Research Article
Spatio-temporal Evolution of Land User and Changes in Dense Dry Forests in the Municipality of Santhiaba Manjaque in Lower Casamance (Southern Senegal)
Issue:
Volume 15, Issue 1, February 2026
Pages:
1-11
Received:
24 November 2025
Accepted:
15 December 2025
Published:
16 January 2026
DOI:
10.11648/j.ajep.20261501.11
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Abstract: In Senegal, forest ecosystems have faced increasing pressure in recent decades. These pressures, both natural and anthropogenic, lead to observable changes in the forest landscape. Lower Casamance, the only site that hosts the country’s last remaining relics of dry dense forests, is not spared. The nature and the intensity of these changes affecting the dry dense forests remain poorly understood. The purpose of this study is to assess the dynamics of the dry dense forests in the township of Santhiaba Manjaque and to explain their causes. A diachronic analysis of Landsat satellite data was carried out and the supervised classification approach using the maximum likelihood method was chosen to discriminate classes and produce land cover maps for 1988, 2006, and 2024. Transition matrices were used to highlight the changes undergone by the different land cover units. The results showed a significant trend marked by an increase in the surface areas of dry dense forests and woody savannah, with 855.27 and 575.37 hectares respectively between 1988 and 2024. Conversely, a sharp decrease was observed in shrub savanna, with a loss of 771.47 hectares. Furthermore, the creation of change maps revealed that from 1988 to 2024, 628.54 ha of woody savannah and 452.16 ha of shrub savannah were converted into dry dense forests. The ongoing spatial transformations in the township of Santhiaba Manjaque include modifications recorded within the different vegetation formations and conversions between the classes of natural vegetation formations and the other land cover units. This study helped to shed light on the ongoing spatial transformation processes in the landscape of the township of Santhiaba Manjaque and to determine indicators that can serve as a basis for the management and conservation of forest resources in Senegal.
Abstract: In Senegal, forest ecosystems have faced increasing pressure in recent decades. These pressures, both natural and anthropogenic, lead to observable changes in the forest landscape. Lower Casamance, the only site that hosts the country’s last remaining relics of dry dense forests, is not spared. The nature and the intensity of these changes affectin...
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Fode Amata Drame
