Assessing of Plant Cover Degradation in Dogo-Ketou Classified Forest between 2000 and 2014

Abstract

The last 14 years are subject to significant spatial disparity of vegetation cover in Dogo-Kétou classified forest (Benin, West Africa). Anthropogenic pressures associated to drought accelerated that degradation. Time tracking between 2000 and 2014 for this situation has earned to initiate the present study, The primary expectation is to characterize the state of the current vegetation cover in the period. Satellite image processing Landsat TM 2000 and Landsat 8 OLI 2014 revealed that 95.54% of gallery forests and 50.98% of wooded savannah disappeared between 2000 and 2014 in Dogo-Kétou classified forest. The land survey confirms advanced savannization and sahelisation evidenced by the proliferation of certain plant species belonging to family Combretaceae and Mimosaceae families. If no action is taken, Dogo-Kétou classified forest will shortly disappear.