Spatial Determinants of Forest Landscape Degradation in the Kilimanjaro World Heritage Site, Tanzania

Abstract

Forest degradation occurs in natural World Heritage Sites (WHS) in the Global South despite the implementation of various strategic policies and the World Heritage Convention (WHC) on forest protections of the sites and this poses challenges to improving natural heritage sustainability. The current study aims to investigate spatial determinants of forest degradation in the Kilimanjaro WHS, Tanzania, to support strategic policies for forest landscape protection and natural heritage sustainability. Using remotely sensed, Digital Elevation Model, and tourism location data, we performed the supervised classification of satellite images, Digital Elevation, Euclidean distance, and linear regression modeling to identify spatial determinants of forest degradation. Our key findings indicated that while spatial determinants vary with different locations, human (tourism) activities e.g., developments of campsites, picnics, tourist routes, the historical site, and attraction areas are associated with forest degradation in the southern parts of the site. In addition to human activities, natural factors such as low levels of elevation and degrees of slope are associated with forest degradation at the site. However, in the northwest and southwest of the site, high degrees of slope are associated with the degradation. Our findings showed that while bare land surface encroached the primary forest with about 2.88%, moorland vegetation encroached the primary forest with about 16.95%, indicating a large degradation of the primary forest with about 19.83% for the past four decades. The information provided in this study is crucial to support site managers and decision-makers in strategic policies and WHC implementations on forest protection for natural heritage sustainability.

Comparing Spatial Determinants of Forest Landscape Degradation based on Experts’ Perceptions and GIS Analysis: The Case of Kilimanjaro World Heritage Site, Tanzania

“…Expert surveys was conducted using questionnaires from 21 February to 8 April 2022. A matrix questionnaire was designed (Babbie, 2013;Secor, 2010), guided by the current study objectives and spatial determinant variables captured by Enoguanbhor et al (2022a). The variables included level of elevation, degrees of slope, distance to tourist routes, distance to campsites, distance to picnics, distance to historical sites, and distance to attraction areas.…”

“…The positive association indicates that such identified variables contribute to forest degradation, and the negative association indicates that such variables do not contribute to forest degradation. The GIS outcomes on spatial determinants of forest degradation were analysed by Enoguanbhor et al (2022a) using Euclidean distance measurement and linear regression modelling (Yenisetty & Bahadure, 2021;Fotang et al, 2021;Visser & Jones III, 2010;Fotang et al, 2021;Enoguanbhor et al, 2022b). The GIS data was generated through a supervised classification of remotely sensed satellite images from Landsat 7 for 2020 using the maximum likelihood algorithm (Vijayalakshmi et al, 2021;Campbell & Wynne, 2011;Enoguanbhor et al, 2019;Lu et al, 2011;Tso & Mather, 2009;USGS, 2021;.…”

“…In the Global South, tropical forest degradation poses challenges to forest protection and hinders the effective implementation of institutional instruments such as the World Heritage Convention (WHC) and other strategic policies for improving the sustainability of forests as a natural heritage (Lu et al, 2020;Sandström et al, 2020;Sahide et al, 2020;Allan et al, 2017;Hua, 2007;URT, 1998a;URT, 1998b;URT, 1997;Enoguanbhor et al, 2023a). Forest sustainability, in this context, can be seen as a situation that allows the use of forest resources by current and future generations without degrading the forest ecosystems or reducing the services/benefits provided by the forest as a natural heritage.…”

“…The montane forest, which is the primary forest that serves as the buffer zone, is another outstanding universal value and integrity feature of the site that was included to the site in 2005 to protect the forest from degradation due to human activities (UNESCO, 2021;IUCN, 2020). In the Kilimanjaro WHS, anthropogenic factors such as tourism activities, agricultural activities, wildfire, insufficient land availability in local communities, poverty in local communities, illegal logging, charcoal production, Bees keeping and honey harvesting, as well as natural factors such as topography are generally associated to forest degradation (IUCN, 2020;Enoguanbhor et al, 2022a;Enoguanbhor et al, 2023b). Such determinants/drivers may pose threats to the protection of the montane forest that serves not just only as a buffer zone of the WHS but also a habitat for various wildlife species (UNESCO, 2021; IUCN, 2020).…”

“…To support the effective implementation of WHC and other strategic policies for forest protection in general and those in WHS in particular, spatial determinants, which are the anthropogenic and natural proximate causes that contribute to the explanation of the geographical location of land and environmental change, are crucial to be captured, understood, and addressed (Meyfroidt, 2016;Abiodun et al, 2017;Adedire et al, 2016). A previous study conducted by Enoguanbhor et al (2022a) deployed Geographic Information systems (GIS) to capture spatial determinants of forest degradation in the Kilimanjaro WHS, including topographic elevation and slope as natural factors and tourism activities (tourist routes, campsites, picnics, historical sites, and attraction area) as anthropogenic factors but the level of awareness among experts is unknown. Experts' awareness of spatial determinants of forest degradation is crucial to adequately equip human capacity and inform decision-makers when implementing WHC and other strategic policies for forest protection.…”