Remote sensing and GIS based study of potential erosion and degradation areas on the island Fogo (Cape Verde Islands)

Abstract

The Island of Fogo (Cape Verde) is affected by processes of erosion and degradation, caused mainly by a high population growth and global change. With its small scaled climatic, floristic and geo-ecological differentiation, the island of Fogo is an optimal research space for understanding semiarid island ecosystems in the marginal tropics and their behaviour to erosion and degradation processes. For that reason, a change detection analysis over the past two decades is generated, showing the level and direction of land cover and land use change. Two satellite images from 1984 and 2007 will classified by a Maximum Likelihood approach. In a further step, an image of 1974 will be also integrated in this change detection analysis, enlarging the study over the last three decades.