

YEARS

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

Degraded 

forest

Forest Savanna Agriculture

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013

AREA (SQ KM)

YEARS
136 Landscapes of West Africa

The forest ecosystem of the East Nimba Nature Reserve threatened 

by human impacts

The Mount Nimba range is a transboundary forested massif which extends from northeastern Liberia into 

southeastern Guinea and western Côte d’Ivoire. Rising to a maximum altitude of 1,752 m, Mount Nimba is one of 

the highest elevation forest ecosystems in West Africa. The mountain range encompasses striking landscapes of 

steep valleys, plateaus, sharp cliffs, and exposed rocks. The Mount Nimba range remained a forest refugium during 

past glacial periods, when surrounding landscapes became covered by savanna, giving the range biodiversity 

unparalleled on the continent. It contains original and diverse species of the most remarkable animal and plant 

populations, notably threatened species such as the Micropotamogale of Mount Nimba, the viviparous toad of 

Mount Nimba and western chimpanzees. As the source of several important rivers, including the Cavalla and St. 

John, the mountain range also plays an important role in the regional water cycle. 

The part of the massif located in Liberia, however, has been greatly degraded by mining. The satellite images 

from 1974 and 2014 show the impacts of iron ore mining that occurred in Mount Nimba between 1962 and 

1989. In 1967, mountaintop mining had already begun (see inset above). Although dense forest still covered 

most of the East Nimba area in 1974, mining activities also stimulated the development of local and national 

road infrastructure, further impacting the habitat in the surrounding lowland. The footprints of mining camps 

and roads in construction are visible along the western boundary of the nature reserve. During the civil wars, the 
A Window on a Changing World 137

Mount Nimba region saw an influx of people fleeing the areas of unrest. During that time, in the 

absence of forestry law enforcement, major logging activities were carried out in the forest, bush 

meat was hunted on a large-scale, and slash-and-burn agriculture expanded. 

By 2014, forest cover had been greatly reduced in the Mount Nimba area. The East Nimba Forest 

Reserve had lost about half of its 1974 forest cover to encroachment by agriculture and settlements. 

The slopes of Mount Nimba had been deforested, causing soils and mineral waste to wash downhill 

and silt the rivers. The legacies of former mining activities, such as the carved terraces and the 

open pit depression called the Blue Lake, are still visible on the land and altered the landscape of 

the mountain ridge (see inset above and adjacent picture). 

In response to concerns about the pressures from mining operations and population growth, 

the East Nimba Nature Reserve of Liberia was established in 2003 with the primary conservation 

objective of preserving Mount Nimba’s high and unique biodiversity. Covering over 135 sq km 

of mostly montane tropical forest, the reserve follows earlier conservation efforts in Côte d’Ivoire 

and Guinea—Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve in 1944 and Mount Nimba Biosphere Reserve 

in 1980. Field reports indicate a slight recovery of the vegetation cover since the establishment 

of the reserve. Herbaceous and bushy vegetation reclaim the 

abandoned terraced slopes of the Blue Lake 

depression in the Old Mine site.

D. ANTHONY KPADEH AND TORWON TONY YANTAY
138 Landscapes of West Africa

Urban growth in Liberia’s only metropolis: Monrovia

Liberia was founded in 1822 as a place to resettle freed American slaves, with Monrovia as its capital. Originally 

divided into two parts— Monrovia proper, south of the Mesurado River with the city’s Americo-Liberian 

population, and Krutown, north of the river, mainly inhabited by ethnic Krus and other local tribes. Old Krutown 

was demolished in 1945 for construction of new port facilities and its residents resettled. The expanded port 

remains important to the economic development of Liberia.

In Monrovia’s humid tropical climate, obtaining a cloud-free view of the city from satellites is quite rare. The 

Corona mission returned a partially clear photo of the city in February 1966 (see inset). At that time, the city’s 

growth was limited by an extensive mangrove swamp along the Mesurado River and Monrovia did not expand 

beyond the peninsula. Monrovia’s dramatic growth from 1986 to 2015 is shown in Landsat satellite images of the 

city. The 1986 image shows that the city grew first around the mangrove swamp and then along the southern 

coast. By 2015, the city had expanded even farther inland and along the west side of the St. Paul River, outside 

of the Greater Monrovia district. In the past four decades, the population of Monrovia increased 13-fold, from 

about 80,000 in the early 1960s to over 1,100,000 in 2015. The land cover maps (see pages 134–135) indicate that 

its built-up area increased from 100 sq km in 1975 to 176 sq km in 2013. Highest housing densities are found in 

the historical center of the city; from there, housing density gradually decreases toward the outskirts. 
A Window on a Changing World 139

The reasons for Monrovia’s population growth include an upsurge in both 

rural-to-urban migration and inter-urban migration. The present economy 

of Liberia is very Monrovia-centric, and there are large disparities between 

Monrovia and other parts of the country in terms of wealth, infrastructure, 

and possibilities for participation in the political process. Part of this is 

due to Monrovia’s huge population; Liberia’s second largest city, Gbarnga, 

has only 60,000 people. During the civil wars when Monrovia was under 

control of peacekeeping forces and governed by interim governments, 

many rural Liberians fled to Monrovia for safety. After the wars ended, 

many of those internally displaced people chose to remain in the city.

As in many other fast-growing African cities, the development of 

infrastructure and social services can hardly keep pace with rapid 

population growth, leaving many of Monrovia’s poorer neighborhoods 

in slum-like conditions. Combined with extensive war damage, Monrovia 

faces the daunting challenge of rebuilding at the same time as extending 

its urban infrastructure (Ngafuan, 2010).

West Point, Monrovia

JBDODANE / FLICKR / CC BY-NC 2.0
140 Landscapes of West Africa

Mali

Republic of

The area occupied by Mali was once home to the Manding Empire (c. 1230 to c. 1600), 

the largest empire known to exist in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the 1300s, the Manding 

Empire extended from the Atlantic coast to west of the Niger River, bordered by the 

Sahara Desert in the North and the equatorial rain forest in the South. 

The Inland Delta of the Niger River spreads across central Mali—a unique ecosystem 

in West Africa. A result of the Niger River flowing into the sandy Sahelian plains, 

this vast network of channels, swamps, and lakes mitigates the severity of the arid 

climate and forms the second largest interior delta in Africa. Host to rice farming, 

fishing, and animal husbandry, the delta plays a critical role in the country’s economy. 

Agriculture, which accounts for about 40 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) 

and employs 74 percent of the labor force, remains the main economic sector in Mali, 

which ranks as Africa’s fourth largest cotton producer (CIA, 2013). Gold mining has 

greatly increased since the beginning of the 2000s, accounting today for about 15 

Environmental Highlights:

• Soil degradation and loss of 

vegetation cover

•	 Desertification

• Rich ecosystem of Inland Niger Delta

• Farmer-managed natural regeneration 

• High tourism potential

Total Surface Area: 1,241,200 km2

Estimated Population in 2013: 16,592,000

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

percent of Mali’s GDP and making it West Africa’s second largest 

exporter of gold after Ghana (Hale, 2002). Mali has major tourist 

attractions with sites such as the Bandiagara escarpment, known 

for its stunning landscapes with centuries-old village architecture, 

and the famous city of Timbuktu, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
A Window on a Changing World 141

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

Mali has flat to rolling landscapes, 

occasionally interrupted by high rising 

plateaus. In the north, the Sahara Desert 

covers almost half of the country. The open 

steppes of the Akle Azaouad (AKA) plateau 

and rocky terrain of Adrar-Timetrines (AT) 

and of Tilemsi (T and VT) make large 

east-west swaths across the country. 

The southern Sahara transitions into the 

semiarid Sahel Region—the domain of 

pastoralists—interrupted in central Mali by 

the seasonally flooded alluvial plain of the 

Inland Niger Delta (DV, DM). The southern 

strip of this large plain is bordered by the 

Koutiala (PK) and Bandiagara-Hombori (BH) 

plateaus, the latter rising to 1,155 m. In 

southern Mali, the plains of the Sudanian 

Region account for the majority of the 

country’s agricultural land. 

Ecoregions

Shaded Relief

Ecoregions and Topography
142 Landscapes of West Africa

Overall, steppes, Sudanian 

savannas and Sahelian short 

grass savannas have experienced 

dramatic losses during the last 

38 years, yet they remain the 

predominant land cover classes, 

accounting for 30 percent, 18.5 

percent, and 15 percent of the 

mapped area, respectively, in 

2013. The decrease in steppe is 

largely explained by the expansion 

of sandy areas in the Akle Azaouad 

(AKA) and Tilemsi (T) ecoregions. 

Increasing aridity also impacted 

the steppes, pushing them 

southward, in places encroaching 

on the Sahelian savannas. Losses 

of Sahelian and Sudanian 

savannas, however, result more 

from human activity — the 

expansion of agriculture that has 

occurred across southern Mali. 

Cropland area increased by a 

factor of 2.3 over the 38-year 

period, which is equivalent to 

an average annual increase of 3.5 

percent, or 1,300 sq km per year. 

Agricultural expansion can be 

seen across the south, especially 

in Haut Bani Niger (HBNN – Upper 

Bani Niger), Koutiala Plateau (PK) 

and Kaarta (K) ecoregions. In these 

regions, agricultural landscapes 

now predominate over natural 

ones. In 1975 the Séno Plain, 

east of the Plateau Dogon in the 

Gondo-Mondoro (GM) ecoregion, 

was already predominantly 

agricultural. By 2013 it is uniformly 

devoted to cropland (see pages 

144–145). Cropland expansion 

is driven by the need to feed a 

rapidly increasing population and 

has accelerated between 2000 

and 2013, facilitated by modern 

technology. Likewise, irrigated 

agriculture areas have increased 

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends

Mali’s northern half is a desert, with a sparse but relatively stable vegetation cover. Consequently, only the southern half of the 

country was mapped in order to monitor and analyze land use and land cover dynamics.
A Window on a Changing World 143

by 400 percent, or 4,600 sq km, mainly along the Niger River 

and its tributaries in the southern part of the Inland Delta.

The Inland Niger Delta is a highly dynamic and complex 

ecoregion of landscapes that interact with the ebb and 

flow of seasonal flooding (see pages 146–147). There is also 

considerable year-to-year variation in the extent of flooding. 

Despite this, the land cover types within the Delta have 

remained relatively stable, although there has been some 

encroachment of irrigated cropland in the southern Delta.

Natural habitat destruction is a major environmental 

issue in Mali. In addition to savannas, gallery forests have 

decreased by 23 percent due to population and agriculture 

pressures between 1975 and 2013. Clearing these forests 

causes severe water erosion, which removes the topsoil, 

reducing land productivity and creating conditions that 

lead to desertification. On a positive note, the hundreds 

of swamp forests that occur in natural depressions across 

the semiarid Sahel remain largely intact, providing critical 

habitat for wildlife. 

Large area classes

Small area classes

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

Sandy Agriculture

area

Sahelian 

short grass 

savanna

Steppe Savanna

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

AREA (SQ KM)

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

Irrigated 

agriculture

Swamp Settlements

forest

Gallery forest

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

AREA (SQ KM)
144 Landscapes of West Africa

Building land-based resilience to drought and climate change on 

the Seno Plain 

Between the rocky Dogon Plateau in central Mali and the border with Burkina Faso stretches the Seno Plain and 

its densely settled farmland. The Seno Plain is located in the Sahel, where limited and highly variable rainfall 

(500–600 mm per year) makes farming a challenge. Indeed, land degradation, deforestation, and out-migration 

from the Seno Plain were common during the long series of devastating droughts that affected the entire Sahel 

from the late 1960s to the 1980s. Despite the earlier out-migration, population has steadily increased in recent 

decades, increasing human pressure on the land. 

The views from space tell a story of change—including a positive development that is often missed. In the 1972 

Landsat image, we see a patchwork of cultivated land (light areas) and shrub and tree savanna (darker areas). 

Farmers still practiced crop rotation that included leaving land in bush fallow. As population increased, more and 

more land was put into cultivation, virtually eliminating the fallow area. The 2013 image shows the continuous 

cropland, with hundreds of villages (dark spots) scattered throughout the sandy plain. The villages stand out in 

part because of their built-up surfaces and shade trees, but also because of the fertilizing effect of household and 

animal waste in the fields adjacent to each village. 

A closer look using detailed imagery shows another feature around every village—a relatively dense parkland 

of trees (see insets). Indeed, by mapping tree cover with high-resolution imagery, we found that medium to high 
A Window on a Changing World 145

densities of field trees currently cover about 4,500 sq km in the Seno Plain. Field surveys suggest that most of 

the trees are less than 15 to 20 years old, meaning that much of today’s parkland is very young. Corona space 

photographs taken in 1967 show that most villages maintained a parkland in the fields close to the village, but that 

tree densities dropped considerably beyond the inner circle of fields. Shrub savanna— rather than tree parklands 

—characterized the extensive bush fallow between villages. 

The two detailed comparison images show the transformation that is typical around villages in the Seno Plain over 

the past 47 years. In the 1967 views, bright fields stand out from the surrounding bush fallow. The parkland of trees 

tends to be limited to the fields immediately adjacent to each village. In the 2014 image, the villages have visibly 

increased in size, and the surrounding land is completely saturated with cropland. Many of the large, older trees 

seen in 1967 did not survive the drought years and the increased pressure for firewood and fodder; however, in a 

positive development, a parkland of young trees has replaced them—extending well beyond the inner fields to 

the entire landscape around each village. Many local farmers confirm the decline in tree cover in the 1970s and 

1980s, and the widespread re-greening of the Seno Plain since then. While improving rainfall conditions in the past 

two decades might have helped trees to regenerate on these farmlands, most of the changes can be attributed to 

human activity (Spiekermann and others, 2015). Since the mid-1990s, international and local non-governmental 

organizations have jointly promoted farmer-managed natural regeneration, echoing the success stories from 

the Maradi and Zinder regions of Niger. The new forestry law of 1995 has promoted a more decentralized forest 

management approach, which has facilitated improved environmental management by local institutions. 

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS Seno Plain, Mali
146 Landscapes of West Africa

Landscape diversity and dynamics of the Inland Niger Delta

The Inland Niger Delta is the largest wetland in West Africa. It is spectacular in both its landscape diversity and 

dynamics. Water from the Niger River, which originates 900 km upstream in the Guinean Highlands, spreads out 

into a wide floodplain about 380 km long in central Mali. It has a very gentle gradient, dropping only 8 m over its 

entire length. The floodplain is a highly dynamic complex of wetlands, channels, islands and lakes that provides 

important habitat for fish, water birds, and other wildlife. The seasonal flooding also supports pasture and rice 

farming. The delta has provided livelihoods for people for millennia. Today, over 1 million people depend on the 

resources of the delta. About a quarter of the Delta’s population lives in cities like Djenné, Mopti, Niafounké, and 

Timbuktu. 

In the recent geologic past, the Inland Delta area was once a huge lake, fed by the Upper Niger River. At some 

point in that wet period, the lake overflowed to the east through a breach. The interior lake was drained, although 

a number of small relic lakes remain. 

The three Landsat images capture the dynamics of natural flooding as seen in May, September, and December 2015. 

The May image shows the extreme dryness of the land at the peak of the hot, dry season. The semi-permanent 

water bodies (dark blue and green) of the Delta stand out. Several major lakes have dried out since the early 1970s, 

most notably Lake Faguibine, whose arrowhead-shaped lakebed is clearly seen in the north. The low flood levels 

of the drier years are insufficient to reach many lakes and depressions. Flooding begins when the Niger and the 
A Window on a Changing World 147

Bani Rivers begin to rise. Starting in July, the Niger River rises about 4 m in 100 days. Peak level may even reach 

6 m in the years of high rainfall (Zwarts and others, 2009). As the center image shows (opposite page), by late 

September the natural flooding of the Inland Delta is well underway. Acting like a giant sponge, vast wetlands 

come to life. The southern Delta swells and greens first, while the northern Delta area experiences a two- to threemonth delay in flooding. In the December image, the annual high water level has finally reached the northern 

Delta, while the southern Delta has already been drained of much of its water. Between the southern and northern 

floodplain, flooding permeates a total area of about 40,000 sq km. Numerous ephemeral lakes, along with the 

more permanent ones, like grapes on a vine, receive and store the floodwaters, releasing them gradually as the 

river level subsides. 

Vast floating meadows of vegetation occupy the areas of deeper water, dominated by an aquatic grass species 

known locally as bourgou. During the flooding, bourgou, along with wild rice and other species, produce a 

considerable amount of habitat for fish and water birds and nutritious fodder for cattle during the dry season. As 

the water subsides in the dry season, the floodplain vegetation provides green pasture for the millions of cattle, 

sheep, and goats. Farmers cultivate rice, mainly in the southern Delta. They use a West African rice variety that 

grows well as the water rises. It is then harvested when the waters recede. This floodplain rice is more extensive 

than irrigated rice fields, which can also be found in the Inland Delta. 

Flood forecasts will become increasingly important as the population grows and pressure on water resources 

increases. Water level measurements and satellite images help predict the onset of seasonal floods and help 

achieve food security. An early warning system will help predict drought and monitor food security. Data from 

both on the ground and satellites help manage water resources.

PHOTOS: GRAY TAPPAN / USGS; MICHIEL KUPERS; RICHARD JULIA
148 Landscapes of West Africa

Photo caption

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

Environmental Highlights:

• Soil erosion 

• Desertification

• Scarcity of freshwater resources

• Marine fishery resources

• Spectacular scenery

Mauritania is situated at the crossroads of the 

Maghreb region and sub-Saharan Africa. With 

roughly four-fifths of its land area within the Sahara 

Desert (less than 200 mm mean annual rainfall), 

the population of this vast and sparsely populated 

country is mostly concentrated in the slightly less 

arid south, as well as in the Atlantic port cities 

of Nouakchott and Nouadhibou. Mauritania’s 

historically nomadic population has seen a trend 

toward sedentarization and urbanization since 

independence in 1960, especially in response to 

increasingly dry climatic conditions. Mauritania is 

susceptible to periodic droughts and hot, dry dustand sand-laden Harmattan winds, which threaten 

the small fraction of its land surface that is arable. 

Some irrigation potential has been developed in 

the Senegal River basin to increase food security in 

the face of vulnerability to drought. The country’s 

wealth lies in its extensive mineral deposits and 

rich fishing grounds in the Atlantic Ocean. Key 

biological resources include extensive seasonal 

wetlands in the southeast of Mauritania as well 

as coastal wetlands on the Atlantic shore. These 

wetlands stand out as hotspots of biodiversity 

against the vast stretch of sand dunes and 

rock formations of the Sahara and the sparsely 

vegetated Sahel zone, where freshwater is scarce. 

They constitute critically important breeding, 

transit and wintering grounds for millions of 

migratory birds.

Total Surface Area: 1,030,000 km2

Estimated Population in 2013: 

3,873,000

Islamic Republic of

Mauritania

148 Landscapes of West Africa

Adrar Plateau, Mauritania
A Window on a Changing World 149

Ecoregions and Topography

Ecoregions

Shaded Relief

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

Mauritania is a generally flat country, 

with vast arid plains interrupted 

by impressive rocky plateaus and 

escarpments. These give rise to 

some of the most spectacular 

scenery found anywhere in both the 

Sahel and the Sahara. In the west, 

the extensive Trarza (TRA) is a plain 

mostly covered by old, longitudinal 

dunes that are stabilized by Sahelian 

short grass savanna and steppe. To 

the south, the plain is interrupted 

by the Senegal River Valley, with 

its unique Acacia nilotica forests. 

To the east, the broad plains are 

flanked by the Plateau du Tagant 

(PT) and Plateau de l’Assaba (PA), 

both rugged sandstone plateaus, 

with deep canyons and occasional 

springs that feed oasis settlements. 

East of the high plateaus, vast 

sandy plains with undulating sand 

dunes stretch nearly 500 km to the 

escarpment at Néma. Here lie the 

regions of the Hodhs—the North 

Hodh (HN) with increasingly mobile 

sand dunes, and the Hodh Gharbi 

(HG) to the south with ancient 

stabilized dunes that support 

extensive rangelands and relatively 

productive ferruginous soils with 

agricultural potential. 

MICHIEL KUPERS

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): MICHIEL KUPERS
150 Landscapes of West Africa

Steppe is the dominant land cover type in southern Mauritania, occupying 

more than 50 percent of the mapped area. The second most common 

are sandy areas, which made up almost 25 percent of the mapped area 

in 2013, and, in descending order, bare soil, Sahelian short grass savanna, 

rocky land, and wetland and floodplain, all of which occupy between 

1 percent and 10 percent of the mapped area. Less than 1 percent is 

mapped as agricultural land. This makes Mauritania the least cultivated 

country of the 17 West African countries. Likewise, other “bioproductive” 

land cover types—forest, gallery forest and swamp forest—make up

only tiny fractions of the land area. Although these bioproductive land 

cover types are small in area, their importance in both ecological and 

economic terms is large. 

The overall rate of change in land use and land cover has accelerated 

from 0.4 percent per year between 1975 and 2000 to 0.7 percent per 

year between 2000 and 2013. Compared to the annual rates of change 

for the entire region of West Africa —0.6 percent and above 1 percent, 

respectively—the land cover in Mauritania has changed relatively slowly. 

Lower rural population densities in Mauritania compared to the average in 

the region might offer one explanation for the relatively slower conversion 

of land use and land cover. 

Over both time periods, the two most widespread natural vegetation cover 

types and important pasture grounds, steppe and Sahelian short grass 

savanna, were affected by the largest losses in terms of area. Almost 19,000 

sq km of steppe were lost between 1975 and 2000, and over 15,000 sq km 

between 2000 and 2013. For Sahelian short grass savanna, these figures 

amount to over 12,000 sq km from 1975 to 2000 and almost 11,000 sq km 

from 2000 to 2013. Steppe has given way to large swaths of sandy areas —an

expression of the classic picture of desertification, where productive and 

stabilizing vegetation cover is lost and sandy substrate mobilized, giving 

the impression of an encroaching desert. Sahelian short grass savanna, on 

the other hand, has largely been replaced by steppe, and to a much lesser 

extent by sandy area. These changes point to a progressive aridification 

and subsequent southward shift of the major vegetation cover types in 

southern Mauritania. 

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends

Large areas of northern Mauritania are occupied by mainly nonvegetated arid land 

cover types which are quite stable over time. For this reason, only the southern part 

of the country (south of approximately 18 degrees north latitude) was mapped.
A Window on a Changing World 151

In addition to those changes of large geographic extent, some 

changes smaller in area are nonetheless significant due to their 

very high change rates. These include settlements, the area of 

which increased by a factor of ten between 1975 and 2013, as well 

as agriculture. The area of rainfed agriculture more than tripled, 

whereas irrigated agriculture increased almost six-fold over the 

same time period. The rate of agriculture expansion dramatically 

increased between 2000 and 2013, reaching an average of 89 sq 

km of additional cropland each year. In contrast, the already small 

but ecologically important areas covered by forest and gallery forest 

have been reduced by 44 percent and 30 percent, respectively, due 

to drought and agricultural pressure. Mauritania’s forests are all 

located in the Senegal River Valley, whereas the remaining gallery 

forests are also found along some of the permanent and ephemeral 

tributaries to the Senegal River, such as the Gorgol, with very few 

occurring along the wetlands of southeastern Mauritania. The 

disappearance of forests is concerning, because they constitute 

hotspots of biodiversity in this predominantly arid country and offer 

important habitat for wildlife, including migratory birds, as well as 

repositories of medicinal plants. By contrast, another land cover 

type of high significance for biodiversity, the wetlands, has been 

remarkably stable over this almost 40-year period. 

Large area classes

Small area classes

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

Wetland – Sandy area

oodplain

Sahelian short 

grass savanna

Steppe

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

AREA (SQ KM)

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

Irrigated Agriculture

agriculture

Gallery Forest Forest Settlements

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS
152 Landscapes of West Africa

Dynamics of ephemeral wetlands in eastern Mauritania 

In the arid northern Sahel, where people, plants, and animals all live on the edge of what is ecologically sustainable, 

wetlands stand out from their surroundings by the rich and diverse flora and fauna they support. As islands of 

resources, the ephemeral wetlands of eastern Mauritania fulfill key ecological and economic functions. However, 

because rainfall varies so much in eastern Mauritania, the water levels and vegetation in ephemeral wetlands 

fluctuate from year to year, and can even change significantly within a single year.

Landsat images of the Department of Néma in eastern Mauritania from 1972 and 2013 show many wetlands 

that occupy channels and depressions. These wetlands stand out in imagery from the nearby strips of sandy 

and bare soils. In the middle of the sandy zones covered by Sahelian short grass savanna, localized eroded areas 

around boreholes and villages appear as bright aureoles—they are especially visible on the 2013 image. Using 

local terms, Mauritanian wetlands include tamourts (forested closed basins), gâats (herbaceous closed basins or 

flats) and oueds (seasonal watercourses). Tamourts are contained in deep depressions, characterized by stands 

of Acacia nilotica, and have the longest mean water duration. Gâats are open wetlands present in a more shallow 

topography and typically cultivated during the dry season (Shine, 2011). These wetlands are fed by rainfall and 

runoff from their catchment areas and reach their maximum water level after the rainy season in October or 

November. On average, this region receives 280 mm of rainfall per year (Shahin, 2007). Because they rely on 

annual precipitation, the duration, depth, and size of these wetlands vary widely from year to year. A closer view 

of the Gâat Mahmoudé, the largest wetland in eastern Mauritania, illustrates this dynamic (see adjacent insets). GRAY TAPPAN / USGS
A Window on a Changing World 153

The runoff washes fine clay particles and organic matter into the wetland depressions, which 

makes the wetland soils more productive than the surrounding sandy soils. The increased nutrient 

availability and moisture in the wetlands attract a variety of economic activities. Indeed, livestock 

rely on the surface water and pasture in the wetlands for part of the year, bringing additional 

nutrients into the system. Flood recession agriculture is also practiced in some of the wetlands, as 

well as fishing and hunting. The tamourts provide wood for construction and fuel, wild foods and 

medicinal plants. 

Wildlife also depends on water and vegetation resources offered by the wetlands and oftentimes 

competes with economic activities, sparking debate about conservation and management. The 

role of wetlands as stop-over, over-wintering sites and breeding grounds for migratory birds has 

received particular attention. Aerial surveys have been used to monitor Black Stork populations, 

whose concentrations in the wetlands vary from year to year in response to the variable and 

unpredictable surface water. In favorable years, Black Storks over-winter in the Gâat Mahmoudé; in 

other years they continue to more permanent wetlands in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso (Shine, 2001). 
154 Landscapes of West Africa

Nouakchott: urbanization at the gates of the desert

Unlike other capital cities in West Africa, Nouakchott 

did not serve as capital of Mauritania for most of the 

colonial time, inheriting this function from Saint Louis 

only in 1958, shortly before independence in 1960. 

Until that time, Nouakchott was a small fishing town 

of only 200 inhabitants. In the following decades, 

Mauritania underwent very rapid urbanization from 

858,000 to 3,873,000 inhabitants between 1960 and 

2013. The urban growth occurred primarily in the 

coastal cities of Nouakchott and Nouadhibou. A study 

of settlement patterns in Nouakchott showed that 

much of the city’s rapid growth has been in informal settlements with limited access to urban services (Urban 

Habitat, 2016). 

The rapid growth of the city was driven by a long series of drought years since the beginning of the 1970s, and 

by the degradation of the land and vegetation resources that ensued. As wells dried up and forage and firewood 

became harder to find, many rural Mauritanians migrated to Nouakchott in search of work and a better life. Those 

RICHARD JULIA

Nouakchott, Mauritania
A Window on a Changing World 155

environmental refugees added to the refugees displaced by the Western Sahara war in the 

1970s, who had swelled the population of the city. 

A comparison of a Corona satellite image from 1965 and a high-resolution image from 2016 

illustrates the dramatic expansion of the city, whose urbanized area sprawled from only 

5 sq km in 1965 to 150 sq km in 2016. Low density development, including considerable 

undeveloped open space, predominates in the urbanized area, due to a cultural preference 

for detached single-family houses on large tracts of land. 

 Sand dunes advancing from the east are threatening buildings and infrastructure, particularly 

in the rapidly growing peri-urban areas. In a major dust storm, dunes may move several 

meters. In order to protect the city from the encroaching sands, the Nouakchott Green Belt 

was first established in 1975; however, it had to be extended in the 2000s as the city had 

grown beyond its boundaries. Up until today, a total of 12.7 sq km have been stabilized by 

afforestation with Prosopis julifora, Euphorbia balsamifera, Leptadenia pyrotechnica, Acacia 

senegal and Balanites aegyptiaca as well as sowed with grasses such as Aristida pungens 

and Panicum turgidum (see above inset and adjacent picture). In addition to curbing sand 

encroachment, the green belt has provided employment opportunities and fostered agrosilvo-pastoral development (Berte, Ould Mohamed, and Ould Salek, 2010). 

BERTE, OULD MOHAMED, AND OULD SALEK, 2010

Dune stabilization
156 Landscapes of West Africa

Republic of

Niger

Niger is one of the largest inland countries in West Africa and is historically a gateway 

between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. With two-thirds of the country lying 

within the Sahara Desert, it is one of the hottest countries in the world. Niger is 

mostly a vast plateau, with an average elevation of 500 m, with low local relief. In 

the Sahelian zone of the country, the climate becomes semiarid and the vegetation 

cover increases. The central part of Niger is dominated by an extensive pastoral 

zone—mostly steppes or short grass savannas with shrubs and sparsely scattered 

trees. Most of the people derive their income from agriculture and stock raising 

and are highly vulnerable to periodic droughts and desertification. Moreover, land 

potential for agriculture is very unevenly distributed among Niger’s regions, with 

the southern regions providing nearly 98 percent of the arable land. The Niger 

River, for which the country is named, nourishes a ribbon of life as it flows about 

550 km through western Niger. The river is the main source of freshwater and an 

important part of the economy through transportation and irrigation. Niger is a 

leading producer of uranium and is rich in many other minerals.

Total Surface Area: 1,267,000 km2

Estimated Population in 2013: 18,359,000

Environmental Highlights:

• Desertification

• Land degradation

• Re-greening of its agricultural lands

• Spectacular desert scenery

Timia, Aïr Mountains, Niger

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

MICHIEL KUPERS
A Window on a Changing World 157

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

Ecoregions and Topography

Shaded Relief

The Sahara Desert landscape, which covers about 

65 percent of Niger, is made up of endless stretches 

of shifting sand dunes and broad gravel and stony 

plains. In years when the monsoon rains reach the 

southern Sahara, the wadis of the Aïr Massif and 

the plains of the Tamesna (TAM) are relatively more 

productive than the surrounding plateaus. To the 

south, the rest of the country is located within the 

Sahel, a transition zone between the desert and 

tropical West Africa. Across central Niger, from the 

Malian border to Chad, the pastoral zone of the 

Manga (MA1 and MA2) and Azouak (AZ) regions 

forms a wide strip of steppes and savannas. The 

Maradi-Zinder region (TRK and GLB) constitutes 

the largest agricultural region of Niger. In these 

ecoregions, the average bioproductivity gradually 

increases toward Niger’s southern border, where 

farmers are conserving trees in their fields by 

encouraging natural regeneration. In western Niger, 

the productive ancient alluvial valleys of the Bassin 

des Dallols (BD) contrast with the less productive 

steppes and tiger bush of the surrounding plateaus 

and terraces. 

Ecoregions

The sand-colored giraffes near Kouré, Niger are the last 

herd of these majestic animals in West Africa. 

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)
158 Landscapes of West Africa

With an annual rate of 4.0 percent, Niger has one of the highest population 

growth rates in West Africa. Driven by the rapid population growth and the 

increasing demand for food, agricultural expansion is the most dramatic 

change in Niger’s landscapes. Over the period 1975–2013, cultivated 

areas have increased from 12.6 percent in 1975 to 18.1 percent in 2000 

and 24.5 percent in 2013. This represents a total increase of 94.2 percent. 

Agriculture expansion mostly occurred on the productive sandy soils of 

the valleys in the Tillabéri region, where cropland is now encroaching on 

traditional pastoral lands. On the surrounding plateaus and terraces of 

western Niger, a mosaic of steppe and short grass savanna dominates. 

The Zinder-Maradi region, already heavily cultivated in 1975, is now a 

wall-to-wall homogeneous agricultural landscape. However, agriculture is 

still expanding eastward on the remaining short grass Sahelian savannas 

of the Manga regions. In addition, an increase of 50 percent in irrigated 

agriculture was observed along the Niger River.

Across the whole country, steppes remain the dominant land cover class 

and have remained more or less stable (about 45 percent of the mapped 

area). The more productive natural vegetation, however, suffered a sharp 

decline. The Sahelian short grass savanna (usually present on sandy soils) 

contracted in area by 26.7 percent from 1975 to 2013. Gallery forests, 

representing the most dense and biologically diverse vegetation in Niger, 

have also significantly declined. Their total area has always been low (about 

470 sq km in 1975) but significantly decreased (66 percent) in the 38-year 

period. Indeed, these forests mainly occupy the narrow valleys which are 

now heavily cultivated.

Because most of the northern part of Niger is covered by desert, only the southern half 

of the country was mapped in this atlas to analyze land cover and vegetation change.

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends
A Window on a Changing World 159

Sandy areas have increased by 24.8 percent since 1975. This trend is 

a concern because it indicates a decrease in soil stability and a loss of 

vegetation cover in some areas of Niger. Moreover, the trend appears 

to have become more acute since 2000. This change occurs mainly 

in the Manga pastoral ecoregions (MA1 and MA2) characterized by 

ancient sand dunes stabilized by the natural Sahelian short grass 

savanna. During the drought years of the 1970s and 1980s, many 

of these dunes became active when vegetation cover was lost. In 

addition, wind erosion, overgrazing on low vegetation, and loss of 

woody cover from drought and deforestation, often result in land 

degradation and enhance the process of desertification. 

Mapping land use and land cover is an important part of the big 

picture of how land resources are changing. However, it characterizes 

an important dimension of land change that of land cover conversion 

from one type to another. Another type of change, often more subtle 

but equally important, is a change in the quality of the land cover, 

often called land cover modification. There are major examples of 

land cover modification in Niger. In the short grass savanna, there 

has been much loss of shrub and tree cover following drought 

periods and from cutting trees for firewood. On the positive side, 

Niger is the home of one of West Africa’s most significant success 

stories—the re-greening of its agricultural lands by hundreds of 

thousands of farmers who have adopted an agroforestry practice that 

increases and maintains on-farm tree cover (see pages 70–71 and 

162–163). This is a major development in land cover modification.

Large area classes

Small area classes

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

Sahelian short Agriculture

grass savanna

Steppe

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

AREA (SQ KM)

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

Sandy area Water bodies Settlements Gallery forest

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS
160 Landscapes of West Africa

Food insecurity drives deforestation in the Tamou Total 

Faunal Reserve 

The Tamou Total Faunal Reserve was created in 1962 to serve as a buffer zone for the W National Park of Niger and 

for the large transboundary W Regional Park. The reserve is located in the Rural Community of Tamou in Niger’s 

southwestern corner. Initially covering 1,400 sq km (Bouamrane, 2006), the legal area of the reserve was reduced 

to only 760 sq km in 1976 when its eastern zone was decommissioned (Benoit, 1998). The Government of Niger 

decommissioned half of the reserve in response to food insecurity. This triggered a dramatic migration of people 

to this area along the Niger River floodplain where fertile soils and availability of water promised economic 

opportunity. Uncontrolled establishment of new villages and farms lead to the loss of large areas of relatively 

natural savanna habitat. 

The W National Park and Tamou Reserve fall in the transition zone between savanna and woodlands in the SudanoSahelian bioclimatic region. Tamou Reserve’s natural habitat is made up primarily of shrub savanna and wooded 
A Window on a Changing World 161

savanna with gallery forests running along the seasonal watercourses. The 

hundreds of native plant species in the two parks historically supported 

a range of fauna including elephants, lions, hippopotamuses, hyenas, 

cheetahs, warthogs, baboons, caracals, red and green monkeys, and a 

variety of aviafauna (UICN/PACO, 2010). The natural flora and fauna are 

being lost as population pressure converts valuable habitat to farmland 

and villages.

The Landsat images show the expanding area of farm fields and villages 

between 1986 and 2015; most of this change followed the decommissioning 

of the reserve (Price and others, 2002). The changes are especially apparent 

surrounding the named villages in the top center of the images. A study 

of pressure on the W Regional Park identified settlements surrounding the 

international park’s perimeter (Price and others, 2002). The yellow triangles 

show the settlements they identified in the area around Tamou Reserve, 

most of them described as recent or new (as of 2002). 

Despite the strong presence of rangers in the Tamou Reserve, who are there 

to enforce rules protecting the remaining reserve area, illegal activities 

persist, including clearing bush for new fields, poaching of both small and 

large game, illegal transhumance, felling of protected trees, and deliberate 

setting of fires. 
162 Landscapes of West Africa

CHRIS REIJ / WRI

Transforming farmlands through 

farmer-managed re-greening: The 

success story in southern Niger

A quiet but momentous 

agricultural and environmental 

transformation has been 

developing across southern 

Niger since the mid-1980s. As 

a result of an autochthonous 

process called farmermanaged natural regeneration 

(FMNR), farmers increased the 

number of on-farm trees in 

response to demographic and 

resource-related constraints. Thus, they successfully restored degraded 

land and increased resilience in dryland areas.

The regions of Maradi and Zinder are located on the lowest part of the 

Niger Plateau in south-central Niger and cover about 105,000 sq km. Both 

areas are located within the Sahelian bioclimatic region, which typically 

receive between 200 and 600 mm of rainfall per year and have high 

temperatures. These regions have high population densities and “wall-towall” agriculture, where cultivated 

fields extend across virtually 

the entire landscape (Reij and 

Winterbottom, 2015). 

The second half of the 20th century 

witnessed a dramatic reduction in 

mean annual rainfall throughout 

the Sahelian region. According to 

a report by the Intergovernmental 

Panel on Climate change (IPCC), 

a rainfall decrease of 29–49 

percent has been observed in the 

1968–1997 period, compared to 

the 1931–1960 baseline period 

within the Sahel region (IPCC, 

2001). Farmers faced significant tree losses in the 1970s and 1980s, as a 

result of drought, the expansion of cropland, and human pressures (Reij 

and others, 2009). Because few trees remained on the fields, farmers often 

witnessed their newly planted crops being destroyed by wind erosion. 

These environmental and economic crises induced farmers to invest in 

trees to fight desertification (Reij and Winterbottom, 2015). 

In the early 1980s, farmers in southern Niger started experimenting with 

a process known as farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR)—a 

low-cost way of encouraging the natural and spontaneous growth of trees 

and shrubs that provide useful food, fuel, and fodder (Reij and others, 

2009). This practice spread from farmer to farmer, and currently about 3 

million hectares (or 30,000 sq km) of land have been improved across the 

Maradi and Zinder regions. 

The high-resolution images present a time-series view of an agricultural 

landscape typical of the heavily settled plains south of Zinder, in 1957, 1975, 

2005, and 2014. It highlights the increase in on-farm tree density between 

1957 and 2014 (on-farm trees are seen as black spots on the images). 

The low on-farm tree densities in 1957 reflected colonial agricultural 

development policies. In those days, a farmer was perceived to be modern 

if he farmed his crop as a monoculture and had removed most on-farm 

trees to facilitate ploughing the land. Extensive areas of grassy fallow can 

be seen in the 1957 photograph—a practice that has almost disappeared. 

In 1975, the number of on-farm trees approached its lowest point. After 

High-density FMNR in southern Zinder dominated by Faidherbia albida

The “magic tree,” Faidherbia albida

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS
A Window on a Changing World 163

the mid-1980s, tree densities steadily increased as farmer perceptions 

about tree ownership changed. By 2005, satellite images confirmed 

that a vast transformation was taking place. There were more villages, 

more people, but also many more trees (Reij and Winterbottom, 2015). 

This renewed resource generates a range of benefits for the population. 

Trees reduce wind speed and evaporation, produce at least a six-month 

supply of fodder for livestock, and provide firewood, fruit, and medicinal 

products that farm households can consume or sell. Moreover, certain 

tree species, such as the winterthorn acacia (Faidherbia albida), enhance 

fertility by adding nitrogen to the soil (Reij and others, 2009). 

In the 1970s, it seemed as if Niger would be blown from the map. Drought 

and strong Harmattan winds from the desert created a general feeling 

of despair among the rural development community. No one could 

have imagined that farmers in densely populated parts of Niger would 

significantly increase on-farm tree densities with minimal external support. 

Today, the agricultural landscapes of southern Niger have considerably 

more tree cover than they did 30 years ago. These findings suggest a 

human and environmental success story at a scale not seen anywhere 

else in Africa. 

Patterns and extent of on-farm tree cover across the Maradi-Zinder agricultural region in 

2013. This phenomenon is also visible in other regions (locally present in Tahoua and Dosso 

regions and in the northern part of the Tillabéri Region). Many of the trees are young, the 

hallmark of a recent and rapidly developing agricultural parkland still increasing in density 

and cover.

Evolution of tree density in south-central 

Niger since 1950

On-farm tree cover density in south-central Niger

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

PERCENT

YEAR

Aerial view of FMNR around a village in south-central Niger

USGS AND USAID/RISE PROGRAM
164 Landscapes of West Africa

Nigeria

Federal Republic of 

Nigeria is the most populous country in West Africa, and currently the seventh most 

populous in the world. About half of Nigerians are urban dwellers. Nigeria’s urban 

character is unique in Africa, counting 11 cities of over 1 million, and more than 70 

cities of over 100,000 inhabitants. Rapid growth in both population and the economy 

exerts a strong pressure on Nigeria’s diverse natural resources, from the tropical 

coastal plains in the south to the Sahelian savannas in the north. After running 4,000 

km from the Guinean Highlands through West Africa, which makes it Africa’s third 

longest river, the Niger reaches the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria, 

where it ends in a network of channels forming a large coastal delta with extensive 

mangrove and swamp forests. The Niger Delta, which covers about 70,000 sq km, is 

a hotspot of plant and animal biodiversity, but it also holds Africa’s second largest oil 

and largest natural gas reserves, which have fueled Nigeria’s economy, the second 

largest in Africa by nominal gross domestic product (GDP). Diversity and extremes 

characterize Nigeria both culturally and environmentally, making it a microcosm of 

all Africa’s promise and problems. 

Total Surface Area: 923,768 km2

Estimated Population in 2013: 172,817,000

Environmental Highlights:

• Deforestation

•	 Desertification

• Crude oil pollution

• Second largest swamp forest on the 

continent (after Congolian swamp

forest)

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

PROANDREW MOORE / FLICKR / CC BY-SA 2.0

Scenery between Jos and Abuja, Nigeria
A Window on a Changing World 165

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

Ecoregions and Topography

Shaded Relief

Ecoregions

The majority of Nigeria’s heartland is 

formed by the valleys of the Niger and 

Benue Rivers, which merge into each 

other, making a “y-shaped” confluence. 

The Niger River and its tributaries create 

a lifeline for Nigeria’s agriculture in the 

semiarid northern and central parts of 

the country, as they supply water for 

a variety of food and cash crops. The 

coastal plains are found in both the 

southwest and the southeast, mostly 

covered by swamp and mangrove 

forests, merging into highly degraded 

forest inland. To the southwest of the 

Niger valley lies a rugged landscape 

defined by the Western Plains (WP) 

interspersed with the Western Highlands 

(WHL). The heavily populated Jos 

Plateau with its semi-temperate climate, 

Nigeria’s largest area above 1,000-m 

elevation, rises prominently from the 

riverine plains. The northern part of the 

country is characterized by somewhat 

lower elevations, level terrain, and sandy 

soils, where agriculture dominates. 

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)
166 Landscapes of West Africa

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends

Not surprisingly, the country that is home to 

the largest population of the region also has by 

far the largest area under cultivation. In 2013, 

rainfed agriculture accounted for 380,000 sq km 

in Nigeria, covering over 40 percent of its national 

territory, up from 20 percent in 1975. From 1975 

to 2000, 130,000 sq km of new agricultural land 

were taken under the plough, with an additional 

110,000 sq km from 2000 to 2013. The magnitude 

of these transitions—together exceeding the size 

of the entire country of Ghana—is unparalleled 

in the region. Nigeria is also the only country of 

the region in which agriculture has traded places 

with savanna, and doubled its area in 38 years, 

to make it the largest land cover type.

The expansion of agriculture was observed across 

all ecoregions from the forest zone of southern 

Nigeria, where root and tree crops dominate, 

to the forest-savanna transition of the center 

of the country, where mainly root crops are 

found, to the grain belt of semiarid northern 

Nigeria. The Niger and Benue Basins, promoted 

as a prime agricultural development area and 

future bread basket since the 1970s, has seen 

the most prominent encroachment of agriculture 

into the savanna, sharpening the outlines of the 

remaining protected areas. Not all protected 

savanna areas, however, have been spared from 

the fast agricultural expansion. 

While the transition from savanna to agriculture 

constituted the largest land cover change in 

Ogun state, Nigeria

JBDONDANE / FLICKR / CC BY-NC 2.0
A Window on a Changing World 167

terms of area, some changes in the smaller land cover 

categories also stand out as important. High rates 

of change were observed for settlements, irrigated 

agriculture, plantation, and open mines, with gains 

accelerating from 1–2 percent per year between 1975–

2000 to 2–4 percent per year in the 2000–2013 period. 

Under the pressures of a rapidly growing population 

and economy, forests, gallery forests and woodlands, 

in addition to the savanna land cover types, were all 

being diminished, with loss rates increasing to over 2 

percent per year during the 2000–2013 period. Forest 

area decreased by 45 percent from 1975 to 2013. 

While the area of mangroves and swamp forests along 

the coast and in particular in the Niger Delta—important 

hotspots of biodiversity—has decreased less than that 

of some other land cover types, the health of these 

ecosystems has been severely damaged by recurrent 

oil spills caused by accidents, poor maintenance, and 

sabotage of the large-scale oil extraction infrastructure 

in the Delta. Environmental regulations are weak and 

rarely enforced, and there are no effectively protected 

areas in the Delta, whose forest and animal populations 

are considered under severe threat (World Wildlife 

Fund, 2016).

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

Degraded Woodland Agriculture

forest

Sahelian short 

grass savanna

Savanna

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

Gallery forest Forest Swamp forest Mangrove Settlements

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

Large area classes

Small area classes
168 Landscapes of West Africa

Urban sprawl of Ibadan into savanna and forest habitat

In pursuit of economic opportunity, many Nigerians have moved from rural to urban areas. As a result, the 

proportion of Nigerians living in cities has risen from 19 percent in 1975 to 46 percent in 2013, leading to a rapid 

physical expansion of urban areas (UN, 2015). The growth of the city of Ibadan is a good example of the urban 

sprawl seen in cities throughout Nigeria. 

Ibadan was once a military stronghold of the Yoruba Empire, dating back to the 16th century. Ibadan’s growth was 

spurred by a connection to the railroad in 1901, which cemented its role as a major trading center of agricultural 

goods produced in the surrounding region, such as cassava, cocoa, cotton, rubber, timber, and palm oil. Today, 

Ibadan is a vibrant commercial, industrial, and administrative center, which hosts chemical and electronic industries, 

motor vehicle assembly plants, and a number of other industries, including flour milling, leather working, and 

furniture making (Fourchard, 2003). 

Until 1970, Ibadan was the largest city in sub-saharan Africa (Fourchard, 2003). Population figures are sparse but 

suggest a population of 847,000 in 1975 rising to about 2,790,000 in 2013 (UN, 2015). According to the land cover 

maps (see pages 166–167) the city’s built-up area increased from 84 sq km in 1975 to 528 sq km in 2013. New 

development occurred particularly along the major road axes, such as the Ibadan-Lagos expressway to the south 

of the city and the Eleyele expressway to the northwest. By 2013, the cities of Moniya and Agudu were already 

parts of the Ibadan metropolis. If the present rate of expansion continues, surrounding towns such as Idi Ayunre 
A Window on a Changing World 169

(to the south), Ikire (to the east), Fiditi (to the north), and Ilugun (to the 

west) will be linked to the built-up area of the sprawling metropolis. 

The rapid sprawl has eaten into forested areas, savanna, farmland, 

fallow lands, and river floodplains. Forests and wetlands have been 

degraded. In the Eleyele wetland—a modified natural riverine wetland 

in the northwest quarter of Ibadan—an estimated 66 percent of the 

wetland riparian forests were lost between 1984 and 2014 due to 

the urban expansion (see inset). Waste effluent discharge from the 

city also contributed to deterioration in water quality (Tijani, Olaleye 

and Olubanjo, 2012). 

Like other cities in Nigeria and the developing world, Ibadan has been 

growing at a very rapid rate, but the provision of social services and 

basic infrastructure has not kept pace. Unmanaged urban growth 

and haphazard development of informal housing have resulted 

in a gradual deterioration of the environment and a decline in the 

quality of life.

CLOUDYDESERT.COM Aerial view of Ibadan
170 Landscapes of West Africa

Progressive expansion of agriculture in Niger State, Nigeria

The Middle Belt of Nigeria, which straddles 

the southern Sudanian and northern 

Guinean climatic zones, has historically 

been sparsely populated. In the 1970s, 

it was seen as the last land frontier and 

future bread basket of the nation. The area 

around the Zugurma Sector of the Kainji 

Lake National Park and the Dagida Forest 

Reserve exemplifies the significant land 

use transformation that the Middle Belt has 

gone through in the past 40 years.

The three Landsat images from 1972, 1986 

and 2015 show the dramatic transformation 

in the area surrounding these two protected 

areas. In 1972, the darker green of the mostly 

unbroken wooded savanna has only scattered plots of shifting cultivation (lighter green areas). By 1986 the area 

north of Zugurma Sector and surrounding some of the villages is being converted to farmland (light tan, light 

green and pink areas). By 2015 the transformation of the area to farmland is almost complete, with a few islands 

of wooded savanna inside the protected areas. 

The rapid expansion of agriculture in this formerly semi-natural area can be understood in the context of a changing 

Nigerian political economy. The oil boom of the 1970s and enactment of the Land Use Act of 1978 sparked a 

rush for land acquisition of formerly communal lands by wealthy private owners. The food crisis of the 1980s and 

restructuring of the economy along the lines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) renewed the emphasis 

on food production. In 1984, the government of Nigeria banned the import of agricultural raw materials by the 

local bottling, flour and confectionary industries, which pushed these industries to acquire land at a large-scale 

to grow wheat and other grain crops. 

A Kob in Kainji Lake National Park

JEREMY WEATE / FLICKR / CC BY 2.0
A Window on a Changing World 171

The land acquisitions by large owners engendered land use competition 

and conflicts between (1) a small land-owning class and a large class of 

landless peasants, (2) peasant farmers and migratory pastoralists who have 

seen their main source of dry season pasture shrink, and (3) peasant farmers, 

migratory pastoralists and the wildlife and forestry conservation authorities 

who are faced with increasing land use pressure around the parks as well 

as grazing and cropland encroachment into the parks. 

If left unaddressed, the lack of an integrated policy that regulates access of 

different user groups to land resources will continue to threaten wildlife and 

biodiversity conservation within the game reserves in a State which currently 

records the highest population growth in Nigeria at 3.4 percent per year. 

Rice paddy fields, Niger State

JEREMY WEATE / FLICKR / CC BY 2.0
172 Landscapes of West Africa

Tropical forest threatened by human activities in the Okomu 

Forest Reserve

Closed-canopy tropical moist forest once covered large parts of southern Nigeria, where some of the earliest 

ecological studies of tropical rain forest were carried out in the 1930s (Ajayi, 1998). Since that time, excessive 

logging and conversion to plantations and farmland have caused major losses of natural forest. Although no 

longer a pristine wilderness, the Okomu Forest Reserve still supports a small population of forest elephants 

and several species of threatened primates, including a viable population of the rare white-throated guenon, a 

monkey endemic to southwestern Nigeria (Oates, 1995).

The Okomu Forest Reserve was originally established by the British colonial government in 1912. It comprised 

777 sq km, to which another 411 sq km were added to the north and east in 1935. From the beginning, it was 

planned that the reserve would be managed as a source of timber, and it has been exploited for its rich stands 

of mahogany. Since the 1940s, systematic rotational logging as well as “taungya” farming have been practiced 

in the reserve. In this forest management system, an area of forest is allocated to local farmers to be cleared and 

farmed, and subsequently reforested with useful tree species. 

The Corona satellite photograph (see inset) from 1967 shows a still-intact forest canopy on both sides of the 

river, which delimits the northwestern boundary of the reserve. It is likely that the whole Okomu Forest Reserve 
A Window on a Changing World 173

was blanketed with a continuous dense forest at that time. By 1984, large 

parts of the Okomu Forest Reserve had been converted to plantations of 

oil palm and rubber trees—partly as official concessions, partly illegally 

or only lightly controlled. A network of roads and settlements, along with 

farmland encroachment into the reserve, can be seen as well. Each year, a 

larger area of the reserve was assigned to taungya farmland. Although the 

taungya scheme had been envisaged to serve the local farming population, 

it soon attracted immigrant farmers from more densely populated areas 

of the country, leading to an increase in the overall population pressure 

on the reserve. 

In 1985, a wildlife sanctuary of 114 sq km was carved out of the most 

intact area of the forest reserve. Poaching was brought under control in 

the sanctuary, which is a habitat to several endangered species including 

red-capped mangabeys, white-throated monkeys, chimpanzees, leopards, 

and the African forest elephant. In 1999, the Okomu Wildlife Sanctuary was 

designated a national park to increase its protection from the immense 

pressure from high rates of exploitation and human settlement expansion 

on its periphery (Onojeghuo and Onojeghuo, 2015). Okomu National Park 

remains the only fully protected part of the reserve and stands out against 

its surroundings in the 2015 Landsat image. The visible impact of rapid 

plantation expansion can be seen in the northern half of the reserve, which 

is dominated by large-scale rubber and oil palm plantations, whereas 

farmland has colonized the southern half. 

Efforts have been made to provide sustainable livelihood opportunities to 

local communities, including controlled logging and hunting, reforestation, 

livestock rearing, and agricultural practices compatible with forest 

conservation. However, Okomu’s status as a national park has not fully 

prevented the effects of deforestation within and around the reserve. 

Multipurpose forest management has been praised by some, but others 

have criticized it for neglecting protection efforts, arguing that integrating a 

development component has put Okomu at risk of ecosystem degradation.
174

Photo caption

Environmental Highlights:

• Deforestation

• Desertification

• Large number of protected areas

• Extensive use of agricultural parkland

Senegal is the westernmost point on the African mainland, 

and its capital, Dakar, has historically served as the gateway 

to West Africa. Senegal’s economy is based primarily on 

agriculture, particularly the production of peanuts and 

cotton, but this sector has been hurt by drought and low 

commodity prices. A rapidly growing population is placing 

enormous stress on Senegal’s limited land resources, 

agricultural production, and forest resources. Over 80 percent 

of the population lives in the western half of the country; 

nearly 70 percent are farmers, but the urban population is 

steadily increasing. Senegal has a wide range of bioclimatic 

regions. The semiarid Sahel in the north is home to pastoral 

societies. The Sudanian region in the central and southern 

part of the country has a mix of settled farming communities 

and wooded savannas. In the sub-Guinean region of the 

southwest, rice-producing peoples live among forests and 

mangrove-fringed estuaries. Many of the woodlands in 

the central and southern regions have been degraded by 

charcoal production and overharvesting of timber for export. 

The large Niokolo-Koba National Park in the southeast still 

preserves diverse landscapes, flora and fauna once found 

across much of West Africa. 

Total Surface Area: 196,722 km2

Estimated Population in 2013: 14,421,000

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

Republic of

Senegal

174 Landscapes of West Africa

Wet season landscape along the Thiès escarpment
A Window on a Changing World 175

Photo caption

Ecoregions and Topography

Shaded Relief

Ecoregions

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

Senegal is fairly flat, and is drained by several large rivers, 

including the Gambia and the Senegal. Its geological structure 

is a sedimentary basin of sandstones covered by more recent 

wind and water deposited sediments, and intermittent plateaus 

capped with lateritic hard pan. The ecoregion map depicts 

Senegal’s landscape diversity. The pastoral semiarid regions 

in the north are typical of the Sahel climatic zone. The wetter 

southern areas are part of the Sudanian climatic zone. Other 

regions, such as the Zone Agricole du Centre-Ouest (ZACO–

West-Central Agricultural Zone), also known as the Peanut Basin, 

or the Zone Agricole du Saloum (ZAS – Saloum Agricultural 

Zone), are densely settled areas characterized by high rural 

population density which has completely transformed the 

original wooded savannas. The ecoregions in the east and 

southwest (ZOT –Zone Orientale de Transition and ZS –Zone 

du Socle), dominated by lateritic plateaus, have been spared 

from much of the agricultural expansion in the west, but 

are being subjected to extensive exploitation of their forest 

resources. In the south, the Casamance Region is well known 

for its woodlands, gallery forests, palm-fringed wetlands and 

valleys, and rice paddies. 

Suspension bridge over the Niokolo Koba River.

GRAY TAPPAN/USGS

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): GRAY TAPPAN/USGS
176 Landscapes of West Africa

The most significant change in Senegal is the 

evolving extent of cultivated areas. The overall 

expansion of cropland is relatively small, from 

32,600 sq km in 1975 to 32,900 sq km in 2000 and 

41,000 sq km in 2013, or a 26 percent increase 

between 1975 and 2013. However, the recent 

pattern and extent of cropland is profoundly 

modifying Senegal’s landscapes. Agricultural 

expansion has resulted in fragmentation of the 

savannas and woodlands, replacing unbroken 

expanses of natural habitat with a mosaic of tilled 

fields and natural landscapes, eroding the quality 

of remaining natural ecosystems. Furthermore, 

the speed of agricultural expansion has increased 

between 2000 and 2013 compared to the previous 

25 years. While the average annual increase of 

cultivated areas was modest between 1975 and 

2000 (about 10 sq km per year), it rose dramatically 

between 2000 and 2013, to 630 sq km on average 

per year. This trend, however, masks much of the 

internal variation within the agricultural class. 

In contrast to other regions of Senegal, the Peanut 

Basin experienced abandonment of agricultural 

lands in the 1980s. In the Peanut Basin, land devoted 

to rainfed crops remained fairly stable between 

1975 and 2000. While agricultural expansion 

continued to make inroads in the east, in the 

west cropland was being abandoned, reverting to 

grasslands that were mapped as savannas in 2013. 

This conversion of cropland back to grassland in the 

Peanut Basin hides the actual magnitude of rapid 

agricultural land increases in central Senegal. The 

very low price of peanuts forced many farmers to 

abandon their fields and turn to other economic 

activities, which often meant migrating to Dakar, 

Touba, or other cities.

As in central Senegal, most of the south experienced 

major gains in agricultural area at the expense 

of savannas and woodlands, especially in the 

Casamance. As a result of agricultural expansion, 

Sahelian and Sudanian savannas have decreased 

by 8,200 sq km, or a 6.3 percent reduction of their 

1975 area. Woodlands decreased by 42 percent, 

or 3,160 sq km. Gallery forests, which are found 

along much of Senegal’s drainage network and 

known for their biodiversity, registered a decrease 

of 19 percent (or 570 sq km). However, most of 

the reduction of gallery forests appears to have 

occurred before 1975 (Tappan and others, 2004). 

Wetlands and floodplains increased by 17percent, 

due mainly to the recovery of wetlands from the 

severe drought of the 1970s, which dried out 

many wetlands. Since the end of the 1990s, rainfall 

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends

Gorée Island

GRAY TAPPAN/USGS
A Window on a Changing World 177

continues to fluctuate annually, but it has returned to levels more 

consistent with the longer term norm. 

In the north, there are many local instances of savannas taking on 

steppe-like characteristics as years of drought, intensive grazing, and 

loss of topsoil combine to degrade the savanna structure, vegetation 

cover, and productivity. The maps reflect this process, with steppes 

replacing local areas of savanna in agro-pastoral regions (a 760 sq 

km gain between 1975 and 2013). Similarly, in more extreme cases 

of drought-induced loss of vegetation cover, overgrazing, and soil 

erosion, savannas or steppes become bare and unproductive, even 

in the rainy season. These areas are mapped as bare soils. The area 

of bare soil increased significantly, by 42 percent between 1975 and 

2013, especially in the Pastoral Ferruginous Zone. This trend was 

confirmed by field studies, which also documented the expansion of 

the badlands along fossil valleys where severe erosion has removed 

the topsoil. On a positive note, the decrease of sandy surfaces (–144 

sq km between 1975 and 2013) can be explained by the success of 

coastal dune reforestation and stabilization efforts. 

Finally, the large expansion of settlements— villages, towns and cities 

—illustrates the rapid population increase in Senegal, particularly 

in the big cities of Dakar and Touba. While the population tripled 

between 1975 and 2013, the area occupied by towns and cities grew 

from 530 sq km in 1975 to 850 sq km in 2000 and to 1,450 sq km in 

2013, or a 172 percent increase over 38 years.

Large area classes

Small area classes

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

Sahelian short Steppe Agriculture

grass savanna

Savanna

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

AREA (SQ KM)

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

Wetland -

oodplain

Bare

soil

Sandy Settlements

area

Gallery

forest

Woodland

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS
178 Landscapes of West Africa

The re-greening of degraded land in Kamb in Senegal’s northern 

pastoral region

Located in the Northern Pastoral Sandy Region of the Ferlo Region in Senegal, the Kamb site covered about 25 sq 

km. The Ferlo’s climate is similar to much of the Sahel and characterized by two main seasons: a dry season that 

lasts nine months from October to June, and a rainy season of three months. Total annual rainfall is both low and 

highly variable, with an average of 422.6 mm per year from 1951–2004 (Ndiaye and others, 2014).

Before the droughts of the 1970s and 1980s, this sylvo-pastoral area used to be covered with a relatively dense 

wooded savanna. Most local inhabitants confirmed this and attributed the loss of woody vegetation not only 

to overuse by humans but also to droughts, lack of rain, and unfavorable soils (Tappan and others, 2004). Once 

vegetation is lost, soils become susceptible to erosion. The sandy soil loses its structure and becomes more mobile, 

prone to wind erosion. The 1972 satellite image confirms the loss of vegetation and the increase of degraded 

barren land subject to erosion in the Kamb area, shown in white patches on the image. One of the early fenced 

plantations can be seen 15 km south of Kamb to restore some degraded land.
A Window on a Changing World 179

Recent high-resolution imagery shows significant re-greening south of 

Kamb. Supported by several afforestation projects, thousands of Acacia 

senegal (gum arabic tree) have been planted in large fenced areas, which 

in some cases are partly used for harvesting by the responsible village. 

Herders are allowed to graze livestock at the end of the dry season for 

a fee, which is used to maintain the protected area (Brandt, 2015). Even 

though the 2013 image shows a positive impact on the land from the 

re-greening resulting from tree planting, it does not translate directly 

into a positive picture of ecological recovery. The planted trees create a 

large monoculture, which lacks diversity. Fauna and flora biodiversity is 

much lower than it was before the degradation of the wooded savanna, 

and the population still speak of soil erosion and a lower water table.

Plantation of Acacia senegal

SUZANNE COTILLON / SGT
180 Landscapes of West Africa

Agroforestry with increasing 

field tree densities in the 

community of Mbar Diop

The Peanut Basin of west-central Senegal is an agricultural 

region that has been under intense cultivation since the 

19th century. The last remainders of the original woody 

savannas in this region were cleared in the early 1900s, 

leaving in its place an agricultural parkland dominated 

by Faidherbia albida. Mechanization of the peanut 

production required farmland to be cleared of trees, 

which resulted in dwindling tree densities in (parts of) 

the parkland. The reduced tree cover combined with 

meteorological droughts brought about soil erosion, 

dust storms, and decreasing crop yields (Hirai, 2005). 

The community of Mbar Diop, in the coastal part of the 

old Peanut Basin, has managed to turn this negative 

trend around. The Projet de Reboisement Villageois 

dans le Nord-Est du Bassin Arachidier (PREVINOBA – 

Village Afforestation Project of the Northwest Peanut 

Basin) began working in the area in 1987, promoting 

agroforestry activities with awareness campaigns on 

the importance of tree cover for sustainable farming. 

The tenure situation — trees belong to the farmer who 

plants them — was favorable in that it encouraged 

individual investments in afforestation. As a result, 

since the intervention of PREVINOBA, many orchards 

have sprung up, and the tree densities increased visibly. 

A series of high-resolution images illustrates the 

land cover dynamics over time. A Corona space 

photograph from 1968 (see above image) shows 

remnants of relatively dense tree and shrub cover 

among the cultivated area (1). By 1989, the region had 

undergone a series of drought years, which, combined 

with increasing population pressure and the prevailing 

agricultural strategy of totally clearing field trees for 

the ease of mechanized agriculture, resulted in a 

noticeable decimation of the tree cover (2) (see top 

adjacent image). The OrbView satellite image from 

2012 (see bottom adjacent image) shows the recovery 

of field trees, notably in the PREVINOBA intervention 

area around Mbar Diop (3). In addition to field trees, live 

hedges have contributed to the overall woody cover 

and act as windbreaks. Orchards increased from 27 

percent of the cultivated area in 1989 to 58 percent in 

2012. In the highest density orchards, up to 140 trees 

per hectare can be counted. 

The population of Mbar Diop is well aware of the multiple 

benefits they draw from the trees. Dust storms have 

become less frequent and there is more shade. Some 

of the plant and animal species that had disappeared 

have returned to the area. They also attribute the fact 

that rainfall has improved recently to the increased tree 

cover. The economic benefits from the afforestation are 

also considerable. The sale of wood, nuts and fruits is 

estimated to generate a revenue of 1,500 to 2,400 US$ 

per hectare per year. In addition, yields of field crops 

have improved.

However, the success of the afforestation investments is 

threatened by a mining operation, which can be seen to 

encroach the area from the northeast (4). It has already 
A Window on a Changing World 181

displaced villages and continues to expand toward 

the densest orchards, causing great concern to the 

population of Mbar Diop. Not only do they fear for the 

existence of the village and its territory, but they already 

feel the impacts of the chemical pollution coming from 

the phosphate mining. A discussion and settlement 

of the land use competition between farmers and the 

mining concession is urgent. 
182 Landscapes of West Africa

The Pata Forest Reserve in the Casamance: a window on a 

disappearing forest

The Pata Forest Reserve was once part of a vast, 

unbroken Sudanian woodland that stretched from 

the Gambia River to the Casamance River, with 

narrow gallery forests following the watercourses. 

At least 20 species of woody plants are common 

throughout, with many more species of Guinean 

zone affinity found in the gallery forests (Stancioff 

and others, 1986). These woodlands are by nature 

very heterogeneous in floristic composition, which 

also makes them remarkably uniform in structure 

(Pélissier, 1966). Besides their value as a woodland 

ecosystem, they also serve as extensive grazing 

land for cattle. 

Covering 640 sq km, the Pata Forest Reserve is the largest forest reserve in southern Senegal. From the 1930s to 

the early 1970s, the integrity of the forest reserve was respected. In the Landsat image from 1979, we can see 

Charcoal production

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS
A Window on a Changing World 183

that the woodland is still intact within and outside the reserve, although a few minor incursions of 

cropland are visible. The situation changed dramatically in the late 1980s when Wolof farmers from 

the Saloum agricultural region, seeking new land, began moving into the valleys in and around the 

Pata Forest. By 1999, 28 percent of the Reserve had been cleared for agriculture, fueling tensions 

between the local agro-pastoralists and the recent migrants (Tappan and others, 2004). 

As seen in the 2015 Landsat image, the Pata Forest Reserve has almost ceased to exist as a forested 

landscape. Unchecked agricultural expansion surrounding numerous new settlements, tree harvesting 

for charcoal production, and selective logging for valuable timber have combined to decimate the 

woodland (see inset). In 2013, focus group discussions were conducted by AGRHYMET’s national 

team in Senegal in several villages surrounding the Pata Reserve to capture local perspectives 

on landscape changes. Local inhabitants cite the increase in population, increasing the demand 

for farmland. They also point to the significant in-migration and settlement of families from the 

Saloum. As secondary factors, they cite environmental change, particularly the decrease in rainfall 

and increasing temperature which, combined with bush fires, have accelerated degradation of the 

forest. They also spoke of the commercialization of valuable wood, with strong demand and flow 

of timber to The Gambia for export to China.

Aerial view of Pata Forest Reserve

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS
184

Photo caption

184 Landscapes of West Africa

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

Environmental Highlights:

• Deforestation

• Loss of biodiversity

• Wettest country in West Africa

• Substantial mineral resources

• High potential for ecotourism

Total Surface Area: 71,740 km2

Estimated Population in 2013: 6,179,000

Sierra Leone has a special significance in the history of the 

transatlantic slave trade. Its capital, Freetown, was founded 

in 1787 as a home for repatriated former slaves from London 

and the Americas. Sitting on a coastal peninsula, the city 

overlooks the Sierra Leone Harbor, the world’s third largest 

natural harbor. The country is characterized by a humid 

tropical climate. Annual rainfall ranges from 1,900 mm in 

the northwest to over 4,000 mm on the coast, which makes 

Sierra Leone the wettest country in West Africa. Its landscape 

includes a flat coastal zone with fringing mangrove swamps. 

A large plain extends inland that transitions into wooded 

hills and an interior plateau interspersed with forested 

high mountains in the east. The country’s vegetation is 

highly complex and characterized by a matrix of patches 

of forest, woodland, savannas, and cropland. Sierra Leone’s 

economy stems from its rich natural resources but is still 

recovering from a civil war that destroyed most institutions 

before ending in the early 2000s. Agriculture, as the primary 

occupation, employs two-thirds of the labor force and 

accounts for 66.8 percent of the country’s gross domestic 

product (GDP) (CIA, 2013). Sierra Leone also possesses 

substantial mineral resources,particularly iron ore, and 

has relied on mining for its economic base in recent years. 

In addition, the country is among the largest producers of 

titanium and bauxite, a major producer of gold, and in the 

top ten diamond-producing nations.

Republic of

Sierra Leone

Woodland in the Outamba-Kilimi National Park
A Window on a Changing World 185

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

Ecoregions and Topography

Shaded Relief

Sierra Leone is divided into four main regions. In the east and the 

north, the Koinadugu and Kono Plateaus (KKP) ecoregion is an 

extension of the Guinea Highlands with several isolated mountains 

including the Tingi Hills, and the Loma Mountains where Mount 

Bintumani reaches 1,948 m. The plateau is mostly covered by a 

mosaic of woodland and savannas, interspersed with cropland. The 

high mountains of the Montane Forest Zone (MFZ) are dominated 

by tropical rain forests, often protected as forest reserve or national 

park. The northern part of the Koinadugu and Kono Plateaus (KKP) 

receives relatively less rainfall, often resulting in less dense and lower 

canopy height, even among mature stands of woodland (Munro 

and van der Horst, 2012). Parallel to the coastline, but inland of the 

coastal belt, are the Interior Plains (IP). This ecoregion of lowland 

plains, containing forest regrowth, woodland, savannas, and farmland, 

makes up about half of the country. Adjacent to the Atlantic shoreline 

are the Coastal Plains (CP) and the Mangrove Forest (MF) zones. The 

Gabro massif, confined to the Western Area Peninsula (WAP) where 

the capital city of Freetown is located, rises impressively from 200 

m to 1,000 m above the low-lying narrow coastal area.

Ecoregions

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

Rapids on the Little Scarcies River, Outamba-Kilimi National Park

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): GRAY TAPPAN/USGS
The most extensive land cover change in Sierra Leone was the loss of 

woodland and forested area across the country. 

Dense forest is rare and mainly found on hill slopes in the Montane Forest 

Zone. Even though the country is located within the Upper Guinean forest 

ecosystem, it is unlikely that it was ever heavily covered by dense forest 

(Munro and van der Horst, 2012). Between 1975 and 2013, Sierra Leone 

lost 30 percent of its forest cover, or about 1,100 sq km, at an average 

annual rate of 0.8 percent. However, this rate has slowed since the end of 

the civil war, averaging 0.4 percent of annual forest loss between 2000 and 

2013. The main loss of forest occurred in the Tama-Tonkolili and Nimini 

Hills highlands. In 1975, these tracts of dense forest were located among 

a patchwork of degraded forest, gallery forest, and woodland—none 

of which has been spared by deforestation. Degraded forest decreased 

by 26 percent, or about 2,000 sq km, and gallery forest by 22 percent, or 

700 sq km. Woodland is one of the dominant land cover types in Sierra 

Leone. It is found in the major ecoregions—on slopes and uplands of 

the Koinadugu and Kono Plateaus, and on the Interior and Coastal Plains, 

among the savannas and thickets. In 1975, woodland was the second 

largest land cover class in terms of area after the savannas, covering 15.5 

percent of the country. Over the 38-year period, its area decreased by 48 

percent, or 5,400 sq km, shrinking to a mere 8 percent of the country in 

2013. Accounting for all the forest classes together, Sierra Leone lost a 

total 36 percent of its forest and woodland habitats since 1975.

Cropland expansion, slash-and-burn agriculture, logging, mining, and cattle 

grazing activities were the dominant factors affecting vegetation and land 

use. Indeed, resulting from an increasing demand for forest products and 

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends

186 Landscapes of West Africa

The Kuru Hills
A Window on a Changing World 187

food production, half of the lost forest and woodland habitats 

were converted to savannas, and one-third to agriculture. Shifting 

agriculture has long been practiced in Sierra Leone. Under this 

system, a patch of forest is burned, cleared and cultivated usually 

for a short period of time (1–2 years), after which it is left fallow 

for several years. The rate of cropland expansion quadrupled 

after the end of the civil war, going from an average of 32 sq 

km per year in the 1975–2000 period to 130 sq km per year 

between 2000 and 2013. Overall, agricultural area progressed 

by 35 percent, or 2,400 sq km, between 1975 and 2013, mostly 

in the Interior Plains and in the northern part of the Koinadugu 

and Kono Plateaus. In Sierra Leone, where water is an abundant 

resource, bottomland and flood recessional agriculture is also 

very common. Many of the wetland areas mapped in 1975 have 

been converted to cultivated bottomland which has doubled in 

area, reaching 1,180 sq km by 2013. 

Because a large part of the population in Sierra Leone obtains 

its substance from farming, agriculture expansion was mostly 

driven by population growth. Whereas population increased 

steadily from 2.7 million to 6.1 million, a rise of 123 percent, the 

area occupied by settlements —towns and cities—only grew 

by 36 percent, or 140 sq km, from 1975 to 2013.

Large area classes

Small area classes

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

Degraded Agriculture Savanna

forest

Woodland

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

AREA (SQ KM)

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

Agriculture in 

shallows and 

recession

Wetland - Settlements

oodplain

Forest Gallery forest

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): GRAY TAPPAN/USGS
188 Landscapes of West Africa

The Kangari Hills: A forest reserve with competing uses 

Sierra Leone is endowed with two important natural assets, its mineral resources and its flora and fauna. Both 

can be found in the Kangari Hills. The Kangari Hills Forest Reserve covers 210 sq km and has been protected since 

1924 as one of the few relics of the Upper Guinean forest ecosystem in the country. Key protected wildlife species 

include a remnant population of forest elephants, chimpanzees and other primates, as well as 115 documented 

bird species (Brncic and others, 2010). The forest is also used as a source of mecidinal herbs and spices.

Landsat images from 1974 and 2013 evidence a remarkable stability of the extent of the forest in the Kangari Hills 

Forest Reserve. Forest stands out as the large dark green patch in the center of the images surrounded by a fine 

mosaic of farmland, savanna, and degraded forest. Some clearings are visible within the forest reserve as small 

brighter patches, but the extent of those has not significantly changed since the 1970s. Agricultural encroachment 

has taken place mostly from the north, where many villages are located. In contrast, the Tama Forest Reserve, 

located in the northeast of the images, had totally disappeared by 2013, entirely replaced by cropland and savanna. 

Logging roads also penetrate the southern part of the Kangari Hills Forest Reserve. The production and trade 

of charcoal has increased in the past decade and has become so lucrative that it has replaced farming. Unlike 

firewood, which is usually obtained from farms, wood for charcoal is harvested from forests and woodlands and 

often targets highly valuable hardwood species. 
A Window on a Changing World 189

Illegal artisanal gold mining activities can be found throughout the Kangari Hills. With the British 

company Cluff Gold, the first industrial-scale gold mining operation began production in 2013 

near the village of Baomahun, just to the southwest of the reserve (see inset). Cluff Gold claims to 

have found 3 million ounces of gold in and around the Kangari Hills. This value exceeds the entire 

Sierra Leonean economy by a factor of two, with the potential of tax revenues from the export of 

gold that can be invested into rebuilding the country’s infrastructure (McClanahan, 2012). On the 

downside, the open pit mine leaves a huge scar on the land. Any form of deforestation diminishes 

forest resources, reduces wildlife habitat, and exposes the soil to erosion. With a mean annual rainfall 

of 3,500 mm, flash floods and landslides are common on denuded soil in this area.

With a relatively intact core of dense forest cover, the Kangari Hills Forest Reserve has an enormous 

potential for biodiversity conservation. Because of the carrying capacity and suitability of the 

habitat, it is being considered as a release site for rehabilitated captive chimpanzees. The massive 

demand for revenue from gold will undoubtedly put a lot of pressure on the reserve. The future 

of the reserve will depend on careful consideration of competing interests and striking a delicate 

balance between long-term restoration goals and income opportunities. 

Mining leaves forest degraded and vulnerable to 

soil erosion and landslides.

KENNY LYNCH / FLICKR / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
190 Landscapes of West Africa

Outamba-Kilimi National Park 

The Outamba-Kilimi National Park along Sierra Leone’s northwestern border with Guinea is made up of two separate 

units; Outamba to the east (shown above) and Kilimi to the west. Both are predominantly covered by woodland 

savanna with smaller areas of forest, gallery forest and open grassland. Outamba is generally more wooded than 

Kilimi and has more relief. Created in 1995 when hunting pressure was increasingly threatening the area’s wildlife, 

it was the country’s first national park. 

Most of the park’s roughly 2,200 mm of rainfall falls from June to September followed by a dry season lasting from 

about November to April. Vegetation thrives during the rains and then much of it goes dormant during the dry 

season. This ready fuel makes fire a natural part of the Sudanian savanna landscape and it is fire that maintains 
A Window on a Changing World 191

the boundaries between the grassy savanna and the denser forest areas 

which stay green year round (Trollope and Trollope, 2010; Hoffman and 

others, 2003). Fire scars and one still-burning fire can be seen in the Landsat 

image which was acquired as the 2014 dry season was ending (see image 

on the opposite page). The contrast between wet and dry seasons can be 

seen in the two high-resolution images. The top image (above) is from late 

in the dry season when savanna areas have gone dormant and fire scars 

are visible throughout the landscape; the image below is after the rains 

when all is green again and the next dry season is just beginning.

Human influence in Outamba-Kilimi is minimal with roughly 20 to 25 very 

small settlements (see adjacent inset) within the park (Brncic, 2010). While 

it is a national park and welcomes visitors, motor vehicles are restricted 

and visitors must explore the park on foot. The relatively pristine habitat of 

the park supports populations of several primates including the western 

chimpanzee, red colobus monkey, black and white colobus monkey, 

olive baboons, and the sooty mangabey (STEWARD, 2012; Brncic, 2010). 

It is also home to a number of other large mammals including elephants, 

hippopotamuses, warthogs, red river hogs, leopards, African buffalo, 

bushbucks, bongo, duikers, gazelles and other antelope species (Brncic 

2010). Bird species number over 250, including two which are of global 

conservation concern (Okoni-Williams and others, 2001). 

The park’s natural assets may provide potential for ecotourism development. 

Income from tourism could potentially provide the benefits to local 

communities that would help build trust and support for ongoing 

conservation efforts (Brncic, 2010). However, the park’s remote location 

and the memory of Sierra Leone’s devastating civil war (1991-2002) has 

kept the number of visitors down. 

Other potential threats to the park’s integrity include poaching and mining. 

Occasional poaching of elephants is a problem according to OutambaKilimi’s senior ranger, Dio Metzegeh. A group of poachers was arrested 

after several elephants were killed in 2009. Poachers also take smaller 

animals for bushmeat and fish illegally within the park. Artisanal mining in 

the streambeds within the park has also been reported (STEWARD, 2012). 
Photo caption

Chad is the fifth largest country in Africa and ranks second 

among Sahelian countries after Sudan. Chad’s land surface 

presents a dramatic variety of geographic contrasts. The 

vast northern third is located in the Sahara Desert and 

is sparsely populated, home to just 1 percent of Chad’s 

population. The whole central swath is in the Sahel, with 

average annual rainfall ranging from 150 to 600 mm. Both 

N’Djamena, the capital, and Lake Chad are found in this 

region. Lake Chad is fed by the country’s two main rivers, 

the Chari and the Logone. It is the largest body of water in 

the Sahel and a major center of economic activity for the 

region. However, due to erratic variations in the region’s 

climate and overexploitation of the rivers that feed it, this 

shallow lake (1.5 m deep on average) has shrunk to a small 

fraction of its 1960 size. Chad’s population lives mainly in the 

southern part of the country, in the more humid Sudanian 

climate zone, where average annual rainfall ranges between 

600 and 1,300 mm. Southern Chad has the largest, relatively 

intact expanses of wooded savannas and woodlands of any 

of the Sahelian countries. Discovery of artifacts and fossils in 

northern Chad—especially the 7-million-year-old Toumaï 

skull from a hominid that is regarded as one of the oldest 

species in the human lineage —attests to the archaeological 

and historical richness of the country. Traditionally, Chad’s 

economy has been based on farming and livestock, but in 

the last decade the economy has changed dramatically from 

the oil boom. Besides oil, there are also significant deposits 

of gold, marble, and sodium carbonate. 

Total Surface Area: 1,284,000 km

2

Estimated Population in 2013: 13,146,000

192 Landscapes of West Africa

Republic of 

Chad

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

The Guéra Mountains near Mongo, whose profile suggests a woman asleep on her back, 

known locally as “The Queen of Guéra”. 

Environmental Highlights • Desertification

• Deforestation • The drying of Lake Chad

• Vast expanses of Sudanian 

 woodland and savanna

• Oil resources
A Window on a Changing World 193

Ecoregions and Topography

Chad is located on a wide plain with flanks that rise gently eastward toward the 

Ennedi Range (ENN) and north toward the Tibesti Mountains, which culminate 

in the Sahara’s highest peak, Emi Koussi, at 3,415 m. The country’s northern third 

consists of vast sandy and gravel plains, too dry for cultivation except for smallscale traditional irrigated farming in scattered oasis towns. The high plateaus of 

the Ennedi and Ouaddaï (OUA) ecoregion gently slope toward the lower Sahelian 

plains of the Batha (BND and BSD) and Kanem (KAN) ecoregions, stretching to 

Lake Chad far to the west. The southern third of Chad is in the Sudanian climate 

region, with many ecoregions that are defined by plateaus and local highlands, 

expansive plains, and broad drainage channels that flood annually. To the west, 

these plains are more conducive to agriculture owing to their deep, rich alluvial soils. 

In contrast, the largest ecoregion in the southeast, Moyen-Chari and Salamat Plain 

(EMS – Eastern Middle-Chari and Salamat), contains large expanses of Sudanian 

zone woodlands and savannas where scattered communities are engaged in 

subsistence farming, fishing, and raising livestock. 

Ecoregions

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

KEVIN WARFEL

Shaded Relief

Landscape of the Guéra Mountains

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): KEVIN WARFEL
194 Landscapes of West Africa

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends

In the mapped area, Sudanian and Sahelian savannas are the major land cover classes, accounting for half of the 

country’s land surface. Steppes also constitute a dominant land cover, covering 22 percent of the area mapped. 

Whereas the area of steppes remained relatively stable, savannas show a clear reduction between 1975 and 2013, 

especially in the Sudanian zone where they lost about 17 percent of their area over the 38 years.

Driven by an accelerated population growth and concomitant food demand, agricultural expansion is the main 

driver of the loss of Chad’s natural landscapes. Between 1975 and 2013, the annual rate of agricultural expansion 

was 5 percent, one of the highest in the region. This means that croplands almost tripled between 1975 and 2013, 

although this expansion is not uniformly distributed across the country. The spread of agriculture occurred mainly 

in the south, especially in the Bassin and Plaines du Logone (BLO and PRL – Basin and Plains of Logone), Collines 

du Mayo-Dala (CMD – Hills of Mayo-Dala), and Maro (MRO) ecoregions. The transition area between the Sahel and 

Sudan climate zones is another area of steady encroachment by croplands, especially in the regions of Ouaddaï, Lake 

Fitri (LFS and LFT), and around N’Djamena. In these regions, agricultural landscapes now dominate the savanna. 

Deforestation is a major environmental concern in Chad. Woodlands, mainly located in the south, have diminished 

by 29 percent between 1975 and 2013, amounting to a very significant loss of 4,700 sq km. The area of gallery 

forest also declined, but not as rapidly as woodlands. Their overall land surface was always relatively small, but it 

has decreased by 8.3 percent, a 400 sq km loss between 1975 and 2013. 

In the Sahel regions of Bahr El Gazal (BEG) and Kanem (KAN), sandy areas have grown in a patchwork fashion, 

pushing into the steppes. Droughts in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as grazing pressure, have destabilized the 

already sparse vegetation cover, allowing the underlying sands to become more mobile. Between 1975 and 2013, 

sandy areas have increased by 22 percent.

The reduction of surface water in Chad (a loss of 60 percent of surface water between 1975 and 2013) is mainly a 

result of the receding area of Lake Chad. Over 38 years, the overall surface area of the lake reduced by 87 percent. 

This is a concern not only to Chad, but to the region. Rainfall shortages combined with heavy use of the lake and 

river waters to irrigate and a major population increase in catchment area account for this decline. The entire 

The northern third of Chad is a desert with 

vegetation cover found only in special 

niches where it can survive. Land cover 

was mapped only in the southern twothirds of Chad, where seasonal vegetation 

and longer term land use and land cover 

dynamics are in play. 
A Window on a Changing World 195

Large area classes

Small area classes

northern basin, which had water as recently as 1975, has 

completely dried out, replaced by steppes and herbaceous 

savanna. In 2013, only a core area of the southern basin still 

had water. In contrast, the smaller Lake Fitri, also situated 

in Chad’s Sahel Region, appears to have been spared by 

the drying process. Lake Fitri’s area did not change much 

between 1975 and 2013. Nevertheless, the lake’s northern 

wetland area decreased, and agricultural pressure around 

the lake has visibly grown. These changes in the country’s 

water resources have impacted its socio-economic life. There 

has been a migration of population toward the south where 

rainfall and pastoral resources are more abundant. The 

dramatic decline in the extent of Lake Chad has stranded 

many communities that are dependent on fishing and 

gardening, further fueling migration to Chad’s urban areas. 

The recent oil boom in Chad is another factor affecting 

population migrations, changes in land cover, and natural 

resource degradation in the south, especially at Doba and 

Bongor. Chad became an oil exporter in July 2003, after 

over 30 years of prospecting by various international oil 

companies. Two years later, the country joined the African 

Petroleum Producers’ Association (APPA) and created the 

Hydrocarbon Company of Chad in 2006. 

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

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grass savanna

Savanna

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

AREA (SQ KM)

0

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10,000

15,000

20,000

Woodland Water bodies Gallery forest Settlements Sandy area

AREA (SQ KM)

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS
196 Landscapes of West Africa

The increasing pressure on natural resources around Manda 

National Park 

As one of the three national parks in Chad, Manda National Park protects a relatively well-preserved stretch of 

Sudanian savanna ecosystem. Manda constitutes one of the last wildlife refuges in the Middle-Chari region of 

Chad, but the increasing pressure on natural resources in the surrounding landscapes is threatening the integrity 

of the park.

Established in 1965, Manda National Park is located in south-central Chad, northwest of Sarh. The park covers 

about 120 sq km of wooded savanna, woodland, and grassy floodplain. It is bounded on the southwest by the 

Sarh–N’Djamena road and on the northeast by the Chari River. Rainfall that usually starts in late April causes 

seasonal flooding by the Chari.

Manda National Park is isolated from most other protected areas, which makes it difficult for wildlife to migrate 

from the park to other suitable habitats. However, one nearby protected area is the Djoli-Kéra Forest Reserve, a vast 

unbroken area of Sudanian savannas and woodland. Manda National Park was initially created for the protection of 

Derby’s eland, but like the African elephant, this species disappeared from the park at the end of 1980s. However, 

hippopotamuses are still found in the Chari River and small populations of African buffalo, roan antelopes, and a 

few species of primates persist in Manda National Park (UICN/PACO, 2006). 

Roan antelope

ERIC LANDWEHR / SDSU
A Window on a Changing World 197

A comparison of satellite images from 1986 and 2013 shows the growing 

pressure on the land surrounding Manda National Park and the Djoli-Kéra 

Forest Reserve. According to the land cover maps (see pages 194–195), 

the landscape was dominated by savanna and woodland in 1975 — 

agriculture was not well-developed and covered less than 10 percent of 

the area. Several areas burned by seasonal wildfires are visible across the 

savanna landscape in the 1986 satellite imagery (dark patches), including 

parts of Manda National Park. By 2013, cropland covered about 30 percent 

of the area around the park and the forest reserve. The progression of 

agriculture came from the west and, so far, has not expanded much east 

of the Chari River.

Recent interviews conducted among local farmers and local stakeholders 

by the Centre National d’Appui à la Recherche (CNAR – National Center 

for Research) indicate that cropland expansion is not only related to the 

growing population and the associated need to produce more food, but 

also to land deterioration. Poor land management and recurrent wildfires 

led to soil deterioration and reduced agricultural yield. As a result, farmers 

have been searching for new, fertile land, such as the surroundings of Manda 

National Park and Djoli-Kéra Forest Reserve. In addition, farmers have been 

shifting to more lucrative activities, such as timber commercialization or 

charcoal production (Nougagombe and others, 2012). 

Another growing pressure on the land resources in this area is livestock 

grazing. In recent years, herders have brought their livestock into the 

park during their seasonal migrations to avoid drought conditions farther 

north, or because their traditional pasture lands were flooded during the 

rainy season. Local informants blamed herders for lopping branches to 

create fences and deliberately setting fires in the savannas to promote 

early greening and better access to grass shoots. The presence of herders 

in the park has been the source of several conflicts with farmers and park 

guards (Nougagombe and others, 2012). 

Satellite images show vegetation cover within the park to be relatively 

stable, but local inhabitants have witnessed a decrease in biodiversity 

and wildlife populations due to habitat deterioration and heavy poaching.
198 Landscapes of West Africa

Yamba Berté Forest Reserve

The Yamba Berté Forest Reserve lies in the relatively humid Sudanian Region of southwestern Chad. The reserve 

protects an island of relatively intact dense shrub savanna, gallery forests, wetlands and small lakes (GEF, 2004). 

Forests including African mahogany, néré, doka, tamarind, African copaiba balsam and shea trees provide good 

habitat for a variety of fauna including gazelles, eland and other antelope as well as monkeys, ostrich, giraffe and 

possibly some of Chad’s remaining savanna elephants, among others (Chaintreuil and Conteau, 2000; IUCN, 2015). 

The reserve’s proximity to Sena Oura National Park and the adjacent Bouba Ndjida National Park in Cameroon with 

patches of intact forest between the two areas has historically made up a much larger area of contiguous habitat. 

The amount of intact forest remaining in the area between the national parks and Yamba Berté has declined 

between the dates of the two satellite images above. 

Rainfall in the area averages around 1,000 mm per year, but in the long term it is quite variable having been as 

low as 600 mm and as high as 1,400 mm between 1971 and 2006. While the area is considered quite good for 
A Window on a Changing World 199

agriculture, as in many areas of the Sudanian Region, farmers have to 

cope with this interannual variability, compounded by uneven spatial 

and temporal distribution of rains (Sougnabé, 2013). In part due to the 

in-migration attracted by the good farming and herding conditions, the 

population just in the area shown in the above images has grown from 

around 700,000 in 1990 to an estimated 1,490,000 in 2015 (CIESIN, 2005). 

Most of this population makes its living by farming or a combination of 

farming and herding (Sougnabé, 2013). In addition to subsistence crops 

such as maize millet and sorghum, the area is ideal for growing cotton 

and groundnuts, the two primary cash crops in the area (FEWSnet, 2005). 

The growing demand for land has led to encroachment on the forest reserve 

with two villages clearly visible in the 2015 satellite image, and many 

areas of encroachment around the perimeter of the reserve. Additional 

pressures on the forest include charcoal production, poaching and grazing 

of livestock. There are reports of at least two instances of oil exploration 

work in the area of Yamba Berté since 2003 (Oyamta and others, 2013). 

In the 1970s over 85 percent of the area shown in the above images was 

shrub savanna and less than 7 percent was agriculture. By 2013 only 

about 39 percent of the same area was intact shrub savanna, while the 

area being farmed had grown to just under 54 percent. 

Extraction of seeds from cucumbers in a Moussey village

LUICLEMENS 
200 Landscapes of West Africa

Environmental Highlights

• High rate of agricultural expansion 

• Fragmentation and loss of 

 natural landscapes

• Soil degradation

• Coastal erosion

Togo is one of the smallest countries of West Africa. 

Nevertheless, Togo has a variety of landscapes and straddles 

several bioclimatic regions. Northern Togo is characterized 

by the seasonal Sudanian climate, with a single rainy season. 

Woodlands and savannas still predominate in the north, but 

they are losing ground to agriculture. This region is exposed 

to dry Harmattan winds and prone to drought. The Atacora 

Mountain range crosses central Togo, with more wooded 

landscapes, and a few isolated remnants of dense tropical 

forest. These forest relicts form the eastern limit of the Upper 

Guinean forest ecosystem. The southern half of Togo falls 

into the Guinean climatic region, characterized by two rainy 

seasons. The coastal area, however, is part of the Dahomey 

Gap, a relatively dry savanna zone that separates the high 

rainfall regimes outside of Togo to the east and west. The 

coast receives an average of only 900 mm of rainfall per 

year. Agriculture and mining are key economic activities 

in Togo. Food crops and cash crops such as cocoa, coffee, 

and cotton are the main sources of income for 80 percent of 

the population. Togo is also one of the world’s five leading 

producers of phosphates. 

Total Surface Area: 56,785 km2

Estimated Population in 2013: 6,929,000

Togolese Republic

200 Landscapes ofWest Africa

NASA BLUE MARBLE NEXT GENERATION

Landscape east of Dapaong, northern Togo
A Window on a Changing World 201

With the exception of the Atacora Mountain range, Togo’s topography is one of 

gently rolling hills, shallow valleys, and two large alluvial plains. The chaîne de 

l’Atacora (FA – Atacora range), where natural forest and savanna landscapes can still 

be found, cuts diagonally across the central part of the country. Northern Togo —the 

Savane Soudanienne Sèche ecoregion (SSS – Dry Sudanian Savanna)—has become 

predominantly agricultural. Just south, a broad plain with the meandering Oti River is 

the setting for a large national park. In the country’s southern half, Togo’s agro-pastoral 

region (ZAA) and plateau regions (PBS and PBN) are characterized by a patchwork 

of savannas, gallery forest, and cropland. Here, too, there is extensive expansion of 

croplands, supplanting the natural vegetation cover. In the coastal plain, the zone 

Fluvio-lagunaire (ZFL – Fluvio-lagoon zone), with its complex of lagoons and swamps, 

is bordered by the Terre de Barre (TB), a plateau of ferruginous and clay soils, often 

covered by large palm plantations.

Shaded Relief

GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TERRAIN ELEVATION DATA 2010 (GMTED 2010)

Ecoregions

GRAY TAPPAN / USGS

Ecoregions and Topography

Steep slopes of the Monts de Défalé, with gallery forest.

PHOTO (OPPOSITE PAGE): GRAY TAPPAN/USGS
202 Landscapes of West Africa

Although savannas remain the dominant feature in Togo’s landscapes, 

agricultural expansion has greatly changed land cover in all parts of the 

country. In 1975, savannas covered 70 percent of Togo, and cultivated 

areas were mainly found around urban settlements and along the major 

roads. Between 1975 and 2013, agriculture increased by 14,000 sq km, or 

266 percent. Togo’s 7 percent annual expansion rate over this time period 

ranks as the highest in West Africa. Agricultural expansion occurred at the 

expense of natural ecosystems such as savannas, woodlands, and gallery 

forests. The natural landscapes have also become highly fragmented, 

further degrading ecosystem services. Cultivation has extended beyond 

the country’s most suitable land and is now encroaching into areas of 

marginal soils. Furthermore, croplands encroach on most protected zones 

in Togo, including the Oti-Kéran National Park. 

The Forêt de l’Atacora (FA – Atacora Forest), which was largely intact in 

1975, has experienced a large incursion of cropland, in particular around 

the towns of Kpalimé and Atakpamé. Dense tropical forest that accounted 

for 5.9 percent of Togolese land surface in 1975 has now been reduced 

by half. The deforestation rate in the past decade appears not to have 

slowed. Without protection initiatives, the current rate will lead to the 

complete disappearance of Togo’s forests by 2025. Degraded forests and 

gallery forests are also succumbing to deforestation and have decreased 

by 21 percent and 36 percent, respectively, between 1975 and 2013. Forest 

disappearance is particularly worrisome because it reduces biodiversity and 

negatively impacts a variety of ecosystem services that benefit humans.

These trends of land cover and land use changes stem directly from the 

increasing pressure on natural resources driven by population growth. 

 Land Use, Land Cover and Trends
A Window on a Changing World 203

Large area classes

Small area classes

Togo’s population grew from 2.4 to 6.9 million between 1975 and 

2013, a 288 percent increase. Similarly, the area of Togo’s cities and 

towns increased 176 percent. 

At a more local scale, irrigated agriculture and land devoted to 

plantations have also greatly increased. Irrigated agriculture hardly 

existed in Togo in 1975; it grew to 108 sq km in 2013. Plantations, 

formerly concentrated in coastal areas, have expanded greatly 

over the 38 years, covering almost 200 sq km in 2013. In contrast, 

wetlands in the Oti River floodplain were quite limited in 1975, 

owing to years of drought. They increased by 44 percent between 

1975 and 2000 and have remained quite stable since then. 

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,000

Degraded 

forest

Savanna Agriculture Forest

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

AREA (SQ KM)

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

Gallery forest Woodland Settlements Plantation

1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 1975 2000 2013 YEARS

AREA (SQ KM)
204 Landscapes of West Africa

Natural Resources Degradation in the Plateaus Region of Togo

Togo lies in the Dahomey Gap, the part of the forest-savanna mosaic that separates the Upper Guinean forest zone 

to the west from the Guineo-Congolian forest region to the east. Home to the easternmost fringe of remaining 

Upper Guinean forest, the Plateaus region has the second largest concentration of people in Togo, after the 

Maritime region where the capital, Lomé, is located. It was subjected to major deforestation as a result of the 

socio-political turmoil in the 1990s. Forests have always been rare in Togo, yet in rural areas, more than 80 percent 

of the local communities use firewood for cooking and fuel. The lack of sound forest management has resulted 

in overharvesting for woodfuel, building materials, and other forest products. Because the laws consider forest 

products to be equivalent to other agricultural products, management objectives tend to favor economics, rather 

than the ecological role of the forests (USAID, 2008).

The pair of satellite images illustrates the drastic deforestation that has occurred over the past 40 years in the Amou 

prefecture of the Plateaus region, at the edge of the Fétiches Mountains range. In 1976, more than half the area was 

covered by forested habitats (28 percent forest, 22 percent degraded forest, and 3 percent gallery forest). Dense 

and degraded forests occupied most of the mountainous zones; a mosaic of savanna (43 percent) and cropland 

(4 percent), interspersed by thick gallery forests, blanketed most of the lowland. By 2015, unregulated use and 

exploitation had reduced forest areas by 76 percent, replaced mostly by savanna and degraded forest. Deforestation 

also occurred within protected forests, with major incursions from agriculture and growing settlements. Within 

the image area, cropland area increased by a factor of 11 between 1976 and 2013, and is now the dominant land 

cover. Cultivation of coffee, cocoa, and cotton, as well as subsistence farming, has cleared large tracts of land, 
A Window on a Changing World 205

replacing the semi-natural landscapes with large-scale commercial agriculture (see insets) 

(Tchamie, 2000). The gallery forests that followed lowland watercourses were decimated. The 

darker areas visible on the 2013 Landsat image are burn scars from bush fires, ignited accidently 

or intentionally for such uses as agricultural clearing or hunting. Burning occurs over large 

areas each dry season. These fires can degrade forested habitats, reducing their suitability as 

habitat for wildlife.

There are numerous forest “islands” throughout Togo, used by local people to perform ceremonies 

(Kokou, 2008). Many are considered sacred forests which also play an important role as isolated 

islands of biodiversity. The sacred forests are used for gathering firewood and medicinal products, 

and in some cases for hunting. Overexploitation of the sacred forests has reduced many in size 

and ecological complexity. Introduced species are replacing the native vegetation in some 

locations. Changing cultural and religious traditions are also leading to the abandonment or 

conversion of sacred forests to other uses, such as agriculture (USAID, 2008).

Forestry development, bush fires, and intensive land clearing, as well as the abusive exploitation 

of natural resources for human consumption, trade, and tourism, together constitute the 

principal pressures on the natural resources in the Plateaus region of Togo (Tchamie, 2000). The 

government and local organizations are now promoting reforestation in the Plateaus region, 

but the trees being planted are often non-native, high value species, such as the teak and 

eucalyptus (Kokou, 2008). Despite these efforts, the deforestation rate remains high. Coffee plant GEOFF LIVINGSTON/ FOTER.COM / CC BY-NC-SA
206 Landscapes of West Africa

Forest loss and sustainable agriculture in Tchamba Prefecture

The natural landscapes of Tchamba Prefecture in central Togo are mostly West Sudanian savanna — a mix of 

savanna, woodland, gallery forests, and some patches of denser forest. Much of the prefecture, including the area 

surrounding Tchamba town, experienced heavy deforestation during the 1990s as the area’s growing population 

cut trees for timber and energy, and converted areas of wooded savanna to farm fields. In an analysis of land cover 

changes between 1990 and 2010 conducted by Togolese government agencies and the University of Lomé, Togo 

measured an 18 percent loss of forest and 7 percent loss of woodland primarily to expanding areas of agriculture, 

residential growth and bushland (Kokou and others, 2012). However, recent trends measured by analysis of MODIS 

satellite data show some encouraging signs. Primary productivity (a measure of plant growth, see pages 38–41) 

showed a positive trend between 2000 and 2010 in some parts of Tchamba Prefecture. 

The ASTER image pair (opposite page, top) is focused on one of these positive developments. It reveals several areas 

of increased woody cover between 2000 and 2015 in the area surrounding Tchamba town. The high-resolution 
A Window on a Changing World 207

image (opposite page) shows in greater detail what is behind this positive 

trend. Many of the areas that were being intensely farmed in 2000 with 

annual crops such as maize, sorghum, millet, rice, peanuts, cowpeas, 

soybeans, yams, cassava, sweet potatoes and cotton (Kokou and others, 

2012) are now covered in trees. In many cases these are small-holder cashew 

plantations which use a system of integrating annual crops between the 

cashew trees (Tandjiékpon, 2010). As the trees mature and the amount of 

light reaching the annual crops diminishes, the crops change from cotton, 

yams and maize to crops that require less light. This intercropping system 

has been shown to be profitable for farmers, and the cashew trees help to 

restore degraded soils and sequester carbon (Opoku-Ameyaw and others, 

2011; ACI 2010; Temudo and Abrantes 2014).

Agriculture directly or indirectly employs most of Tchamba Prefecture’s 

population but has been the cause of dramatic unsustainable land cover 

change over the past decades. Finding sustainable strategies for meeting 

the development needs of local people while still preserving productive 

soils and important ecosystem services, biodiversity, natural heritage and 

beauty of the savanna landscape is a major challenge for Togo’s policy 

makers. The successful intercropping of cashew and food crops may 

provide both short-term profits and long-term environmental benefits 

(Opoku-Ameyaw and others, 2011). In addition, a cashew processing facility 

was built in Tchamba town in 2005 and is providing hundreds of jobs and 

bringing new economic development to the community (African Cashew 

Alliance, 2013; Kokou and others, 2012). 

ISSIFOU ALFARI/AGRHYMET

KOKOU AND OTHERS, 2012
208 Landscapes of West Africa

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214 Landscapes of West Africa

Acronyms and Abbreviations

ASTER Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and 

Reflection Radiometer

CIESIN Center for International Earth Science 

Information Network

CILSS Comité Permanent Inter-états de Lutte contre 

la Sécheresse dans le Sahel – Permanent Interstate 

Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel

DNEF Direction Nationale des Eaux et Forêts de la République 

de Guinée – Water and Forest National Office of Guinea

EROS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the 

United Nations

FMNR Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration

GEF Global Environment Fund

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GIS Geographic Information System

IMF International Monetary Fund

IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

ITCZ Intertropical Convergence Zone

IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature

km kilometers

m meters

MAB Man and the Biosphere

mm millimeters

MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

NIR Near-Infrared

NP National Park

OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation 

and Development 

PGRN Projet Gestion des Ressources Naturelles – Natural 

resources management project

PN Parc National – National Park

PNGIM Programme National de Gestion de l’Information sur le 

Milieu – National Program on habitat management 

information

PREVINOBA Projet de Reboisement Villageois dans le Nord-Est du 

Bassin Arachidier – Village Afforestation Project of the 

Northwest Peanut Basin

RCP Relative Concentration Pathways

RISE Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced

RLCM Rapid Land Cover Mapper

sq km square kilometers

SDSU South Dakota State University

UICN/PACO Programme Afrique Centrale et Occidentale de l’Union 

Internationale pour la Conservation de la Nature – 

Western and central African programme of the 

international union for conservation of nature

UN United Nations

UNCCD United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and 

Cultural Organization

USAID U.S. Agency for International Development

USGS U.S. Geological Survey

WAP W-Arly-Pendjari

WCMC World Conservation Monitoring Centre

WDPA World Database on Protected Areas

WOCAT World Overview of Conservation Approaches 

and Technologies

WRI World Resources Institute
A Window on a Changing World 215

Index

A

Abidjan 34, 63, 65

Abuja 164

Acacia 7, 70, 92, 149, 152, 155, 163, 179

Acacia nilotica 149, 152

Acacia senegal 155, 179

Accra 62, 113, 114

Aerial photography 26, 27, 29, 32, 56, 57, 64, 65, 70, 71, 87, 88, 89, 136, 153, 183

Afforestation 71, 81, 90, 92, 94, 95, 131, 155, 179, 180, 214

African elephant 16, 17, 23, 101, 196

African lion 16, 17

Agadez 11, 34

Agriculture 8, 13, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 41, 42, 43, 54, 57, 58, 

59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 81, 82, 83, 84, 

85, 86, 87, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 95, 97, 98, 99, 100, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 

107, 108, 109, 110, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 127, 

128, 129, 133, 134, 135, 137, 140, 141, 142, 143, 149, 150, 151, 153, 156, 

157, 158, 159, 162, 163, 165, 166, 167, 168, 170, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 

180, 183, 184, 186, 187, 188, 193, 194, 195, 197, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 

204, 205, 206, 207, 214

Agriculture expansion 59, 60, 76, 100, 151, 158, 187

Agroforestry 70, 71, 88, 90, 95, 123, 135, 159, 180

Aïr mountains 4, 5, 11, 157

Alluvial plain 119, 128, 141, 201

Alluvial valley 3, 120, 157

Andropogon 8

Antelope 16, 23, 87, 191, 196, 198

Aster 92, 206, 214

Atacora Mountain 200, 201

B

Badlands 53, 57, 177

Balayan Souroumba 125

Bamako 4, 63

Bamboo 57

Banjul 104, 105, 106, 108

Bare soil 30, 35, 38, 53, 57, 91, 150, 152, 177

Benefits of re-greening 71

Benin 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 33, 42, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81

Bijagos archipelago 68, 126, 127

Bioclimatic regions 3, 7, 8, 59, 60, 83, 174, 200

Biodiversity 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 28, 29, 60, 61, 66, 67, 69, 70, 71, 74, 86, 94, 95, 102, 

105, 110, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 136, 137, 148, 151, 164, 167, 171, 176, 

179, 184, 189, 197, 202, 205, 207

Biosphere Reserve 16, 18, 20, 22, 86, 122, 123, 125, 126, 137

Bowé 52, 118, 119, 121, 127, 129

Burkina Faso 6, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 29, 30, 32, 34, 41, 42, 56, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 70, 

75, 82, 83, 84, 85, 88, 89, 97, 100, 116, 144, 153

C

Cabo Verde 59, 62, 63, 71, 90, 92, 93, 94, 95

Carbon 13, 71, 207

Casamance 62, 68, 69, 105, 175, 176, 182

Cashew 59, 80, 81, 126, 207

Cassava 59, 104, 168, 207

Central plateau 62, 82, 84, 88

Chad 3, 5, 6, 7, 17, 24, 25, 32, 36, 42, 56, 59, 60, 62, 63, 157, 192, 193, 194, 195, 

196, 198

Charcoal 68, 174, 182, 183, 188, 197, 199

Chimpanzee 16, 17, 19, 96, 101, 103, 122, 136, 173, 188, 189, 191

Climate 3, 5, 6, 7, 13, 16, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 56, 59, 60, 69, 70, 71, 

83, 86, 90, 91, 92, 94, 96, 110, 111, 116, 119, 131, 132, 138, 140, 144, 156, 

162, 165, 178, 184, 192, 193, 194, 200, 214

Climate change 13, 16, 35, 36, 37, 69, 70, 71, 116, 131, 144, 162, 214

Climate variability 35, 37

Climate zone 59, 60, 86, 119, 162, 192, 194

Coastal 6, 17, 32, 33, 34, 37, 38, 43, 51, 62, 67, 68, 69, 74, 75, 104, 110, 111, 118, 

119, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 148, 154, 164, 165, 177, 180, 

184, 185, 186, 200, 201, 203

Coastal erosion 37, 104, 130, 131, 200

Cocoa 59, 61, 65, 67, 96, 98, 102, 110, 112, 119, 168, 200, 204

Coffee 61, 65, 96, 98, 119, 200, 204, 205

Co-forest management 124, 125

Community forest 19, 88, 89

Comoé National Park 98, 100, 101

Conservation 13, 16, 18, 19, 29, 30, 67, 68, 69, 78, 82, 85, 90, 92, 95, 100, 122, 

123, 132, 137, 153, 171, 173, 189, 191, 214

Conversion 28, 61, 67, 84, 90, 108, 150, 159, 172, 176, 205

Corona 25, 28, 29, 108, 114, 138, 145, 155, 172, 180

Cotton 21, 30, 59, 61, 63, 74, 79, 80, 82, 98, 140, 168, 174, 199, 200, 204, 207

Crop 3, 21, 29, 30, 32, 33, 35, 37, 42, 54, 59, 60, 61, 71, 79, 80, 82, 83, 84, 85, 88, 

98, 104, 107, 113, 117, 119, 144, 162, 165, 166, 170, 176, 180, 199, 200, 

207

Cropland 8, 29, 42, 43, 54, 59, 60, 64, 70, 74, 76, 77, 81, 82, 84, 85, 87, 89, 93, 96, 

102, 111, 120, 142, 143, 144, 145, 151, 158, 162, 171, 176, 183, 184, 185, 

186, 187, 188, 194, 197, 201, 202, 204

Cropland and fallow with oil 43, 54, 60, 77

D

Dahomey gap 8, 66, 200, 204

Dakar 4, 62, 63, 174, 176, 177

Deforestation 57, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 74, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 96, 98, 99, 102, 103, 

104, 110, 114, 115, 118, 121, 126, 128, 129, 132, 137, 144, 159, 160, 164, 

173, 174, 184, 186, 189, 192, 194, 202, 204, 205, 206

Degradation 34, 38, 56, 57, 61, 67, 69, 70, 71, 74, 77, 88, 94, 96, 99, 109, 110, 112, 

124, 128, 140, 144, 154, 156, 159, 173, 179, 183, 195, 200, 204

Degraded 42, 43, 50, 57, 61, 65, 66, 67, 70, 76, 77, 81, 88, 90, 92, 95, 96, 99, 102, 

103, 107, 112, 113, 114, 115, 120, 124, 128, 133, 134, 135, 136, 162, 165, 

167, 169, 174, 178, 186, 187, 188, 189, 202, 203, 204, 207

Degraded forest 42, 43, 50, 65, 66, 67, 76, 77, 96, 99, 102, 103, 112, 113, 114, 

115, 133, 134, 135, 165, 167, 186, 187, 188, 202, 203, 204

Degraded land 57, 70, 81, 90, 92, 162, 178

Desert 3, 7, 11, 17, 34, 42, 62, 91, 140, 141, 142, 148, 150, 154, 156, 157, 158, 163, 

192, 194

Desertification 57, 90, 95, 140, 143, 148, 150, 156, 159, 162, 164, 174, 192, 214

Dogon 62, 142, 144

Drought 28, 29, 30, 34, 35, 43, 56, 64, 70, 74, 82, 88, 94, 116, 144, 145, 147, 148, 

151, 154, 156, 159, 162, 163, 174, 176, 177, 178, 180, 194, 197, 200, 203, 

214
216 Landscapes of West Africa

Dry 4, 6, 7, 8, 16, 28, 34, 39, 54, 59, 61, 82, 89, 90, 91, 104, 105, 111, 116, 117, 119, 

146, 147, 148, 152, 171, 178, 179, 190, 191, 193, 200, 201, 205

Dune 7, 11, 29, 41, 53, 148, 149, 155, 157, 159, 177

E

East Nimba 132, 136, 137

Ecoregion 13, 14, 75, 76, 83, 84, 91, 97, 105, 111, 112, 119, 120, 127, 128, 129, 

133, 141, 142, 143, 149, 157, 159, 165, 166, 175, 185, 186, 193, 194, 201

Ecosystems 3, 16, 18, 22, 23, 59, 61, 66, 67, 68, 71, 74, 77, 80, 86, 87, 95, 101, 122, 

126, 129, 131, 136, 140, 167, 173, 176, 182, 186, 188, 196, 200, 202, 207

Ecosystem services 18, 61, 71, 202, 207

Ecotourism 87, 109, 110, 111, 115, 184, 191

Elephant 16, 17, 23, 87, 101, 102, 103, 122, 161, 172, 173, 188, 191, 196, 198

Endangered species 16, 19, 69, 102, 132, 173

Endemic species 66, 172

Environmental change 183

Ephemeral wetlands 152

Erosion 29, 30, 35, 37, 51, 57, 69, 70, 71, 79, 81, 86, 90, 92, 94, 95, 104, 116, 118, 

119, 120, 130, 131, 143, 148, 159, 162, 177, 178, 179, 180, 189, 200

Expansion of agriculture 84, 98, 106, 142, 162, 166, 170, 176, 201

Extensification 61

F

Faidherbia albida 70, 71, 162, 163, 180

Farmer 29, 71, 88, 117, 162, 163, 180, 214

Farmer innovator 29, 88

Farmer-managed natural regeneration 29, 35, 70, 71, 140, 145, 162

Faunal Reserve 19, 20, 21, 22, 160

Fire 7, 8, 19, 27, 52, 53, 64, 78, 87, 117, 125, 161, 183, 190, 191, 197, 205

Flood 29, 86, 126, 146, 147, 153, 187, 189, 193

Floodplain 21, 55, 86, 128, 146, 147, 150, 160, 169, 176, 196, 203

Forest 3, 8, 16, 17, 19, 22, 25, 28, 29, 30, 38, 41, 42, 43, 50, 51, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 

65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 84, 85, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 

92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99, 100, 102, 103, 105, 107, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 

114, 115, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 

131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 140, 143, 145, 149, 150, 151, 158, 159, 

161, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 182, 

183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 

200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 214

Forest islands 57, 120

Forest loss 30, 67, 135, 186, 206

Forest Reserve 16, 19, 78, 79, 81, 114, 115, 122, 124, 125, 132, 137, 170, 172, 173, 

182, 183, 185, 188, 189, 196, 197, 198, 199

Fouta Djallon 4, 5, 97, 104, 119, 120, 124, 127

Freetown 184, 185

G

Gâat Mahmoudé 152, 153

Gallery forest 8, 22, 43, 50, 60, 67, 74, 77, 79, 84, 85, 87, 99, 100, 102, 103, 105, 

107, 113, 118, 119, 121, 128, 129, 134, 143, 150, 151, 158, 159, 161, 167, 

175, 176, 177, 182, 186, 187, 190, 194, 195, 198, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 

206

Gambia (The) 5, 6, 17, 59, 62, 68, 104, 105, 107, 108, 109, 118, 124, 175, 182, 183

Gambia River 104, 105, 124, 182

Geographic information system 27, 214

Geology 3, 4, 13, 30, 56

Geomorphology 13, 56, 111

Ghana 3, 6, 33, 41, 42, 43, 44, 59, 60, 61, 62, 65, 66, 67, 68, 110, 111, 112, 113, 

114, 115, 116, 140, 166

Giraffe 23, 198

Global warming 37

Gold 62, 82, 110, 118, 140, 184, 189, 192

Gold mining 140, 189

Google Earth 25, 27

Gourcy 88, 89

Groundnut 59, 61, 80, 105, 107, 199

Guéra Mountains 192, 193

Guinea 3, 4, 5, 6, 17, 34, 38, 39, 42, 43, 52, 57, 59, 62, 66, 68, 69, 96, 97, 104, 105, 

111, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 127, 129, 130, 133, 136, 137, 

164, 185, 190, 214

Guinea-Bissau 3, 19, 68, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130

Guinea highlands 5, 34, 97, 122, 146, 164, 185

Guinean region 8, 59, 70, 111, 122, 127, 174, 182

Guineo-Congolian region 7, 8, 9, 59, 60, 96, 110, 204

Gulf of Guinea 6, 34, 38, 39, 62, 69, 96, 164

H

Harmattan 6, 34, 148, 163, 200

Harvested area 59, 61, 130, 147, 188

Herbaceous savanna 52, 107, 127, 195

High-resolution 23, 27, 28, 69, 92, 95, 144, 155, 162, 179, 180, 191, 206

Hippopotamus 23, 86, 87, 122, 126, 161, 191, 196

Hotspot 66, 123, 132, 148, 151, 164, 167

I

Ibadan 62, 168, 169

Inland Niger Delta 6, 7, 140, 141, 143, 146, 147

K

Kainji Lake National Park 17, 170

Kamb 178, 179

Kangari Hills 123, 188, 189

Kédougou 42

Kumasi 33, 41, 62, 113, 114, 115

L

Lake Chad 5, 6, 7, 24, 192, 193, 194, 195

Lake Fitri 25, 194, 195

Lake Volta 6, 111

Land cover 13, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 35, 37, 38, 39, 42, 43, 44, 46, 48, 50, 

52, 56, 57, 59, 60, 73, 76, 77, 79, 80, 84, 85, 91, 92, 93, 98, 99, 103, 106, 

107, 109, 112, 113, 114, 120, 121, 128, 129, 134, 135, 138, 142, 143, 150, 

151, 158, 159, 166, 167, 168, 176, 177, 180, 186, 187, 194, 195, 197, 202, 

203, 204, 206, 207, 214

Land cover classes 26, 27, 37, 38, 39, 42, 43, 50, 56, 57, 76, 84, 85, 91, 93, 112, 

113, 128, 129, 134, 135, 142, 143, 150, 151, 158, 166, 167, 186, 194

Land cover conversion 28, 159

Land cover modification 28, 29, 159

Land degradation 38, 57, 71, 74, 77, 94, 96, 110, 144, 156, 159

Land management 41, 70, 82, 88, 197

Land productivity 38, 39, 40, 41, 143

Landsat 11, 13, 24, 25, 26, 27, 79, 80, 103, 114, 115, 123, 138, 144, 146, 152, 161, 

170, 173, 182, 183, 188, 191, 205

Landscape restoration 29, 70, 71, 94
A Window on a Changing World 217

Land use 3, 13, 16, 26, 27, 28, 30, 33, 35, 37, 38, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 56, 57, 62, 

73, 76, 78, 84, 92, 95, 98, 106, 108, 109, 112, 117, 120, 128, 134, 135, 142, 

150, 158, 159, 166, 170, 171, 176, 181, 186, 194, 202

Land use and land cover 13, 26, 27, 28, 30, 33, 35, 38, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 56, 73, 

92, 98, 109, 134, 142, 150, 159, 194

Laterite 52, 88, 89, 105, 118, 119, 121, 127, 129, 175

Liberia 6, 17, 42, 43, 59, 62, 63, 66, 67, 68, 97, 120, 132, 134, 136, 137, 138, 139

Logging 16, 28, 50, 67, 99, 107, 112, 120, 126, 128, 132, 135, 137, 172, 173, 183, 

186, 188

Lomé 204, 206

M

Mali 6, 17, 26, 42, 43, 56, 59, 62, 63, 70, 97, 116, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 

153

Manda National Park 196, 197

Mangrove 43, 51, 68, 69, 105, 107, 109, 110, 119, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 

133, 138, 164, 165, 167, 184, 185

Maradi 63, 145, 157, 162, 163

Marahoué National Park 102, 103

Mare aux hippopotames 86, 87

Mauritania 4, 7, 16, 17, 35, 42, 43, 56, 59, 60, 62, 63, 68, 70, 148, 149, 150, 151, 

152, 154

Mbar diop 180, 181

Millet 29, 59, 61, 70, 83, 89, 104, 105, 117, 199, 207

MODIS 25, 40, 206, 214

Monrovia 138, 139

Mossi 6, 83

Mountain 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 17, 24, 34, 74, 75, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 97, 111, 118, 119, 

120, 122, 133, 136, 137, 184, 185, 192, 193, 200, 201, 204

N

National Forest 19, 120

National Park 11, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 54, 67, 74, 86, 96, 98, 100, 101, 102, 

103, 109, 126, 132, 160, 170, 173, 174, 185, 190, 191, 196, 197, 198, 201, 

202, 214

Natural Forest 99, 172, 201

Natural landscapes 42, 59, 61, 70, 82, 84, 85, 100, 105, 106, 108, 176, 194, 200, 

202, 205, 206

Natural regeneration 29, 35, 70, 71, 88, 140, 145, 157, 162, 214

NDVI 25, 38, 40, 214

Niamey 6, 13, 32

Niger 3, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 42, 43, 

54, 56, 59, 61, 62, 63, 68, 70, 71, 74, 75, 83, 116, 118, 119, 120, 124, 140, 

141, 142, 143, 145, 146, 147, 153, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163, 164, 

165, 166, 167, 170, 171

Nigeria 3, 6, 17, 33, 34, 42, 43, 59, 60, 62, 65, 68, 85, 164, 166, 168, 169, 170, 171, 

172

Niger River 6, 21, 32, 119, 140, 143, 146, 147, 156, 158, 160, 165

Niokolo-Koba National Park 17, 174

Nouakchott 63, 148, 154, 155

N’Djamena 63, 192, 194, 196

O

Oasis 7, 11, 149, 193

Okomu Forest Reserve 172, 173

On-farm trees 70, 71, 159, 162, 163

Open mine 55, 121, 167

Ouaddaï 193, 194

Ouagadougou 4, 34, 63, 64

Ouénou Bénou Forest Reserve 78, 79

Outamba-Kilimi National Park 17, 190, 191

P

Palm trees 11, 43, 54, 59, 60, 61, 67, 74, 75, 76, 77, 98, 115, 126, 127, 168, 173, 

201

Pastoral 3, 11, 30, 59, 70, 93, 141, 156, 157, 158, 159, 171, 174, 175, 177, 178, 195

Pata Forest Reserve 182, 183

Peanut Basin 32, 42, 59, 62, 175, 176, 180, 214

Peanuts 30, 104, 174, 176, 207

Pendjari National Park 20, 22, 74

Plantation 43, 51, 60, 61, 65, 66, 67, 76, 77, 80, 81, 92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 102, 

103, 113, 116, 134, 135, 167, 172, 173, 178, 179, 201, 203, 207

Plateau 3, 5, 6, 7, 29, 34, 52, 56, 62, 70, 74, 75, 76, 82, 83, 84, 88, 91, 97, 105, 107, 

111, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 126, 129, 133, 136, 141, 142, 144, 149, 156, 

157, 158, 162, 165, 175, 184, 185, 186, 187, 193, 201, 204, 205

Plateaus Region of Togo 204, 205

Poaching 100, 103, 132, 161, 173, 191, 197, 199

Pollution 67, 110, 132, 164, 181

Population 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 30, 31, 32, 33, 42, 43, 57, 59, 62, 63, 67, 68, 70, 

74, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 86, 88, 90, 91, 92, 95, 96, 98, 99, 102, 104, 

108, 109, 110, 111, 113, 114, 116, 118, 120, 123, 124, 126, 131, 132, 136, 

137, 138, 139, 140, 142, 143, 144, 146, 147, 148, 150, 153, 155, 156, 158, 

161, 162, 163, 164, 166, 167, 168, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 177, 179, 180, 

181, 183, 184, 187, 188, 191, 192, 194, 195, 196, 197, 199, 200, 202, 203, 

206, 207

Population density 32, 33, 62, 83, 88, 111, 116, 150, 162, 175

Population growth 30, 31, 33, 43, 59, 62, 63, 77, 80, 82, 98, 113, 114, 120, 123, 

137, 139, 158, 171, 187, 194, 202

Practices 29, 67, 70, 71, 79, 82, 89, 92, 95, 120, 159, 162, 173

Precambrian 3, 4, 11, 120

Precipitation 34, 36, 91, 122, 152

Preservation 20, 82, 86, 109, 124, 137, 207

Primates 16, 102, 172, 188, 191, 196

Prosopis juliflora 92, 155

Protected area 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 42, 61, 67, 68, 74, 76, 84, 85, 99, 102, 116, 

122, 126, 132, 166, 167, 170, 174, 179, 196, 214

Protected forest 22, 78, 79, 80, 120, 204

R

Rain 3, 17, 35, 66, 96, 102, 111, 112, 132, 133, 135, 140, 172, 178, 185

Rainfall 5, 6, 7, 8, 29, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 54, 66, 82, 83, 84, 86, 88, 90, 94, 95, 

96, 98, 110, 111, 116, 119, 132, 144, 145, 147, 148, 152, 162, 176, 178, 180, 

183, 184, 185, 189, 190, 192, 194, 195, 196, 198, 200

Rainfall anomalies 35

Rainfed agriculture 60, 76, 81, 84, 85, 97, 107, 111, 151, 166, 176

Ramsar 18, 22, 69, 86

Rapid Land Cover Mapper 27, 214

Recessional agriculture 187

Reforestation 68, 69, 95, 99, 172, 173, 177, 205

Regeneration 29, 35, 70, 71, 88, 89, 107, 125, 140, 145, 157, 162, 214

Re-greening 70, 71, 145, 156, 159, 162, 178, 179

Relief 3, 4, 5, 75, 83, 91, 97, 105, 111, 119, 127, 133, 141, 149, 156, 157, 165, 175, 

185, 190, 193, 201

Remote sensing 13, 25, 57
218 Landscapes of West Africa

Reservoir 74, 82, 116, 117, 132

Resilience 16, 70, 144, 162

Ribeiras 92, 93

Rice 32, 59, 71, 98, 104, 107, 117, 120, 126, 128, 129, 140, 146, 147, 171, 175, 207

Riparian forest 50, 107, 169

River 5, 6, 16, 21, 29, 32, 54, 68, 77, 86, 99, 104, 105, 107, 119, 138, 140, 143, 146, 

147, 148, 149, 151, 156, 158, 160, 164, 165, 169, 172, 182, 191, 194, 196, 

197, 201, 203

River basins 5, 148

RLCM 27, 214

Roan antelope 23, 87, 196

Rock lines 29, 88, 89, 120

Rocky land 53, 84, 150

Rubber 59, 61, 67, 98, 119, 134, 168, 173

Runoff 29, 88, 152, 153

Rural 32, 33, 59, 62, 64, 65, 71, 79, 81, 88, 95, 116, 122, 123, 139, 150, 154, 160, 

163, 168, 175, 204

Rural population 32, 81, 88, 116, 150

S

Sahara Desert 6, 7, 9, 11, 16, 17, 34, 42, 62, 91, 140, 141, 148, 149, 155, 156, 157, 

192

Saharan Region 7

Sahel 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 26, 29, 30, 34, 35, 39, 43, 56, 57, 59, 62, 63, 68, 70, 82, 83, 

84, 88, 89, 141, 143, 144, 148, 149, 152, 157, 162, 174, 175, 178, 192, 194, 

195, 214

Sahelian Region 7, 52, 59, 156, 162

Sahelian short grass savanna 20, 42, 43, 52, 59, 85, 142, 143, 149, 150, 151, 152, 

158, 159, 164, 167, 177, 194, 195

Sandy area 43, 53, 142, 143, 150, 151, 159, 177, 194, 195

Sandy soil 41, 43, 105, 153, 158, 165, 178

Santiago 91, 92, 93, 94, 95

Santo Antão 71, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95

Satellite 13, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 57, 87, 88, 89, 94, 95, 114, 125, 136, 138, 147, 155, 

163, 172, 178, 180, 197, 198, 199, 204, 206

Savanna 7, 8, 11, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 28, 32, 33, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 52, 56, 57, 

58, 59, 60, 61, 64, 65, 66, 67, 70, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 83, 84, 85, 87, 96, 

97, 98, 99, 100, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114, 116, 

119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 127, 128, 129, 133, 134, 135, 136, 142, 143, 144, 

145, 149, 150, 151, 152, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 164, 166, 167, 168, 169, 

170, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 190, 191, 

192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 206, 207

Scaling up 71

Scenery 11, 148, 149, 156, 164

Secondary cities 62, 63

Secondary forest 8, 115

Selective logging 107, 135, 183

Semiarid 3, 7, 30, 34, 35, 39, 42, 56, 57, 70, 74, 82, 92, 93, 94, 96, 141, 143, 156, 

165, 166, 174, 175

Senegal 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 16, 17, 26, 28, 29, 32, 39, 41, 42, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 68, 

69, 70, 71, 104, 105, 107, 118, 124, 148, 149, 151, 155, 174, 175, 176, 177, 

178, 179, 180, 182, 183

Seno plain 144, 145

Settlement growth 62, 63

Settlements 32, 42, 43, 53, 59, 62, 63, 65, 77, 85, 93, 98, 99, 107, 113, 121, 129, 

135, 137, 143, 149, 151, 154, 159, 161, 167, 173, 177, 181, 183, 187, 191, 

195, 202, 203, 204

Shifting agriculture 114, 170, 187

Shoreline 110, 118, 126, 130, 185

Shrubland 93

Sierra Leone 11, 17, 43, 59, 61, 62, 63, 66, 68, 97, 120, 123, 184, 185, 186, 187, 

188, 190, 191

Slash-and-burn agriculture 8, 61, 67, 112, 120, 124, 135, 137, 186

Soil and water conservation 29, 30, 82, 90, 92

Soil degradation 140, 200

Soil erosion 35, 79, 81, 90, 92, 94, 118, 120, 148, 177, 179, 180, 189

Sorghum 59, 61, 79, 83, 89, 104, 199, 207

Spotted bush 56

Steppe 7, 41, 42, 43, 53, 56, 61, 83, 84, 85, 90, 91, 93, 95, 141, 142, 143, 149, 150, 

151, 156, 157, 158, 159, 177, 194, 195

Streams 50, 85, 93, 107

Subsistence 62, 77, 79, 98, 123, 193, 199, 204

Sudan 7, 8, 9, 39, 52, 82, 84, 111, 112, 192, 194

Sudanian Region 7, 8, 42, 57, 59, 60, 83, 96, 99, 127, 141, 174, 193, 194, 198, 199

Suitability 37, 93, 112, 189, 205

Surface water 55, 153, 194

Sustainable 19, 70, 79, 108, 109, 117, 124, 125, 152, 173, 180, 206, 207

Swamp forest 43, 51, 77, 143, 150, 164, 167

T

Tamou Total Faunal Reserve 21, 160

Tchad 59

Tchamba prefecture 206, 207

Tchaourou 80

Temperature 6, 34, 35, 36, 37, 71, 162, 183

Termite mounds 56, 119

Terraces 70, 105, 107, 137, 157, 158

Thicket 43, 51, 102, 103, 134, 135, 186

Threatened species 136

Tibesti Mountains 4, 24, 193

Tiger bush 56, 157

Timbuktu 6, 140, 146

Togo 3, 6, 17, 42, 43, 59, 60, 62, 66, 67, 68, 111, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206

Toumaï skull 192

Tourism 16, 101, 104, 126, 131, 140, 191, 205

Transboundary 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 105, 136, 160

Tree 7, 8, 16, 28, 29, 50, 51, 52, 53, 56, 57, 59, 70, 71, 76, 77, 79, 81, 84, 85, 87, 88, 

89, 92, 93, 95, 98, 105, 106, 107, 111, 115, 116, 117, 122, 125, 126, 128, 

130, 144, 145, 156, 157, 159, 161, 162, 163, 166, 172, 173, 179, 180, 183, 

198, 205, 206, 207

Tree cover 28, 51, 81, 85, 125, 144, 145, 159, 163, 180

Tree density 28, 117, 125, 145, 162, 163, 180

Tree mortality 28

Tree savanna 7, 8, 28, 52, 76, 105, 106, 111, 144

Trends 35, 36, 42, 61, 68, 73, 76, 84, 92, 96, 98, 106, 112, 120, 125, 128, 134, 142, 

148, 150, 158, 159, 166, 176, 177, 180, 186, 194, 202, 206, 207

Tropical climate 110, 132, 138, 184

Tropical forest 16, 96, 99, 102, 111, 133, 135, 137, 172, 185, 200, 202

Tuareg 11

U

Unproductive 41, 88, 177

Unsustainable 113, 207

Upper East region 116

Upper Guinean countries 16, 66, 67

Upper Guinean forest 16, 28, 66, 67, 102, 119, 186, 188, 200, 204
A Window on a Changing World 219

Urban 30, 32, 33, 59, 62, 63, 64, 65, 68, 77, 82, 106, 108, 109, 113, 114, 138, 139, 

154, 164, 168, 169, 174, 195, 202

Urban agglomerations 32

Urban area 30, 59, 62, 65, 82, 113, 114, 155, 168, 195, 202

Urban centers 62, 65

Urban expansion 62, 68, 169

Urbanization 33, 43, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 100, 104, 114, 148, 154

Urban sprawl 106, 108, 168

V

Valuable timber 16, 70, 183, 188

Varela 130, 131

Vegetation cover 7, 13, 28, 37, 39, 53, 56, 57, 60, 70, 95, 111, 137, 140, 142, 150, 

156, 159, 177, 194, 197, 201

Vegetation index 25, 38, 214

Village 11, 21, 53, 57, 62, 63, 77, 88, 89, 102, 107, 108, 120, 123, 125, 130, 140, 

144, 145, 152, 160, 161, 163, 170, 177, 179, 180, 181, 183, 188, 189, 199, 

214

Volta 6, 82, 83, 86, 111

Voodoo 74

Vulnerability to drought 82, 148

Vulnerability to erosion 120, 131

W

 W National Park 22, 23, 54, 160

Wadis 7, 157

W-Arly-Pendjari 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 185, 214

Water 7, 16, 29, 30, 32, 33, 37, 50, 51, 54, 55, 56, 57, 67, 68, 70, 74, 82, 86, 88, 89, 

90, 92, 94, 104, 105, 107, 110, 116, 117, 118, 121, 124, 136, 143, 146, 147, 

152, 153, 159, 160, 165, 169, 175, 179, 187, 192, 194, 195, 214

Water bodies 30, 55, 86, 146, 159, 195

Water conservation 29, 30, 82, 90, 92

Water erosion 51, 57, 70, 143

Water pollution 110

Wetland 7, 18, 19, 22, 43, 55, 56, 59, 61, 68, 69, 86, 100, 107, 109, 128, 146, 147, 

148, 150, 151, 152, 153, 169, 175, 176, 177, 187, 195, 198, 203

White-throated monkeys 172, 173

Wilderness 42, 172

Wildfires 112, 197

Wildlife 19, 67, 86, 102, 103, 111, 112, 143, 146, 151, 153, 167, 171, 173, 188, 189, 

190, 196, 197, 205

Wildlife Reserve 19, 102

Wildlife Sanctuary 19, 67, 173

Windbreaks 180

Wind erosion 71, 159, 162, 178

Winterthorn 70, 71, 163

Wolof 104, 183

Wooded landscapes 105, 200

Wooded savana 7, 8, 22, 28, 39, 42, 52, 57, 58, 59, 61, 76, 78, 79, 80, 84, 105, 106, 

109, 111, 127, 128, 160, 170, 174, 175, 178, 179, 192, 196, 206

Woodland 7, 8, 16, 28, 39, 42, 43, 51, 59, 60, 74, 77, 80, 85, 89, 90, 92, 93, 95, 98, 

99, 100, 105, 108, 112, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 127, 128, 129, 133, 135, 

160, 167, 174, 175, 176, 177, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 190, 192, 

193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 200, 202, 203, 206

World 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, 

43, 45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 55, 57, 59, 61, 63, 65, 67, 69, 70, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, 

83, 85, 87, 89, 91, 93, 95, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101, 103, 104, 105, 107, 109, 110, 

111, 113, 115, 117, 118, 119, 121, 123, 125, 127, 129, 131, 133, 135, 137, 

139, 140, 141, 143, 145, 147, 149, 151, 153, 155, 156, 157, 159, 161, 163, 

164, 165, 167, 169, 171, 173, 175, 177, 179, 181, 183, 185, 187, 189, 191, 

193, 195, 197, 199, 201, 203, 205, 207, 214

World heritage site 100, 140

Z

Zaï 89

Ziama Massif Biosphere Reserve 122, 123, 125

Zinder 71, 145, 158, 162
Landscapes of West Africa, A Window on a Changing World presents a vivid picture of the changing 

natural environment of West Africa. Using images collected by satellites orbiting hundreds of miles above 

the Earth, a story of four decades of accelerating environmental change is told. Widely varied landscapes 

— some changing and some unchanged — are revealing the interdependence and interactions between 

the people of West Africa and the land that sustains them. Some sections of this atlas raise cause for 

concern, of landscapes being taxed beyond sustainable limits. Others offer glimpses of resilient and 

resourceful responses to the environmental challenges that every country in West Africa faces. At the 

center of all of these stories are the roughly 335 million people who coexist in this environment; about 

three times the number of people that lived in the same space nearly four decades ago. 

This rapid growth of West Africa’s population has driven dramatic loss of savanna, woodlands, forests 

and steppe. Most of this transformation has been to agriculture. The cropped area doubled between 

1975 and 2013. Much of that agriculture feeds a growing rural population, but an increasing fraction 

goes to cities like Lagos, Ouagadougou, Dakar and Accra as the proportion of West Africans living in 

cities has risen from 8.3 percent in 1950 to nearly 44 percent in 2015. The people of West Africa and 

their leaders must navigate an increasingly complex path, to meet the immediate needs of a growing 

population while protecting the environment that will sustain it into the future. This 

atlas contributes quantifiable information and meaningful perspective that can help 

guide West Africa and its people to a more sustainable future.