Advances in satellite remote sensing of the wetland ecosystems in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Wetlands are highly productive systems that act as habitats for a variety of fauna and flora. Despite their ecohydrological significance, wetland ecosystems are severely under threat from global environmental changes as well as pressure from anthropogenic activities. Such changes results in severe disturbances of plant species composition, spatial distribution, productivity, diversity, and their ability to offer critical ecosystem goods and services . However, wetland degradation varies considerably from place to place with severe degradation in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa due to poor management practices that leads to underutilization and over reliance on them for livelihoods. The lack of monitoring and assessment in this region has therefore led to the lack of consolidated detailed understanding on the rate of wetland loss. For example, the lack of up-to-date and reliable spatial explicit information further complicates the management of wetland ecosystems in semi-arid tropical environments. To monitor, understand and document wetland degradation rate, the use of remote sensing for accurate estimation and precise mapping of present and historic information remains imperative. Similarly, there is a need to develop robust methodologies to precisely assess and monitor wetland degradation, ecohydrological processes and wetland condition over space and time. This work thereof, provides a comprehensive overview of remote sensing applications in monitoring and mapping the wetland ecosystem. It also highlights the strength and challenges associated with the use of satellite data for purposes of wetland monitoring. Spatial explicit and periodic information offered by satellite remote sensing demonstrate a unique opportunity for documenting and understanding of wetlands, their ecohydrological processes, and environmental conditions.

Keywords:

• Human influence
• remote sensing
• satellite data
• spatial resolution
• species diversity
• wetland degradation
• wetland productivity

Acknowledgment

The authors extend their gratitude to the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) and Empire Partner Foundation (EPF) Tech Hub for supporting this research project.