Ituri Forest, D.R.C.

Okapi Wildlife Reserve

Project Objectives

  • Support conservation management and ecological research by providing remote sensing data on forest types and land-use cover

Project Activities

In collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), we have:

  • Provided satellite base map of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve
  • Mapped land-cover types using Landsat imagery
  • Collected field data on floristic associations to improve vegetation mapping: Several transects of data have been collected by a team lead by the Congolese botanist Innocent Liengola in summer 2002. However, data collection was interrupted due to the deterioration of security situation in the reserve.

Products & Applications

These map products have been used for land-use zoning, vegetation inventories, and wildlife surveys (including MIKE, Monitoring of the Illegal Killing of Elephants) in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve. WCS and ICCN have been working with local communities to establish a zoning system in the region. To obtain the full-resolution products, please contact Dr. Nadine Laporte.

Landsat mosaic of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve & its surroundings Land-cover map of the southern part of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve

1984 Landsat satellite mosaic of the Ituri Forest

1998 Land-cover map of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve

 

Future Outlook

  • Integrate field data on floristic associations with remote sensing analysis to improve vegetation mapping
  • Validate existing land-cover maps
  • Evaluate the utility of IKONOS imagery in mapping biophysical variables collected by the Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) Long-term Forest Dynamic Plots