## 3 Results
### Focus of the Studies
Land use maps are crucial tools for planning, describing the geographic distribution of land use, and supporting decision-making for multiple objectives. However, a lack of consistent and comprehensive LULUC maps for West Africa remains [158; 164; 194]. [PERSON] et al. [158] also explore the strengths and limitations of existing LULUC products and evaluate different classification approaches used. Cropland changes can serve as indicators of environmental challenges such as deforestation, desertification, land degradation, and for population growth [30]. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [159], for instance, compared 12 open-source RS LULUC datasets for West Africa, finding overall low agreement between them, with only 11% of the pixels matching across six datasets, further emphasizing the need for improvement in data consistency and accuracy [159]. [PERSON] et al. (2020) [32] aimed to identify factors causing spatial discrepancies among four RS land cover products and assess the impact of environmental factors such as elevation dispersion, field size, land cover richness, and frequency of cloud cover on these spatial differences. Results showed overall accuracies below 65% with particularly large disagreements in the Sahel zone and along the West African coast. [PERSON] et al. [162] developed a crop-type classification using UAV data and Sentinel-1, demonstrating a decline in model accuracy with decreasing spatial resolution. They improved results by integrating a canopy height model. Similarly, [PERSON] et al. [43] achieved high classification accuracy (over 90%) for Burkina Faso, where rainfed agriculture dominates, though irrigated areas and plantations have also expanded mainly due to targeted development projects. [PERSON] et al. [84] concentrated solely on examining the land use changes in those irrigated areas in Burkina Faso. In Mali, [PERSON] et al. [18] identified and processed the most relevant parameters to site suitability for promoting small-scale irrigation. The study presented the efficacy of the spatial modeling approach in site selection for agricultural development and smallholder livelihoods and welfare [18]. A different approach for mapping and monitoring irrigated lands was introduced by [PERSON] et al. [161], employing a low-cost method based on small-scale amateur aerial imaging. Their goal was to help Burkina Faso to achieve a more equitable allocation of irrigated areas, thereby alleviating water scarcity. The diversity of cropland systems across the West Africa continent are highly diverse and often adapted to very specific environmental conditions. This presents challenges, particularly as the phenological signatures of the various land use types in a region can be very similar. As a consequence, mapping croplands at a continental level requires large and up-to-date training and validating datasets. Addressing this, [PERSON] et al. [160] proposed a mapping approach for the agricultural systems of the Sudan-Sahelian region, designed to overcome data limitations in this area. [PERSON] et al. [66] compared Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 for assessing land use in Burkina Faso, highlighting the added value of Sentinel-2's additional red-edge bands. Another study by [PERSON] et al. [168], though focused on palm oil and cropland land use change, was classified as \"LULC with crop focus\" instead of \"Agroforestry\" because the methodological approach focuses on improving LULUC maps by addressing the cloud cover issue in optical imaging based on the use of median Landsat composite images. A approach by [PERSON] et al. [166] classified land use management through the use of high-resolution satellite images to detect burned areas, although distinguishing burns prior to image acquisition from neighboring areas with senescent vegetation remains challenging. Early dry season fires are often used to reduce fuel loads and maintain pastures with low impact on woody vegetation, while late dry season fires, typically accidental, cause major damage to vegetation and soil.