| Abstract |
The Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL) through the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) engaged the Centre for Environmental Research, Education and Development (CERED) in 2013 under Task 221 to undertake research on forest cover change analysis in the Mopane Ecoregion of Zambia predominated by Colophospermum mopane over a 35-year period (1975-2010).
The review describes forest cover change from one epoch to the other: 1975 – 1990, 1990 – 2000 and 2000 – 2010 by showing maps (forest and non-forest) supported by narrative descriptions of what changes took place highlighting the changes in statistical terms. Based on the generated statistics of forest cover change, a description is given of the current status of mopane forests in the different biomes analyzed (including stocking levels) including specific recommendations on how to sustainably manage the mopane forests in Zambia in the future.
The land area of Mopane Ecoregion as classified on 1975 Landsat TM satellite imagery is in extent of approximately 4,428,000 hectares or 5.9% of the land area of Zambia. The distribution of mopane woodland is in Central, Eastern, Muchinga, North/Western, Southern and Western provinces.
The total change during the period under review from 1975 to 2010 indicates a reduced hectarage of mopane woodland at approximately 781,000 hectares or an annual rate of 22,000 hectares primarily due to conversion of forest cover to agriculture and fuelwood production (cutting for firewood and charcoal production). The change from 1975 to 1990 and from 2000 to 2010 was negative and the period 1990 to 2000, the change was positive. These phenomena could be attributed to seasonality of satellite imagery used in the classification or the potential of mopane woodland to regenerate or coppice if the affected area is not exposed to permanent agriculture and late bush fires.
The most common tree species in the mopane woodland in Zambia are eight (8) with Colophospermum mopane forming the dominant species with more than 85% of the stocking per hectare and in good drained soils forms pure stands.
The analyses have further revealed that in 2010 the total Mopane Ecoregion in Zambia forest cover stood at 3,461,000 and non-forest at 970,341 hectares. The mean stems per hectare for all species at +/- 150 and diameter class volume of 46 cubic metres. The estimated stocking in 2010 from stems (dbh) =/+ 5cm and above) for all species was approximately 519,150,000 with volume above ground of 159,206,000 cubic metres.
The area as large as the Mopane Ecoregion in Zambia needs a lot of field visitation at different periods of the year especially when dealing with remote sensing satellite imagery data to avoid misclassifications. |
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